This is one of Paul's favorite things. I first had it at Christmas and thought it would be a fast and easy protein dish that I had most of the items for. I also was trying to surprise my husband! The recipe belongs to Paul's mom, and I love the fact that so much of the flavor is fresh veggies.

The Redi-burger comes in a can and is vegan. The eggs and cheese ought to easily be replaced with vegan alternatives to make this a simple vegan "meat" loaf.

My mini food processor came in so handy here. I had to make sure I just chopped and didn't puree the vegetables, but it was such a time saver. I could even cut more than one vegetable at a time. I started in a small saucepan and realized too late that I needed a large one to hold all of the ingredients. When the veggies were done, I just transferred all the ingredients into the larger pan and kept on going. As I mentioned previous, I did use bread crumbs instead of bread pieces because that is what I had on hand.

Recipe for Redi-burger Loaf

Saute in 4 T olive oil:

• 1 large onion chopped
• 1-2 stalks celery
• 1-2 grated carrots
• 1/2 red or yellow pepper
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• salt

add to that:

• 6 slices bread cubed-I usually use a combo of what I have/whole wheat, etc.

add to the above:

• 1 can Redi-burger-pulled out of can with a fork so it crumbles into the skillet
• 1 T McKay's (without MSG)
• 1 t poultry seasoning (sage is main ingredient)

remove from heat and add:

• 1 C grated cheese
• 4-5 eggs

Pat mixture into 9x13 baking dish

Mix together and spread on top of loaf:

• 2 C ketchup
• 2 T brown sugar
• 2 T water

Cover loaf tightly with foil
Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes

Reheated at 350' for an hour the following day didn't seem to dry out the loaf. Paul and Dad made sandwiches out of the little bit of leftovers for dinner Saturday night. It was such a hit that people were asking for the recipe. Now that's a complement!