Veggie Meatloaf

I thought this looked really good, so it became my Sunday night meal.  My son got a baked potato with his, I got a baked yam.  I knew this was going to be a hard sell to him, so I decided to make a brown gravy (vegetarian), because gravy makes everything better.  I made a couple of my own tweaks and edits to the recipe.

• 1 tablespoon organic extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon "Kitchen Bouquet" browning liquid
• 1 tablespoon Umami Seasoning Blend
• 1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 2 stalks celery, finely chopped
• 1 medium carrot, finely chopped
• 1 cup finely chopped cremini mushrooms
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 (19-oz) cans no-salt chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 2 slices "Sprouted Power" bread (stale), processed into breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley, plus more for garnish
• 2 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon vegan Worcestershire sauce (I didn't use vegan, used L&P)
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/2 cup barbecue sauce
• Kosher salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

I preheated the oven to 375º F.  I used cooking spray on meatloaf pan, lined it with parchment and used more spray on that paper too.  

I used the food processor for the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and mushrooms.  When they looked like fine dice, I stopped.  

I fried these in the olive oil until soft and seasoned with S&P.  Taste was spot on at this point.  

I mashed the chickpeas with a potato masher.  

I was careful not to overwork them as I wanted to avoid mushiness.  

Then everything remaining got mixed together well, I used my hands.  It tasted good at this point too.  I liked the seasoning that was going on.  I saved half the BBQ sauce and ketchup for the topping.  

I patted it into the pan and then spread the remaining glaze over the top.  

Into the oven it went baking along side the potato and the yam for one hour.  

I let it rest for 15 minutes in the pan.  I made the gravy during this time and dressed the potatoes.  I served.  I put the gravy underneath mine, below.

I enjoyed it, even my son did.  It looked like meatloaf, but it didn't taste like it  exactly...  That being said, it was actually delicious. 

My son said with huge surprise, "Hey, it's good".  He's big on texture and it was soft, but he said the flavor was great and he could eat it.  There's lots left over and it was cheap, besides being healthy to pull together.  I'm very pre-occupied tonight as Game of Thrones will soon be on...EP 3, Season 8.  I'm going to take the losses from this battle at Winterfell - hard...  😭