vegan peanut "meatloaf"

This meatloaf is (mostly) made with peanuts, and no, I'm not talking of the packaging kind- seriously, that'd be disgusting!

There are many things you can use besides meat(whether it be from actual slaughtered animals or grown in a lab) to make a meatloaf like: 

• Beans
• Lentils
• Tofu
• Tempeh
• Nuts

And this includes peanuts, which aren't really a type of nut at all but rather, a kind of legume. 

I first encountered boiled peanuts at Walmart. It looked weird, so I bought a can. Then I bought another on Amazon. And after that, I realized I didn't buy enough cans of boiled peanuts to make a pound of meatloaf because it turns out, the edible peanuts inside the shells are really 40% of the actual peanuts. Luckily, I had some already seasoned peanuts in my cabinet, so I was able to eke out enough servings for 4 meals. 

Boiled peanuts are commonly eaten as a snack down South, especially in Georgia and Alabama. But they're salty AF, which is why it's better to use one of those cheap peanut butter brands like Jif or Skippy and not an unsweetened version, because the former has sugar in it and while that's normally a bad thing, it isn't with this recipe! It helps to season it with Cajun seasoning to to get the real authentic Southern experience, but it will suffice if you only have chili powder on you like yours truly. 

The prep is worse than the actual event of making of the "meatloaves" in terms of time required. I can say the same thing about colonoscopies, actually, but at least with this recipe, I'm doing this because I want to and not because my gastroenterologist says I have to(I have had 3 done in my short lifetime and it's not fun shitting your brains out on the 🚽, which is why I hate Gatorade). Sorry for the unappealing image I just put in your head. 

I'll tell you this much, if you're going to make a grain-free bread, I highly recommend using peanut or pistachio flour because they're really good at holding things like meatloaves together. 

The "meatloaves" tasted like...peanuts, duh! Specifically, a lot of creamy peanut butter, softened boiled peanuts, a hint of chili powder, and lots of dill pickles from the seasoned, roasted peanuts I used to bulk up the recipe. 

My dad tasted peanut butter, which he liked, given he's apt to eat a PB&J sandwich three times a week but he said the peanuts themselves were bland, presumably the boiled kind. Sadly, he spit out the meatloaf. He didn't like the aftertaste, which I'm guessing was the dill pickle seasoning. 

HELPFUL LINK: Peanut Flour: amzn.to/2VA30DV

You will need: 

16-32 oz. canned, boiled peanuts
Pinch of onion powder
Pinch of chili powder or Cajun seasoning
2/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter(highly recommend Jif or Skippy, not unsweetened peanut butter)
1 cup peanut flour(see HELPFUL LINK)

To prepare the peanut(this should take about 45-50 minutes per pound of boiled peanuts): 

1. Shell each and every peanut by cracking them in half with either bare hands or a nut cracker. The greener peanuts are harder to crack than the tanner peanuts.
2. Extract the nuts inside the peanuts and place in a large bowl. Dispose of the shells- they're inedible. 
3. If you only get a shell with no peanuts inside, just squirt the juices out from the shell and into the large bowl before disposing of the shell.
4. Do not shell any blackened peanuts, they're rotten, so just dispose of them!

For the "meatloaf":

1. Add the rest of the ingredients to the bowl with the shelled peanuts and mix all the ingredients up until you get a firm, rectangular mixture. 
2. Spray a lasagna pan with nonstick cooking spray. 
3. Form 2 loaves from the "meatloaf" mixture in the lasagna pan. 
4. Bake the "meatloaves" in a 300℉ oven for 10-20 minutes. You don't want to leave them in too long at a higher temperature because then the peanut butter will start to melt and all you'll be left with are some seasoned peanuts. 

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