Vegetarian Meatloaf

1 1/2 cups veggie stock, store-bought or homemade
2/3 cup brown lentils
1/2 cup TVP
1/2 pound crimini mushrooms, chopped up a bit
4 TBSP butter or a vegan substitute
1 onion, chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup raw cashews
2 cups bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup ketchup + more for topping and serving
1/4 cup barbecue sauce (homemade is best) + more for topping and serving
2 eggs (or egg substitutes like ground flax and water)
2 TBSP dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
A couple handfuls of grated cheddar cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F.

Bring the stock to a boil and add lentils. Cook until lentils are soft, adding more stock or water if necessary. Once lentils are fully cooked, simmer off any excess moisture. Remove from heat and mash lentils with potato masher.

While your lentils cook, bring a couple cups of water to a boil in a small pan.Once boiling, add TVP and and remove from heat. Let sit 5 minutes, then strain TVP and it set aside.

In a food processor, pulse the mushrooms until they are finely minced.

In a large frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter. Then add mushrooms and cook until they turn a shade darker and release some of their juices, about 4 minutes. Add onion, celery, and bell pepper and saute until they become nice and tender, about 6 minutes. Add garlic, saute a couple more minutes then transfer mixture to a large mixing bowl.

In your food process now process cashews into fine little pieces.

Add lentils, TVP, and cashews to the veggie mix in the mixing bowl, as well as bread crumbs, cumin, cilantro, ketchup, BBQ sauce, eggs/egg substitute, and Dijon. Mix well and add salt and pepper to taste (I usually have to add at least a teaspoon of salt and a good amount of pepper).

Spray a medium-sized loaf pan with cooking spray and transfer the mixture into the pan. Mold it into a meatloaf shape and make sure there's a small gap between the edge of the pan and the loaf so that when you add cheese and additional sauce later, it won't all dribble over the edges of the pan and make a mess.

Bake, uncovered, for 50 minutes, or until the top starts to get a bit browned and a tad crusty. Now take the pan out of the oven and slather the top with additional BBQ sauce and/or ketchup. Sprinkle the cheese on top of it all and return it to the oven. Increase heat to 375 and cook 12-15 more minutes.

Remove from oven and let it cool at least 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with additional ketchup and BBQ sauce on the side.