Loafing Around with Engine 2 Fast Food Loaf

I loved Jeff Novick's Fast Food Burgers, and after I bought the DVD, made a different batch each week on Sundays for a few months. No matter how I made them, what spices I added, they still tasted like mushed up beans. Then for some reason, the half-batch I would always put away in the freezer for the future would start getting crumbly when I tried cook them up, and we stopped having them. It sort of coincided with the three of us getting the flu, too, and nobody wanted to eat a burger that had been made by either one of us sickies. We ate packaged burgers for a while because of the convenience, but once the flu left me for good (knock wood) I started cooking other foods for our Sunday dinners.

On the same page as the Fast Food Shepherd's Pie that I wrote about yesterday, I found this Fast Food Loaf recipe, using Jeff's Burgers as the loaf mixture.

Fast Food Veg Loaf

We took Jeff’s recipe for burgers as our base. We doubled the recipe, added 2 more tbs of liquid and added poultry seasoning. Walla! Veg Loaf!
What we did: This worked for one loaf pan or 6 large muffin molds (we used a silicone muffin tray, worked out great!) –

*This is Jeff’s recipe doubled:

Pre-heat oven to 350

Ingredients:
Two Can Eden Foods Organic Kidney Beans, No Salt Added
1 Cup Cooked Brown Rice (short grain works the best)
1 Cup Regular Oats
4 TB plant-strong tomato sauce (we just used Pomi tomato puree)
add 2 TB more of tomato puree
(veg) Poultry seasoning spice. (we just covered the entire mixture)

Mix together  and then mash with a potato masher. You could also use a large fork, or your hands will work just fine!

In a loaf pan: spread a thin layer of tomato puree, then pack in your loaf mixture.
In a muffin mold: if you are using non stick or parchment paper liners, put enough veg loaf mixture to fill up each mold, pack it into each mold.

Cover the top with a thin layer of tomato puree (you can also use bbq sauce if you like).

Bake for 35-45 minutes.

My changes:
Goya No-salt added instead of Eden beans

Juice and small tomato bits from a can of Hunts no-salt added diced tomatoes - about 6 tablespoons to the bowl before all the dry stuff started mixing

Ketchup to the bottom of the pan and top of the loaf

And since I haven't had a silicone loaf pan in over 10 years, when the last one got sticky and tacky, I used a sheet of parchment paper draped over the sides and bottom of the loaf pan to not only make it non-stick but to have an easy handle to lift the loaf out of the pan after it's cooked.

I then did what Jeff says to do with his burgers - I popped the filled loaf pan into the refrigerator for a bit while the oven pre-heated. I don't know if it makes a difference, but it can't hurt.

Looks pretty good so far. It's much firmer than any other loaf recipe I gathered from on-line, and no nuts like loaves from the Magic Loaf Studio.

And here's the finished product, all ready to be sliced up and served with baked potatoes, veggies and cranberries in the shape of the can, as Ernest says.

It sliced up quite nicely with very little crumbling, a rarity for veg loaves. As for the taste? Well, mushed up beans. But my husband loved it and ate 4 slices - half the loaf. I ate one, and he's eating the leftovers over the weekend.

He does want me to make it again, weekly if possible (Um, no), so the next time I do make it I'll be sure to add a buttload more spices. Maybe that'll help.