Last Thanksgiving, I tried my hand at making a meatless loaf. Actually, I tried to make two that would complement each other as an entree for the sole vegetarian in our group. Going through my photo archive I found that I had some nice pix taken by Chris McNDP on his fancy new camera. Also, thanks to Miss Julia for the bag of grits, all the way from North Carolina.

Anyways, here is the recipe and a couple of photos of my Grits and Greens Loaf.

Grits and Greens Loaf

3 tbsp unseasoned dry breadcrumbs
2 pkg chopped frozen spinach
3 tbsp butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
3 cups skim milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne
1 cup uncooked grits
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350.

2. Generously butter a loaf pan and sprinkle the bottom and sides with breadcrumbs. Thaw and squeeze excess moisture out of spinach.

3. In medium skillet, heat 1 tbsp of butter. Carefully cook onion and garlic until tender. Add spinach and cook further for about 2 minutes. Set aside.

4. In a 1.5l suacepan, bring milk, salt, pepper and cayeene to slow boil. Stir in grits, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring constantly until grits are thick. Stir in remaining 2 tbsp of butter, cheese and spinach mixture.

5. In a small bowl, beat the eggs. Whisk in about 1 cup of grits mixture to warm the eggs. Blend the egg mixture back into grits suacepan.

6. Pour mixture into loaf pan. Place pan in larger pan half filled with water. Bake until firm, puffed and golden, about 45-55 minutes. Let stand about 10 minutes before serving.

I served this with a vegetarian mushroom and onion gravy as well as an attempted Sweet Potato and Tofu loaf (which didn't turn out).


It was very tasty and a great addition to the Thanksgiving feast at Gangster and Sarah's.