Vegetarian 'Meat'loaf

I made this recipe last week, with several of my own modifications, and I thought it was delicious! I took the leftovers cold for a filling lunch two days in a row! My boyfriend, who doesn't like lentils, was not particularly pleased but that just meant there was more for me!

The original recipe is linked above. The version below is how I cooked it.

Packed up and ready to be taken for lunch!

Vegetarian Meatloaf (serves 4-6, or 2 people with leftovers)
2 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup lentils
1 small onion, diced
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 clove of garlic
1 3/4 cups quick-cooking oat
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon fresh parsley
salt and pepper
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp spicy woodsmoke BBQ sauce

Add the water, salt, and lentils to a pot and simmer 25-30 minutes until soft. Drain away any excess water.

At this point, I used a hand blender to blend the lentils instead of mash them.

Preheat oven to 175C/350F.

Scrape lentils into a mixing bowl and allow to cool. Add all ingredients except the last two and mix well - if your mixture isn't as wet as mine was, you will need less oats. Blending the lentils and adding the carrot meant I did not have to add the egg to help it stick together - it was plenty sticky on its own!

Spoon mixture into a greased loaf pan and smooth the top. Bake.

Mix together the ketchup and the BBQ sauce (or one or the other if you don't have both) and spread over the top of the meatloaf after it has been in the oven for 20 minutes. Bake for a further 15-20 minutes.

Per Serving (4): 249 calories, 8.8g of fat, 46.8g of carbs, 13.2g fibre, 18.2g protein.
This was calculated using MyFitnessPal and all counts will vary depending on ingredients used.

Alternatively you could... Skip the cheese (it wasn't that noticeable in such a small quantity), add a pepper, use a courgette/zucchini instead of a carrot, choose different herbs or add spices or a chilli for extra heat!