Vegan Shepherds Pie

Last night I was looking for a hearty, stick to your ribs kind of a dinner so I decided to make a vegan shepherds pie. Usually I would make two separate meals because my boyfriend eats meat but I decided that that would just be too much work since making a shepherds pie take a while already. It turned out really well. My boyfriend knew it wasn't meat cause I told him but he said he really really liked it. The only change I would make for next time is to cut out the Worcestershire sauce because the veggie meat replacement I used already has a lot of flavour in it.

Here's what you need:

1 lbs ground beef replacement (I used Yves)
1 onion chopped
1-2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas (to save time and work I used frozen mixed veggies)
1 1/2 - 2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)

1/4 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

2 tsps vegetable oil (I used olive)
Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice


What you do:

1 Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes).

2 add oil to frying pan.

3 Saute onions in oil (5 mins). Add vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat replacement has initially cooked. If frozen you don't need to worry about that

4 Add ground beef replacement and saute (8 mins). Add salt and pepper. Add Worcestershire sauce (or don't). If it is getting dry you can add some vegetable stock.

5 Mash potatoes in bowl with soy milk, season to taste.

6 Place meatless mixture in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. This is not meant to be smooth or neat, play around a bit

7 Cook in 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown the top.

It Serves fourish. My boyfriend was really hungry so it was pretty much gone by the end of the night.

Enjoy!

Worried about protein and nutrients

Does anyone know how much protein you should have per day???? I have been eating a vegan diet for a couple of weeks straight now and I'm feeling really great but I know I'm not eating very much protein. Does anyone have simple high protein vegan recipes (wow that was specific). I don't know how credible this particular source is but I have been finding a lot of article along the same lines as this one http://chetday.com/strictvegandiet.htm. I have also found articles opposite on websites that promote veganism, so thats kind of biased. Has anyone found any clinical evidence that veganism can cause nutritional deficiencies???

Happy Halloween Everyone!!!

BOO!

Every Halloween I cook a themed dinner because I'm cheesy like that. Anyway, this year and in keeping with my Vegan diet, I decided that we would have worms and eyeballs for dinner, along with witches brew to drink. This actually worked out really well. I have to admit its not totally 100% vegan because after I bought the veggie meatballs at the store I realized that they contained modified milk ingredients (whatever that actually means).

As you can probably guess by now worms and eyeballs is better known year round as spaghetti and meatballs. I cooked the whole wheat spaghetti like normal and with the meatless meatballs, I waited for them to defrost a bit so that I could press little slice of olives into them to resemble eyes. hahaha. Yea I'm totally cheesy but it turned out really well and it was fun. Anyway I really need to get back to my witches brew a.k.a beer with red food colouring (the best part).

Everyone be safe tonight!!!

Skinny Bitch is a bitch!

Alright so its harder than I thought it was going to be. Do you know how many foods that you dont think would have animal products in it have animal products in it. Grocery shopping takes way longer than usual and so does planning and making meal (nutritious meals anyway).

Aside from this, I haven't cheated and I am feeling great. I don't feel bloated after I eat and I never get too full. Since I was having soo much trouble coming up with meal ideas i decided to take a look on the internet to find some quick, nutritious, vegan recipes to try and there are a tone of websites out there. One site in particular I found really helpful because all of the product were easy to find and there were good suggestions http://www.vegan-food.net/. Another had a ton of recipes that look really great but I haven't actually found the time to make a meal from scratch lately.

Tried Skinny Bitch Recipe

"Chicken" Noodle Soup

What you need

1 tablespoon refined coconut oil
1 carrot, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 celery stalk, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 onion, cut into 1/2-inch dice4 ounces
white or cremini mushrooms, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon curry powder
1 bay leaf
8 cups vegan "chicken" stock (hot water mixed with vegan bouillon according to package directions)
2 teaspoons Bragg's Liquid Aminos (or 1 1/4 teaspoons tamari or soy sauce)
8 ounces vegan "chicken" strips or chunks (if frozen, no need to thaw)
4 ounces whole wheat or brown rice pasta

What you do

Heat the coconut oil in a four-to six-quart stockpot over medium heat. Add the carrot, celery and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp tender -- about two minutes. Add the mushrooms, salt, pepper and curry powder and cook until the mushrooms release their juices -- about two minutes. Stir in the stock, Bragg's Liquid Aminos and bay leaf. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil. Add the vegan chicken and pasta. When the soup returns to a boil, reduce to a simmer. Cook until the pasta is tender.

This was a pretty good alternative to actual chicken soup, and clearly more healthy. I didn't go with all the ingredients exactly because I didn't have everything. I didn't use the bay leaf, my vegan chunks were tofu, and instead of coconut oil I used olive oil. Oh yea and I don't even know what liquid braggs aminos or cremini mushrooms are! lol.

I used to make chicken noodle soup a lot during the cooler whether and I used rice instead of pasta. I might try rice with this recipe instead of the pasta next time.