Meatless Meatloaf

I had a craving for meatloaf today, but no meat!  Since it is a family favorite in my house, I attempted to make a vegetarian version that had a similar taste.  It is made with chickpeas as I had plenty of them in the freezer since I cooked a big batch in my Instant Pot the other day.  With my teenagers help, we viewed several recipes on Pintrest, but none of them suited what I wanted or the ingredients on hand.

So, as I usually do, I improvised using a recipe I found as a guide.  This was the one that I used as my guide  It looks so good, but I was missing some of the ingredients.  I was being lazy so I just tossed my veggies in the food processor and chopped them up that way.  Then I put the chickpeas, spices, and milk in the food processor and whized it till smooth.  

The final result was pretty darn good.  It has a pretty mild flavor so if you want a stronger taste, just add some more spices!  The kids enjoyed it with BBQ sauce or ketchup as is their standard way to eat meatloaf!  I apologize for the picture, but we dug in before I remembered to take a photo!

Meatless Meatloaf

Prep time: 20 min

Cook time: 55min

Serves: 6 or more

4c. cooked and drained chickpeas

1 onion

2 carrots

2 stalks of celery 

4 cloves of garlic

1 c quinoa flour or quick oats

1/2 c almond milk

2 TBSP Worcestershire sauce 

2 TBSP soy sauce

4 TBSP hemp hearts or ground flax

1 TBSP hickory smoke seasoning

1 TBSP Italian seasoning 

Sauce:

1/2 c ketchup

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp brown sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F and grease a large loaf pan or 8"x 8" baking dish.
2. Chop veggies or throw them in your food processor and pulse till chopped.  Dump the veggies into a bowl.
3. Place chickpeas, spices, milk, and flour/oats into the food processor and pulse until smooth.
4. Mix the veggies and chickpea/spice mix together.
5. Place into greased pan
6. Bake for 30 min then pour the sauce on top of the meatloaf.
7. Bake for another 25 min.
8. Let cool, slice, and serve!

Note: it will be very delicate if you try to serve it right away.  Its best to let it cool for a while before serving as it firms up as it cools.