Shepherd's Pie

Some of what I ate this week and a recipe! You guys have to try the recipe, it's sooo good. Not to, you know, toot my horn or anything...

faux chicken burger

some Greek food

nachos using Follow Your Heart cheese. I decided to it because I'm not a big Daiya fan. I know, weird. I just find it too over powering. Follow Your Heart (at least the mozzarella, I haven't tried the cheddar) is the opposite. The flavour is very subtle. it doesn't melt as easily but I like it. Even my husband likes it and he normally hates vegan cheese. 

I ate tons of watermelon this week

Menchie's! Two kinds of sorbet topped with fruit, carob chips, coconut and cinnamon.

mushroom stroganoff from Chloe's Kitchen cookbook and a salad with Annie's Goddess dressing.

Lots of smoothies this week too. This one was almond milk, flaxmeal, frozen pineapple, frozen banana and cinnamon.

Recipe time!

So, as a kid my mom would sometimes make shepherd's pie but I wasn't a huge fan of it. I had texture issues with food growing up so I didn't like the chewy veggies mixed with the mashed potatoes, I guess. As an adult, I try to re-try foods to see if I like them now (and I often do) so I decided to make shepherd's pie. Of course, it's vegan now but I did make a point to keep it somewhat traditional...ish. I don't normally buy vegan "ground beef" as it doesn't really appeal to me but I did for this. I tried a new (to me) brand, Yves. I am really liking the Yves products as far as faux meats go! Quite tasty. Okay, onto the recipe which I think it goes without saying I found to be a big success! I even had seconds. No texture issues to be found.

Vegan Shepherd's Pie (also gluten-free)

Ingredients:3-4 Russet (or other) potatoes

2 1/2 cups almond or milk plus a little bit for potatoes

2 tbsp vegan margarine (or just 1 if you don't want any in the mashed potatoes)

1 tbsp flour (use rice flour or other gluten free flour if you want this gluten-free)

1 chopped up garlic clove

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 carrot cut into small pieces

1/2 chopped up zucchini

1/2 cup chopped up broccoli

1/2 package of Yves "ground beef" or substitute with more veggies or tofu

1 tsp Italian herbs

pepper and extra sea salt to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350F.

First, make your mashed potatoes. Boil the potatoes until a knife easily cuts through them. Drain. Mash with as much sea salt, vegan margarine and vegan milk you desire.

Sautee your garlic for a minute and then your "meat". Cook until heated through. Now add your veggies and cook until soft (10min or so). 

Melt 1tbsp vegan margarine in a pot and then add the flour. Whisk until mixed and thick. Slowly add your milk, whisking in between, until a thick sauce forms. Add the nutritional yeast and salt/pepper.  Add the veggie/meat mixture to the sauce. 

Stir and then pour into your casserole dish. 

Top with mashed potatoes and cook for 30min.

The top will turn golden at the edges and be a bit crunchy. Mmmm.

 Dig in!

 You can easily double this recipe and cook it in a full size casserole dish. The leftovers are amazing.

Oh and I finally finished Insanity! I was so ready to be done with that. haha Great program but I just grew bored of it after about 5 or 6 weeks. I actually didn't think there was a big difference in how I looked before I started Insanity vs now until I saw the pictures. I definitely am "smaller", more toned, a bit more muscular etc.  Don't mind the weird "tan" it was just the flash of the camera indoors.