No-meat Meat Loaf

2 cups RED lentils (do not substitute green or brown)
1 1/2 - 2 cups H20
a bay leaf or two

one smallish onion
one medium tomato

one medium to large onion, chopped
a little butter or margarine

6 oz. grated cheddar
2 eggs
3 slices finely crumbled whole wheat bread
generous pinch rosemary
generous pinch thyme
black pepper to taste
3 T lemon juice
oregano to taste
4 T chopped fresh parsley
basil to taste
generous amount of paprika

Sort and wash lentils.  Combine with H20 and bay leaf, bring to a boil,
	cover and simmer until lentils are tender.  When you stir them
	they should mush.  Remove the bay leaf.

Place onion and tomato in food processor or blender.  Puree.
This is kind of optional.  You could use some ketchup instead of the
tomato, and use some onion powder in place of the pureed onion.

Brown the chopped onion in the butter.

Combine all the ingredients and mix together well.  I realize my spice
quantities are fairly vague, but that's about as precise as I can be.
You have to spice it the way you like.  I suggest being generous but
not *too* generous with the rosemary and thyme, being reasonably
liberal with the oregano, pepper, and basil, and using a heavy hand
with the paprika.  Mix it all together well.

Grease a loaf tin with butter or margarine.  You should now have a bowl full
of mush.  Spoon the mush into the loaf tin.  Oh, yeah, you should have
preheated the oven to 375 ... forgot that.  Spread salt over the top of the
loaf, if you like.  Also, you might, if you used a lot of onion,
not mix it all in and leave a small amount (not browned first) onion
for the top.  Bake for 1 hour until a nice crust is formed.

This is similar in consistency to that good ol' God-fearing American
classic meatloaf, but it stays together better.  The colour is a little
lighter, but if you are intent on fooling omnivores you could imply
that it's made with ground chicken and they'd probably believe you.
Once you get the spicing down, though, this is a dish that even the 
most died-in-the-wool omnivore would enjoy.  It has significant nutritional
advantages over regular meatloaf, among them being lower in fat and
containing a good amount of soluble fiber.  IMHO it tastes fantastic,
and has the significant advantage of holding together really well, much
better than beef meatloaf.

Serve with tomato sauce (like Campbell's tomato soup) or an onion or
mushroom gravy.  It is great cold, and makes a good sandwich.