What?! No Fish? and Lentil Loaf

Ted and I are going out for a nice, quiet Thanksgiving meal.  For some reason, both of us just felt like it this year. No waking up early to get a 20 pound bird  in the oven plus a Tofurky PLUS trying to figure out where and when to cook all the other food and NO messy clean up.  We intend to get dressed, start the car, go for a short drive, eat delicious food, sip good wine, and then visit with the family.  No hassle Thanksgiving. So…where should we go? 

I called several area restaurants hosting the big meal.  “Will you be serving fish?”  “OH no!…OH NO!”  What kind of response is that?  Did I swear??!!!  Did I say something forbidden pertaining to Thanksgiving?   No fish.  We finally found Delta Lake Inn.  They will feature haddock on their buffet. PHEW!  I thought for a minute I’d have to cook!

It’s troublesome in Utica trying to find Vegetarian accommodating restaurants.  If I were Vegan and Wheat Intolerant I’d starve around here since when you don’t eat meat, you are served pasta….and that’s NOT rice pasta. 

Does your area cater to special diets? food restrictions?

Since Ted and I are running the local 5K, Run for Hunger, I toned down the running Wednesday morning and only ran with Shane outside.  It wasn’t the best morning to run outside, windy, but  my partner and I made the best of it for 3 1/4 miles.  I finished off the weight workout week (the 3 WWW’s   ) with back, arms and some abs.  That took a good 45 minutes.  The rest of the week will focus on runs but Friday just might be a day off with the long run on Saturday.   We’ll see how hard I push it on Thursday. 

By the way, Road Runner Sports is having a great promo: 20% off $100 AND free shipping. Great gift ideas!

Lentil Loaf for the Holidays…for those of us who don’t eat meat.

A recipe adapted from VegWeb for “Holiday Lentil Loaf”.  It offers a lot of flavor and the gift of healthy nutrition.

Serves 6

• 3 cups cooked brown lentils
• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 small onion, chopped small
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped small
• 2 tsp minced garlic
• 2 celery stalks, chopped small
• 2 tsp Italian Seasoning
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 rounded TBS Panko crumbs
• 1 tsp hot sauce (optional)
• 2 TBS Balsamic vinegar
• 3 lg eggs
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 large tomato, sliced thin
• 1 TBS chopped basil
• salt and pepper to taste

Don’t Panic!!! That is a long list of ingredients but short on the instructions.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. 

Spray a large loaf pan with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, combine the ingredients from item 1, the lentils, through item  14, the sea salt.

Place all that mixture into the large loaf pan.  Press down.

Top with the thin sliced tomato. Sprinkle with basil, salt and pepper.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 55 minutes.

Uncover, continue baking for 12 minutes.  Let rest 5 minutes before serving.

This was a great dish.  Ted said “I almost went to get the ketchup”.  Since that’s the way he eats meat loaf and the lentil loaf looks very much like meat loaf. 

I said “It does kind of taste like meat loaf, doesn’t it?”  His response…”Has it been THAT long since you’ve had meat loaf?!!!” 

Okay, okay…so maybe it doesn’t taste like meatloaf but I forgot because, well, it has been about 5 or 6 years.  Still, the lentil loaf has a lot of flavor and it’s delicious.  Neither Ted nor I had anything left on our plates.

Happy Thanksgiving and blessings for good health and good times to you all.

Joanne