The Ultimate Vegan Holiday Loaf with Cranberry Glaze

This isn’t called “Ultimate” for nothing! This hearty, gluten-free main dish is packed with healthy ingredients and holiday flavors, all topped off with a pretty cranberry glaze.

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups kale, shredded and tightly packed
  • 1 medium-large carrot, grated
  • ½ onion, finely chopped
  • 1 rib celery, thinly sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 ½ cups mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 1 tsp (5 ml) salt, to taste
  • ¼ tsp (1.25 ml) oregano
  • ¼ tsp (1.25 ml) thyme
  • Black pepper, to taste
  • 1 cup overcooked green lentils
  • 1 cup cooked brown rice
  • ½ cup ground walnuts
  • ⅓ cup oat flour (ground oats)
  • 3 tbsp ground flax seed
  • 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries (optional)
  • ½ cup (125 ml) cranberry sauce, canned or homemade (recipe below)

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).
  2. In a large frying pan heat 1TBSP water or vegetable broth over medium-high. Once it is hot, add the kale, carrot, onion, celery, and garlic. Sauté until the onion is nearly translucent (about 2 minutes). Add more liquid if needed.
  3. Add the mushrooms, salt, oregano, thyme, and pepper. Sauté until the vegetables are just tender.
  4. In a large bowl, combine the vegetables, cooked lentils and brown rice, walnuts, oat flour, flax seed, and nutritional yeast. Mix thoroughly and roughly, mashing some of the ingredients in the process. This is important to help the loaf bind together.
    If needed, blend ⅓ of the mixture using a food processor or immersion blender and recombine. For best texture and appearance do not blend all of the mixture.
  5. If using, mix in the dried cranberries. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
  6. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper and firmly press the mixture into the pan.
  7. Bake for 25 minutes. While the loaf bakes, prepare the cranberry glaze: In a high-speed blender, blend the cranberry sauce until smooth. Remove the loaf from the oven, pour the glaze over the top and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the glaze has set and no longer looks shiny.
  8. Allow the loaf to cool for 10-15 minutes to fully set.
  9. Store leftovers for up to 4 days.

CRANBERRY SAUCE

Tangy-sweet cranberry sauce is a holiday essential! Homemade cranberry sauce tastes so much better than store-bought and takes just 15 minutes and 3 ingredients to make!

Ingredients

  • 1 (340g/12-oz) packages fresh (or frozen) cranberries (3 cups)
  • 1 cup (200 grams) sugar
  • 1 cup (250 ml) water

Instructions

  1. Rinse cranberries.
  2. In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together cranberries, sugar, and water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
  3. Turn heat down to medium and simmer until most of the cranberry skins have burst, about 5 minutes. The cranberry sauce will thicken as it cools.
  4. Transfer the cranberry sauce to a serving dish, and chill until thick.

Source: I Love Vegan