Veggie Leanings

You may notice that many of my recipes are vegetarian. I'm noticing that too. I eat meat, as of right now, but I also believe that we don't need a lot of meat (if any?) to live a healthy life. There's an idea out there, of living "Vegan until 6pm" or "Vegan until dinner". It's not a fad diet, though it may be made into one eventually. It's a lifestyle that is mindful of our health and the welfare of animals and the planet. I totally support family farms, but the vast majority of what we eat doesn't come from family farms. BUT, I'm not going to proselytize or lecture about this. There's plenty of information out there, and I'd be totally willing to talk to anyone about it in person. That being said, I probably would rather be a vegan after 10am. And might just try it. But ANYway, here's a vegan recipe I tried out recently, and liked.
Quinoa Loaf
based off a recipe from Whole Foods

• Olive Oil
• 8 oz mushrooms (I used a mixture of criminis and wild) - sliced
• 2 carrots chopped to pea-size
  
• salt and pepper
• 3 cloves garlic
  
• 15oz can of garbanzo beans (no-salt added would be best) drained and rinsed
• 3/4 cup uncooked rolled oats
• 1 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup frozen green peas
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1 cup chopped red onion
• ground sage
• herbes de provence

Preheat your oven to 350.
Cook your quinoa by placing the rinsed quinoa, 2 cups of water and a pinch of salt in a medium pot. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until the water is absorbed- about 10-15 minutes. When it's done cooking just pull it off the heat, but keep the lid on.
Heat about a TBSP of oil in a skillet over med-high heat. Press 2 cloves of garlic into the oil, add the carrots and mushrooms, some salt and pepper and cook until mushrooms are cooked through and carrots are getting soft.
In a food processor or blender, put beans, oats and 1/2 cup of water. You might need a little more liquid if you're using a blender. Pulse until it's "almost smooth".
Then in a large bowl, combine the mushroom mixture, the bean mixture, 2 cups of the quinoa, 1 more clove of pressed garlic, the peas, parsley, onion, salt & pepper and herbs to taste (I used about a teaspoon each).
Transfer mixture to a loaf pan that has been lightly greased with olive oil. Gently press it into the pan, slightly mounding it in the middle. Bake until it's firm and golden. I baked it for an hour in a convection oven, but when I cut into it, it was still a bit too "gooey"... so you may have to stick it back in the oven. I'd suggest starting at 1-1/4 hours and plan that it might take a little extra time. Let it rest for about 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

I served it with:
Mushroom Gravy

• Olive oil
• 2 large shallots- minced
• 1 lb of mushrooms, sliced very thin (I used a combo of crimini, portabello, shiitake and assorted wild)
• 5 tsp arrowroot
• 2-1/2 cups warm stock (I used vegetable, you could use any kind you wish)
  
• 5 TBSP white wine
• 1/4 tsp Herbes de Provence
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
  
• Salt & pepper (I used white pepper)

In a large, deep saute pan (maybe 1-1/2 qt or so), heat the oil and cook the shallots and mushrooms until soft. You aren't trying to caramelize, just cook them down. About 10 minutes or so- it's a lot of mushrooms and you want them really cooked.
While that's going on, heat up your stock (in the microwave is fine) and stir in the arrowroot, 1 tsp at at time, stirring each tsp in with a whisk. You don't want it to sink and stick to the bottom of the bowl.
Add the stock mixture to the mushroom mixture and stir, combining. Then add the wine and seasonings and bring it up to a boil, stirring constantly. Lower it to a simmer and cook about another 10 minutes.
You could serve it like this, but I put it in the blender in 2 batches to make it a little more thick and homogeneous.