Staycation Meal #5

 

I spent way too much time on this, but isn't it pretty? Here we have mashed potatoes with red wine gravy (gravy recipe from A Virtual Vegan), cranberry mushroom lentil loaf (recipe also from A Virtual Vegan), maple orange glazed carrots (recipe veganized from A Mind "Full" Mom), and steamed asparagus.

It was not that I wanted a "Thanksgiving" meal, and I didn't eat this on Thanksgiving (though I did have it during my Thanksgiving vacation). I had, however, been wanting to try this loaf ever since I first saw the recipe, and I needed to have enough discretionary time to do it.

It was kind of huge. In fact, I had too much loaf mix to fit into my loaf pan and ended up making a lentil mushroom waffle with the rest. It wasn't as bright in color as the original photos, but I also think that the original photos in the recipe are likely doctored; cooking cranberries for a long time isn't going to produce that really bright red color, probably. 

Still, it was pretty. And if you were looking to impress someone with how pretty something was, this is an option. But for me it was not great or awful, it was just there.

The gravy was also rather a lot of trouble, though very tasty. I'm not sure if I would make either of these things again, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to find that out.