For every “This is amazing!” recipe recommendation on ye ol’ blog, there are a few duds.  Sometimes lots of duds.

Last week saw a couple of “meh” recipes, for sure.  There was one instance in which the recipe called for fresh strawberries, and I used frozen strawberries that were fresh from the farm a few weeks ago.  Close to fresh.  But it turns out that those strawberries turned completely to mush when thawed, which made the meal into a lumpy kind of bulgur wheat strawberry soup.  Yuck.  I’m still working through those leftovers slowly but surely.  The good thing about it is that it leaves your breath smelling like strawberries and mint.  That’s where my compliments end.

Dud number two is what I’m currently eating for lunch.  It wasn’t a total failure.  It’s just that it took a long time to cook, and it involved multiple pans, and I only kind of liked it.  That combo ends up in the dud column for me, because who wants to work on a meal for hours to end up with a “that’s okay” response?  Not me.  Scott did like it, however, so that’s something.  What is this wonderfully “Meh” meal, you ask?  It was Giada’s Vegetable “Meatloaf” with Checca Sauce.  To be precise, it’s Giada’s Mom’s Vegetable “Meatloaf” with Checca Sauce.

So here are my recommendations:

1. Try the lentil loaf, as I like to call it (because that sounds grosser than the real title), if you want to spend a fair amount of time cooking something off the beaten path in the vegetarian world.  It was adventures.  It wasn’t bad.  And it did in fact include all kinds of healthy veggies.
2. Do not try this if you’re thinking, “Meatloaf is easy.  I bet vegetarian meatloaf is easy AND full of healthy stuff AND awesome.”  The first part is just not true.  The second part is absolutely true.  The jury is still out on the awesomeness of the result.
3. Try not to give up on experimenting with new recipes despite possible set-backs.

P.S.  I still love Giada.  It’s just that she and I disagree on the tastiness of lentil loaf.  That’s all.  She probably wouldn’t approve of my massive bowl of cereal for breakfast every morning, so we’ll call it even.