the magical loaf

around this time of year i start to use the oven more often for dinner. nothing is better in the fall than a warm comforting meal. it's kind of annoying though because those meals seem to be more complicated to make.

tonight for dinner i made a veggie loaf. and i can't take full credit for this recipe as it was made using the magical loaf studio. have you heard of it? it's really cool, you pick the ingredients and it creates a recipe for you. and not only that, it's pretty easy to make.

here's mine:

1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 large carrot, grated
2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup cooked quinoa
1/4 cup veggie broth
1 heaping tbsp flaxseed meal
1 tsp basil
1/4 tsp oregano
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt and pepper

preheat oven to 350 degrees F. spray a loaf pan.
grind sunflowers into a coarse meal. set aside.
in a medium saute pan, heat the olive oil and cook the onion, garlic, and carrot until tender.
in a large mixing bowl, partly mash the chickpeas. add the vegetables and mix. add the sunflower seed, quinoa, flax, basil, oregano and nutritional yeast and mix well. slowly add veggie broth while mixing. you want it to be smooth and moist. if it is still too dry add a bit more broth.
press mixture into loaf pan and smooth out evenly.
bake for 50-60 minutes. let cool in pan 10 minutes before serving.

the photo really doesn't do this food justice. next to the slice of loaf is a sweet potato and cauliflower gratin with sage that came from one of my favorite magazines, whole living, november 2011 issue. it was easy to veganize.