I made myself fancy dinner tonight...

and you can, too!

I just moved, so I needed to break in my new kitchen so I could get comfortable with it (it was still feeling like someone else's kitchen), so I made black bean veggie loaf with garlic mashed potatoes and sunflower gravy. I really made enough for about four people.

I've omitted spice amount, as I never measure because it's so arbitrary from person to person.

Black Bean Veggie Loaf [modified from what the Magical Loaf Studio gave me because I am bad at following recipes]

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sunflower seeds 2 tablespoons olive oil One small red onion, diced One large garlic clove, minced One large carrot, peeled and chopped One 25 oz can black beans, drained (a little over 2 cups) 1 cup dry whole wheat bread crumbs (next time I am trying cooked brown rice I think) 1/2 cup uncooked polenta Dried oregano Fennel seeds Dried sage A little ketchup Black pepper Seasoning salt 1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350º. Grease a loaf pan.

Grind the sunflower seeds into a coarse meal using a food processor or spice/coffee grinder. Place in a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauté any vegetables you've chosen in the olive oil until soft. Add to the large mixing bowl along with all the remaining ingredients. Mix and mash together well (or partially blend with a hand blender, which is what I did, still leaving some good chunks), adding only as much liquid as needed to create a soft, moist loaf that holds together and is not runny (you may not need to add any liquid if the grains and protein are very moist). Add more binder/carbohydrate as needed if the loaf seems too wet.

Press mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until cooked through.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes.

Sunflower Gravy!

Ingredients: Olive oil A small handful of sunflower seeds (maybe 1/2 cup?) ground up in a food processor, as with above One clove of garlic, pressed Dried sage (a lot) Black pepper Seasoning salt White flour (although soy flour or cornstarch would probably work better if you have it) Unsweetened soymilk

Directions:

Heat up the olive oil in a pan and throw in the pressed garlic, dried sage, black pepper and sseasoning salt (i would have used onion too if there was any left after the veggie loaf). Add the ground sunflower seeds and stir to coat. Mixed in a little flour, stir, add a little soymilk. Alternate flour & soymilk until you reach yr desired texture.

I took pictures, but with my cell phone so they look gross. But it was delicious. Especially the sunflower gravy.