Tag Archives: lentil loaf

Oct8

Happy Healthy Wholefoods

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Happy Healthy Wholefoods

From all the research I’ve done, I believe a whole food, plant based diet is the healthiest way to eat. It should be the default diet that everyone begins with, as the way to keep healthy and I wish I’d known about it years ago!

Having turned vegetarian at the age of 22 years, from what I believed was an ethical stand point, I’ve been vegan now for almost four years after realising that I hadn’t gone far enough, but if you’re looking at diet from a health perspective, you can’t beat a whole food, plant based diet. This way of eating can cure disease. I’m going to say that again….eating a whole food, plant based diet can cure disease. It has been proven it can reverse heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and many more illnesses. Don’t take my word for it…check out the factual videos and science at http://www.nutritionfacts.org On this website, Dr Michael Gregor provides facts, gleaned from medical papers, made easy to understand by non medical professionals.

Whatever your ethical standpoint, doesn’t everyone want to be well and fit, especially at a time when having a decent immune system is a bonus? I’m often asked what I eat on my whole food plant based diet and the answer is….as much whole food plant based food as I can! I’ve shared recipes with you before, but over the next few months, I’m going to revisit a few, share some updates and share new recipes of dishes I’m eating regularly.

So, what is a whole food plant based diet? Dr Gregor has a free App you can download called the Daily Dozen, and this guide really helps focus on the parts of our diet, essential for wellbeing and health. Beans, pulses, legumes, combined with vegetables, especially cruciferous, fruit, whole grains and healthy fats like nuts and seeds, form the basis of my diet, and my lentil loaf plays a big part in that.

Mine is a High Carb Hannah recipe and you can find it here https://wendysteele.com/2019/04/12/life-begins-at-fifty-healthy-life-11-hch-lentil-loaf/

I now add extra turmeric and black pepper to my loaf, and love chopping in dried apricots, sultanas or raisins. Drowning under a glut of runner beans from the garden one week, I added beans to the loaf and they worked well chopped small. The courgettes however, made the loaf a bit soggy!

Lentil loaf is one of our staple foods. We eat it most days for lunch with a huge salad, ticking off lots of boxes on the Daily Dozen without having to try very hard. It’s filling, really sustaining when there’s renovation work to do on the house, or wood to chop.

Consider including a lentil loaf into your cooking repertoire….easy to make, delicious, sustaining and really good for you. Check out the recipes on this site by typing ‘Plant based’ into the search box.

Visit again for more recipes and thoughts on the benefits of plant based eating. Blessings x

Apr12

Life Begins at Fifty – Healthy Life #10 HCH Lentil Loaf

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Welcome to another recipe post!

I’ve been looking for straight forward, practical, easy, tasty recipes that can be eaten hot or cold, and High Carb Hannah’s Lentil Loaf fits the bill perfectly.

HCH Lentil Loaf

1 cup brown lentils

1/2 cup red lentils

1 carrot, finely chopped

2 celery stalks, finely chopped (I left these out)

1/2 red onion, finely chopped

1 red, orange, or yellow bell pepper, finely chopped

3 cups water

 

Flax egg: 3 Tbspns ground flax seeds

6 Tbspns water

 

1-1/2 cups oats, blended or processed to make a flour

 

Seasonings: 1 Tbsp Italian seasoning 1 tspn fennel (I used punch puran), 1 tspn onion powder (I left this out) 1/2 tspn cayenne (optional)

salt (my addition)

2 tspoons bouillon (my addition)

Ketchup (or Glaze see below)

Preheat oven or air fryer to 350˚F.

Bring all ingredients from lentils to water to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer uncovered until liquid is absorbed. Meanwhile, mix flax seeds and water to make a flax egg. Set aside. Process the oats into a flour and set aside. Mix seasonings and flax egg together and set aside. When lentil-veggie mixture is done cooking, take off heat and mix in oat flour and seasoning mix. Spread mixture into loaf pan or pans and put into oven/air fryer. (I used two tins and made two smaller loaves.)

Cook uncovered for 15 minutes. Take out loaf, spread ketchup on top of loaf and continue baking for another 5 minutes.

 

Alternative glaze for loaf:

3 tbspns brown sugar

3 tbspns tomato paste

3 tbspns apple cider vinegar

3 tbspns Worcestershire sauce (I used 1 tbspn of tamari soy sauce)

This lentil loaf makes a great base to add other flavours and textures…I’m thinking cashew and apricot or almond and date to make a slightly sweeter loaf, or mushrooms and tamari to give it more umami.

This lentil loaf works well with no fat or oil, but I added a little salt and two teaspoons of bouillon powder after experimenting a few times.

It’s delicious hot, and with the tomato topping, perfect cold…it went down well on the sharing table at our charity dance event!

You can freeze it…I cut into portion sizes and freeze this way, so you can extract just one slice if you wish.

Happy eating!