Meatless Monday! Miniature Lentil Loaves!

Well, the kids are officially with their grandparents/cousins for the next two weeks. This starts the beginning of a crazy two weeks for Tony and I work wise, so the kids are having their vacation time away from our boring time! It's so strange, I love having this time with just Tony, but I also miss the heck out of those silly boys the second we drove away from them. I know this is good for them though. I remember spending time at my grandmother's house with my cousin during the summer and it was always such a blast. You get away with a lot more too!

We had an extremely peaceful Father's Day. We spent the day with Tony's family (always a lot of fun), which included a gluten free fish fry

and gluten free hush puppies!

The funny part about this is that these are the pictures from last year (I did not have a camera with me) and I realized that we made the same thing just under a year ago! Tony's dad is such a great fisherman and he caught a bunch of fish the day we arrived! Huge score for this family! The hush puppy recipe is here. 

As I stated in my previous post, there have been a lot of repeat eats here lately...

I made meatloaf for the guys the other day and decided that was my chance to try my lentil burgers in loaf form. 

Our meatloaf recipe is Martha Stewart's Classic Meatloaf with the addition of sautéed onions added to the top in the last 30 minutes of cooking. So, I made my lentil burger mixture, added 1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms to the lentil pot while it boiled, put the "burger" mix in 3 miniature loaf pans, covered them in a mixture of 1/3 cup ketchup mixed with 1 tablespoon brown sugar and some sautéed red onion. I baked the miniature loaves for 1 hour. I LOVED the crispy exterior of these! YUM! The sweetness for the topping really complimented the loaves. 

Best part of meatloaf/lentil loaves...sandwiches! The mini loaves were perfect for sliders...

The guys had mega meatloaf sandwiches on homemade gluten free bread. I was actually sad when the leftovers were gone...

Miniature Lentil Loaves
(makes 3)

1 cup lentils
1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms
4 cups water
1 1/2 cups quick oats
3/4 cup salsa
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Topping
1/3 cup ketchup
1 TBSP brown sugar
1/2 cup sautéed red onion

Place the lentils and mushrooms in 4 cups water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until done. Poor off excess water. Allow to slightly cool. Next add oats through pepper to the lentils and mix thoroughly. Place in the refrigerator and allow to cool completely. When ready to make, divide the mixture into 3 miniature loaf pans. Top the uncooked loaves with ketchup mixture. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes, add the onions and bake an additional 20-30 minutes.

I'm sharing this on Simply Sugar and Gluten Free's Slightly Indulgent Tuesday.