Sunday, Sunday, Sunday dinner

Like many of my veggie friends, I watch Food Network despite the fact that the hosts often make food I cannot eat (my friend Jacob describes Giada DeLaurentis' recipes as "a brick of cheese with pancetta wrapped around it, served with sauce"). Flipping through the channels recently, I watched in amazement as Rachael Ray crowned a turkey and pork meatloaf with a layer of bacon. Am I the only one who finds this excessive? To out-Rachael Ms. Ray, who made a loaf with three meats, this Sunday I made three loaves with no meat.

We invited a half a dozen friends over for some loaf and mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy. The curried lentil loaf (from The Vegetarian Meat and Potatoes Cookbook) was a bit runny, but spicy and delicious. The recipe called for 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper, so I doubled the amount. The tvp loaf from Howard Lyman's No More Bull most closely approximated the texture and consistency of the "real thing." The bean loaf was dry and flavorless (Mary suggested using broth instead of water when preparing the couscous), and was the only loaf that was left at the end of the night.

Now some of you may be asking how on earth I managed to cook three loaves and mashed potatoes at the same time. First I cleared off our kitchen table and established a rough mise en place for each recipe, not bothering to measure out every single thing, but at least having all my ingredients within easy reach. Then I assembled each loaf one by one, and put them all in the oven at once. I also had to periodically call out into the living for my husband to come peel this or that. My friend Andrea made the gravy and took these lovely photos.

We love loaves!