Lentil Shepherd's Pie

It's been another week of mostly cooking for one on account of Ben traveling for work. Last night I did make a delicious veggie and miso stir fry, but it was a quick meal and I was too tired to note what went into it and to take photos... I was hungry and the meal was gone before I even thought of getting my camera!

But this weekend is the start of hubby's birthday celebrations. His actual birthday is Sunday. He hates his birthday and the most we ever do is invite his parents over and cook, but they had the nerve to disappear to Hawaii this year so we had to get out of our rut (I'm totally not jealous that they're in Hawaii... I just love cold weather and rain!)

Tomorrow night we're off out for a meal, but tonight is a night in. I decided to make shepherd's pie with lentils and mushrooms since I'd seen the recipe somewhere, but when I found said recipe it seemed like too much. I just bought some large ramekins and wanted to make two individual pies for fun, so I made this up and hoped it would work... And it did!

Perfect night in!

Deliciousness was mine (and Ben's) and it was pretty easy. The pies turned out very big so I didn't have to make any veggies to go along with them. You could also double the recipe to make a regular-sized pie if that's what floats your boat.

Underneath the taters....

Lentil Shepherd's Pie

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 cup brown mushrooms, quartered
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup French (green) lentils
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup sharp cheddar, shredded

Sauté onion and garlic in some olive oil for about 2 minutes. Add celery and mushrooms and cook until the onions are translucent.

Add peas and lentils to pan, then pour broth over the top. Add the tomato paste and stir to combine.

Cook for about 20 minutes, or until the lentils are tender and have absorbed most of the water. Meanwhile, boil the sweet potatoes until tender, then mash and add the butter and cheese, stirring well to combine.

Divide the lentil mixture between two large ramekins and top with the sweet potato mixture. Bake in a preheated oven at 400 Fahrenheit for 20 minutes, or until the potatoes start to brown. Eat, and enjoy!

Quick (ish) Friday Dinner

After a long week, I came home with plans to make a curry. These plans were quickly abandoned when I realized I didn't have any canned tomatoes, and the curry I was planning would be impossible without it. So I dug out my trusty cookbooks and found a recipe that looked promising.

The recipe I used is The New Vegan Cookbook, found in the bargain books section of my local bookstore. This was the first recipe I made from the cookbook, although didn't follow the recipe step-for-step. The premise was the same: Kabocha squash stew with Moroccan spices. The original recipe called for spinach, chickpeas and dried apricots, but I had none of these ingredients on-hand, so I used red lentils and dried figs instead. And it turned out deliciously!

Kabocha Squash Stew


1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced into rings
1 1/2 tablespoons peeled, minced fresh ginger
1 1/2 tablespoons ground coriander seeds
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of cayenne (depending upon desired heat)
3 cups vegetable broth
1 teaspoon salt
5 dried figs, sliced
1 cup red lentils, rinsed and drained
1 kabocha squash, seeded and cut into 1-inch cubes (can also substitute another type of winter squash)

Heat olive oil in a skillet and fry onions until tender, about 5 minutes.

Add spices and mix to combine. Cook for about 30 seconds.

Transfer onions and spices into a larger pot if necessary, and add the broth and salt. Bring to a boil, then add the lentils, figs and squash and cook for about 30 minutes, or until squash is tender and lentils are cooked through.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Slow Cooked to Perfection

What to have for dinner on a cold day when you feel like poop? Something made in the slow cooker, obviously. This week an old health issue reared its ugly head. I've had trouble with swollen glands on occasion ever since I had mono in my early 20s, and this week the gland monster showed up to ruin my week. It's just one gland, but it is painful, tender and makes it really difficult to move my head. Luckily, I recently bought the most awesome of slow cookers, with a fancy timer to prevent overlooking.

I had some leftover sweet potatoes, squash and onions lying around, so I chopped them up and threw them in the crockpot for a few hours with some tomatoes and spices. I was fresh out of beans, or I would have thrown some of those in as well. This chili was yummy, comforting, and had a slightly smoky spice thanks to the chipotle chilis I added at the last minute.

I've had this for dinner two nights in a row now, and plan on eating it for lunch tomorrow too. I actually got way too excited about eating it tonight and almost forgot to take a photo, hence the half-eaten bowl and PB sandwich!

Veggie Chili

1 onion, chopped
1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 winter squash (I used buttercup), peeled, seeded and chopped
1 cup frozen corn
1 15oz can chopped tomatoes
4 cups water
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 package taco seasoning
2 chipotle chilies in adobo, chopped

Combine ingredients in a slow cooker and mix well. Cook on low for 6 hours. Serve with wheat berries, brown rice or a plain old PB sammich!

Experimenting with Leftovers

So yesterday was Thanksgiving. Yay! While I didn't grow up with this holiday, I have come to enjoy it since living Stateside. The best part of Thanksgiving, hands down, is the double whammy of homemade stuffing and pumpkin pie. Well this year, Ben's family did not deliver on the pumpkin pie (although they did deliver on the awesome apple pie), but I wasn't about to let that happen to the stuffing. Since it's the absolute best part of the meal, I make it my duty to bring it every year, without fail.

This year I'm not eating meat, so turkey and ham were out for me. But the sides more than made up for it. I made stuffing with celery, onions, carrots, apples and fresh cranberries, plus some veggie sausage. It was delicious, if I do say so myself (and I do!), and I was excited that there were leftovers for me to bring home.

Usually I'll eat leftover stuffing cold straight from the Tupperware, but this year I decided to attempt a meat-free loaf. I made up the recipe myself, which didn't quite turn out as I expected.

Veggie loaf fail!

It was way too moist, so although it was delicious, it wasn't pretty and didn't hold its shape. So, no recipe this time, but I WILL succeed in making a great vegetarian loaf that sticks together without being too mushy!

Bisto makes everything OK

Even though the loaf was weird looking, it was delicious with roasted acorn squash and carrots, and of course, onion gravy made with Bisto gravy granules! How this stuff has not made it to the U.S. I'll never know.

Sweets, Treats and Pizzas

This weekend was a little rushed. Ben is working in Seattle this week, and his flight left this afternoon, so we tried to fit in lots of things together in a shorter-than-usual amount of time. The first point of business: Breakfast.

Yummicilous!

I was such a fan of the steel cut oatmeal we had last week that I decided to make it again this weekend. With the addition of fresh apples, golden raisins and agave nectar we had ourselves an awesome breakfast that kept us both full until lunch. I love it so much I'm making enough tonight to last me through the week!

While I was waiting for my oats to beef up, I decided to experiment with some cereal that was starting to go stale. A couple of months ago I went on a mad cereal-buying spree, and ended up with about 10 boxes of random cereals in my pantry. I ate cereal daily for the longest time, but then I discovered oatmeal and my consumption has since waned. As a result, I had some apple and cinnamon Cheerios in my cupboard for about the last two weeks. I decided to make some cereal bars that we could enjoy through the week. They were easy to make (just nut butter, agave, cinnamon, vanilla and raisins went into the mix) and they are AMAZING!

The magic happening

The finished product

Finally, I decided to make something fun for lunch before Ben left today. I found a recipe for pumpkin pizza on a vegan food blog and knew I had to make it. I followed the recipe pretty closely, but added a few touches of my own. It took time to make, since I always make my own pizza dough from scratch, but it is so completely worth the trouble. The pizza was delicious, nutritious and filling.

Pizza Heaven!

Pre-devouring

And so completes the weekend! Add to these scrumptious meals a pretty bunch of flowers from Ben, a night out with the ladies on Saturday for sushi and drinkies, plus two successful trail runs with Ben and Dougal, and you have yourself a pretty perfect weekend!

What I came home to on Friday :)

Apple and Cinnamon Steel Cut Oats


1 cup steel cut oats
3 cups water
1 cup almond milk
1 apple, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp agave nectar
Handful of golden raisins

Bring water to a boil, then add the oats. Boil for 5 minutes, or until oatmeal starts to thicken, then reduce the heat. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes. Add almond milk and apple and simmer for a further 5-1- minutes, until oatmeal reaches desired consistency. Serve immediately, topping with agave nectar and raisins.

Cheerio Cereal Bars


4 cups cheerios or other leftover cereal
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 cup smooth nut butter
5 tbsp agave nectar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Mix cereal and raisins together in a large mixing bowl.

Melt nut butter in a small saucepan, together with the agave nectar until the mixture is a syrupy consistency. Remove from heat, add vanilla and cinnamon, and pour the mixture over the cereal and raisins. Mix well to coat cereal and raisins.

Spray a baking dish (I used 9x13) with cooking spray and pour the cereal mixture into the dish. Wet fingers and pat down to even out the top. Chill for at least once hour, then cut into 12 equal-sized treats. Wrap each treat in cling wrap and store in the fridge.

Pumpkin Pizza


Adapted from Eating Bird Food

Whole wheat pizza crust
1 tsp olive oil
1/3 cup onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2-3 tbsp hummus (I used homemade baba ghanoush)
1 1/2 cup fresh kale, chopped
1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
1/3 cup sundried tomatoes, sliced
1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup feta or other favorite cheese

Preheat oven to 425 and bake pizza crust for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, saute chopped onions and garlic in a skillet with the olive oil, until golden. Scoop onion mixture into a medium bowl and add pumpkin, basil, oregano, sage, salt and pepper. Mix well.

In the same skillet, saute mushrooms and kale until the kale wilts and reduces in volume.

Spread hummus over the pizza crust, then spread the pumpkin sauce on top. Add kale, mushrooms, sundried tomatoes, beans and onions, then top with feta. Bake for about 8 minutes or until the pizza is done to your taste. Enjoy!