day#9 twofer tuesday: pump up the comfort food

if i had to list my top ten favorite meals, meatloaf w/gravy and mashed potatoes would be on the list. for me it's comfort food--one of the meals my mom could make and it was great every single time. not so true for her other creations. funny story: growing up my parents were on/off again-(that's not the funny part) and whenever we were with my dad, he'd load me and my brother up to the brim with mcdonald's and by the time we'd get home to mom, we'd refuse to eat anything she cooked.

back then my mcd's put everything in styrofoam containers. my mom would save the containers, clean them, and put her food in them. she'd present this to us as food from mcd's. it wasn't until i was 10 or 12 that i realized i had been duped by her. she would always tell us that the meatloaf and gravy was part of their special menu and was only available for pick up. pretty sad and funny at the same time, huh?

for obvious reasons, i have no desire to eat at mcdonald's anymore. but i still seek comforts of home. making a vegan meatloaf is surprisingly easy. pictured in this entry is the annie eggplant loaf, named for annieeggplant from the ppk. paired with this main dish is a very special serving of lac-taters, named for vegantwins--someone who used to be on the forum, but is gone. i miss her dearly.
the potatoes are mashed with skins, blended with kale, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil, dill, tofutti sour supreme, and just a splash of soy milk. it's pretty hard to mess up mashed potatoes. the name lac-taters comes from the galactagogue properties of the kale and dill. what's a galactagogue? it's an edible that promotes healthy lactation in nursing mothers. fyi: if you are nursing you'll want to steer clear from foods with basil, mint, parsley, and sage. i know, i know--BOO! no worries if you're not nursing--eating these foods won't make you lactate. you won't wake up like meatloaf's character in fight club.
the meatloaf has eggplant, panko bread crumbs, baby food oatmeal, shredded carrots, garlic, lentils, and spices. you can design your own awesome loaf by visiting jennifer mccann's magical loaf studio. the possibilities are endless! topping it all of is my signature miso happy gravy.

for those of you who have visited the magical loaf studio, what combination has been the best so far? the worst?

thanks so much for your continued support--please keep spreading the 1 million hit mission to everyone you know! whether you actually like me or vegan food-(or not) we can all safely agree that helping others is an awesome thing to do. will i make the mark? i'm starting to get doubtful, but that doesn't mean i won't give it my all. for those who are new to my blog, i'm trying to get 1 million hits by december 1st so i can donate 1/2 of my foodbuzz paycheck to my local food bank. i still plan on donating half to them regardless, but i really wanted the specific goal of donating $1,500 dollars to them. won't you help me by visiting the site every day? i receive $3 for every thousand hits. last time i checked, i was at 12k hits=$36.