Easy Cooking: Meatless Meatloaf

This is a recipe for you hard-core vegetarians, the type, who like myself, want to eat something that tastes like meat every now and then. I say hard-core also because those who like to dabble in vegetarianism or who are just starting to eliminate meat from their diet might not think this sort-of-meatloaf satisfies their meat-craving desires.

While the texture is different from what you call meatloaf, remember that each one of the real thing differs from the next. The meatloaf I made for many years, until I eliminated all meats, used ground chuck (when ground beef came from real cuts of meat and not a combination of who knows what). My mother used ground pork along with regular ground beef and my grandmother added sausage to hers. To season my meatloaf and bind it together, I used eggs, oats, chili sauce, onion, and other good stuff from my pantry and refrigerator. One time it was chopped bell pepper, another time capers, maybe leftover spaghetti sauce instead of chili sauce, and so forth.

This recipe, much different from my familiar, conventional meatloaf, is one I adapted from a Kellogg's version created for and by Seventh-Day Adventists. (John Harvey Kellogg was Adventist.) Amazingly, Special K cereal, chopped nuts, cottage cheese, eggs, and seasonings mix together to make a respectable facsimile of the old-fashioned favorite. There is one special product you should have for this and that is the chicken seasoning powder. I purchase it at ABC (Adventist Book Center). You don't have to be an Adventist to shop there. I'm not. If you don't have such a store near you, look for the seasoning in a natural food store or co-op. If you can't find any, onion soup mix will work.

By the way, the ABC stores stock some great ersatz meat products. My favorite is their dinner roast. And I'll be serving their smoked turkey roll next week for Thanksgiving along with gravy made from a mix they sell. Beyond that, I'll make stuffing as I always have (using water for the chicken broth), cook up fresh cranberries for sauce, mash potatoes, and bake pumpkin pies. It will be vegetarian -- not vegan -- and delicious, I assure you.

But for now, here's my meatless meatloaf recipe.

1 onion, chopped

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

5 eggs

5 cups Special K cereal

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 pint lowfat cottage cheese

3 tablespoons powdered fake chicken seasoning (I use McKay brand)

1/4 cup ketchup or chili sauce

Salt and pepper

Few drops Tabasco sauce

Saute onion in oil. Beat eggs lightly in large mixing bowl. Using a large wooden spoon, stir in the cereal, walnuts, cottage cheese, chicken seasoning, onion, ketchup, salt, pepper and Tabasco. Mix well.

Spoon out mixture into 9x5-inch loaf pan that has been sprayed with Pam. Press mixture into pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place pan on cookie rack to cool for about 20 minutes. Turn meatloaf out to slice or slice it in pan. Makes about a dozen slices.

Note: If you don't have Special K, corn flakes make a good substitute.