Lentil Loaf

I have never been able to understand peoples' obsession with "comfort food". When I hear someone referring to comfort food, I automatically think of overcooked, calorie-loaded American food. My dad loves comfort food though, and as I'm trying to win him over to veganism, I'm beginning to cook more meals I know he'll like. Example: vegan meatloaf. This meal was ridiculously good, especially when served with mashed potatoes and a salad. Feel free to top it with as much ketchup or BBQ sauce as you could possibly desire (anything in excess seems to be okay when we're talking about comfort food). I originally found the recipe here, however, I changed a few things.

Lentil Loaf

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked lentils
• 3 1/2 cups broth or water
• 1 1/2 onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups cooked rice
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp sage
• 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup ketchup or barbecue sauce

1) Preheat oven (or toaster oven!) to 350°. Lightly grease a 4 x 8-inch loaf pan.

2) Combine lentils and broth in a large sauce pan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 40 minutes, or until lentils are very soft.

3) Blend cooked lentils in a food processor or blender for several minutes, or until there's pretty much no lumps. If by some terrible circumstance, you don't have a blender or food processor, you can do it manually by using a potato masher - but only do that in a pinch, and be sure to mash them very well. Set aside.

4) Heat olive oil in a pan and sauté onions and garlic for about 5 minutes, or until onions are soft.

5) In a large boil, combine the onions and garlic mixture with lentils, rice, and other remaining ingredients.

6) Press the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes. Remove from oven, drizzle a little bit of ketchup or barbecue sauce on top, then bake for another 10 minutes.

7) Let cool slightly before serving.

Serves 6