Sarah's Shepherd's Pie

There are many Shepherd's Pie recipes out there.  This is my version.

Ingredients:
Leftover mashed potatoes
OR
about 2 lbs potatoes
butter, cream, garlic, salt, etc (for the mashed potatoes)

1 lb ground beef
2 T butter
2 T flour
3/4 - 1 C beef stock
4 T tomato paste
1/2 t salt
1/2 t pepper
2 t Worcestershire sauce
onion powder or dried onion or diced onion
~2C frozen mixed vegs (or diced vegs of your choice)
cheddar cheese (1-2 cups or so?)
paprika

1. If making mashed potatoes, peel and cut potatoes.  Boil in water until tender (15-20 min)
2. Brown ground beef.  Drain fat.   Add minced onion if desired.  Move the beef to one side (or in a separate pot), melt butter and flour.  Add in beef stock then stir in sauce with the beef.  Add in Worcestershire, onion powder, salt, pepper, tomato paste and vegs.  Add more stock if necessary to make a good gravy to coat the meat and vegs.
3.  Mash potatoes.  Add butter, cream, garlic, salt, etc.
4. Put beef and veg mixture into a baking dish (about 3qt).  Cover with a thin layer of cheddar cheese.  Top with mashed potatoes.  Sprinkle the top with paprika.

Bake at 350F for 20 min.

Corned Seitan & Cabbage

I wish I didn't just see this recipe today...I wanted to put it on here so I can find it next year. I've never made it but I do love reubens so maybe I'll try it before next March. (The original post said the leftover make great reubens.)


Corned Seitan and Cabbage
Look for pickling spices in the spice aisle in your supermarket. From Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson © 2010.
Tip: For extra flavor, try replacing 1 to 2 tablespoons of the water in the seitan mixture with 1 to 2 tablespoons of pickle juice (from a jar of dill pickles).

1 sweet yellow onion, coarsely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 large carrot, cut into 1/4-inch slices or 1 cup baby carrots, halved lengthwise
1 small head cabbage, sliced, reserving 2 large leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 cups vital wheat gluten
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 1/2 cup water, or more as needed
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon coarse brown mustard
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 teaspoons pickling spices
1 pound Yukon Gold or small red potatoes, halved or cut into chunks if large
1 cup vegetable broth

1. Lightly oil the insert of a large oval slow cooker or spray it with cooking spray. Arrange the onion, garlic, carrots, and sliced cabbage in the bottom of the slow cooker. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
2. In a large bowl, combine the vital wheat gluten, onion powder, coriander, allspice, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Add the water, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of the mustard, and vinegar. Mix well, adding a little more water if the mixture is too dry, then knead for 2 minutes until smooth. Shape the seitan to fit inside your cooker.
3. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 3 tablespoons mustard and the sugar until well blended, then spread evenly on top of the seitan. Sprinkle the pickling spices on top, pressing them with your hand to imbed them in the mustard mixture.
4. Carefully place the seitan in the cooker on top of the two reserved cabbage leaves. Arrange the potatoes around the seitan. Pour the broth over the potatoes and season them with salt and pepper. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook on Low until the seitan and vegetables are cooked, 7 to 8 hours.
5. To serve, remove the vegetables and seitan from the slow cooker. Cut the seitan into slices and arrange them on a serving platter. Surround with the vegetables and spoon the cooking liquid over all. Serve hot.

Note: This is best when made in a larger cooker to accommodate vegetables, but if you have a smaller 4-quart slow cooker, you can still make this recipe—just use half the amount of vegetables so you do not overfill the cooker. Alternatively, you can cook the potatoes and cabbage in the oven or on top of the stove and just use the slow cooker to cook the seitan on top of the onion and cabbage leaves (these give added flavor to the seitan and help hold its share), adding the vegetable broth and garlic.

Red Lentil Artichoke Stew

We made this a few nights ago and even the kids liked it. It was delicious over rice, but would be nice with quinoa or pasta as well. Source: The Vegan Table by Colleen Patrick-Goudreau.

oil or water (for softening onions, etc.)

1.5 cups water

2 med. yellow onions, diced

2-3 lg. garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. ground coriander

1 cup dry red lentils, rinsed

1 bay leaf

2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1 can (24-28 oz.) chopped tomatoes, undrained

1 15 oz. can quartered artichoke hearts, drained

1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

Heat 1 Tbsp. water or oil in a soup pot over med. heat and saute onions until softened.

Add garlic, cumin, and coriander, and cook 2 more minutes, adding more water if necessary. Add remaining 1.5 cups water, lentils, bay leaf, lemon juice, tomatoes with liquid, artichoke hearts, and crushed red pepper, and bring to a boil.

Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 30 min., or until lentils are tender. Add more water if stew becomes too thick.

Discard bay leaf and season with salt and pepper.

This lasted our family of four two nights of dinner plus one lunch serving the third day. Easy and yummy.

Quinoa Salad

Prepare Quinoa:

1c quinoa, rinsed

2c water 

Bring water and quinoa to boil. Stir, cover and reduce to simmer for 10-15 minutes until all the water is absorbed. Remove from heat, fluff with fork. (I let it cool before mixing with other ingredients)

Saute 1 medium onion, 1 red pepper and 1 yellow pepper in coconut oil until soft. Add to quinoa with 3 small tomatoes (diced), feta cheese, a cup of black beans. Stir in with olive oil and white balsamic vinegar. Salt and pepper to taste. 

YUMMMM!!!! Daniel loved it even more than I expected. It ended up making a huge batch! 

Vegan Corn Chowder

I modified this recipe from All Recipes. I used almond milk instead of soy milk. I love love love corn chowder and this was delicious. Bizarrely, there were no potatoes in the original recipe. I would also consider making this with sweet potatoes. This could feed a family of four and still have leftovers. Add a loaf of bread and a salad and you've got two meals.

I also stirred in 1/3 cup of TVP crumbles. Could have put in a 1/2 cup or more. So I ended up with corn chowder with chik'n.


2 tablespoons of olive oil or some cooking spray
1 small onion, chopped (I forgot this)
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 cups water
3 cups corn (or a whole bag of frozen corn)
2 cups soy milk or almond milk (maybe other plant milk?)
1 tablespoon cornstarch (mix with water for a slurry)
1 teaspoon dried parsley (I only had fresh)
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper

Directions

Spray pot with cooking spray. Stir in onions and celery; cook until just slightly golden. Stir in carrots, raw potato and garlic; cook until garlic is slightly golden.
Add two cups of stock, bring to a boil and let boil until potatoes are fork tender...10 minutes or so. If you forgot the onion in the first step, then cut a tablespoon sized chunk of dried onion powder off a blobulous old hunk you have in a baggie and drop it in the pot. Add water, if necessary. Reduce heat to low, and pour in 1 cup milk. Stir soup well, then stir in remaining 1 cup milk. Quickly stir in slurry. Stir in parsley, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until chowder thickens, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Split Pea & Barley Soup

I love this soup. I didn't have barley the first time and made it with wild rice. It was great but I love it more with barley. It's from allrecipes.com but I am adding my modifications. I just throw the garlic, onion and bay in at the same time as the water and I've changed the recipe below to have the carrots and other veggies go in 90 minutes before it's done. not 60. Doubles very easily.

Ingredients

* 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
* 1 onion, chopped
* 1 bay leaf
* 3 cloves garlic, minced (or garlic powder, to taste)
* 2 cups dried split peas
* 1/2 cup barley
* 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
* 8 cups water
* 3 carrots, chopped
* 3 stalks celery, chopped
* 3 potatoes, diced (left them out once, used turnips once, LOVED the latter)
* 1/2 cup chopped parsley (I forgot this the second time)
* 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
* 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium high heat, saute the oil, onion, bay leaf and garlic for 5 minutes, or until onions are translucent. Add the peas, barley, salt and water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, parsley, basil, thyme and ground black pepper. Simmer for another 1.5 hours, or until the peas and vegetables are tender.

Curried Cauliflower

You can use frozen or fresh cauliflower for this recipe.

20 oz. frozen cauliflower florets or 1 small head cauliflower, chopped into florets
1 tsp. curry powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
salt
oil

Steam the cauliflower until its just getting tender. Move it to a saute pan or wok, with a bit of your preferred oil - mine are canola or olive oil. Liberally sprinkle with salt, then the spices. Add more spice if you like. Saute and stir about five minutes until every floret is coated with curry and done to your liking.