Vegan Shepherds Pie

My favorite food is potatoes....any kind of potatoes especially like the purple ones and the Japanese sweet potatoes.  I include potatoes or other healthy starches like rice, legumes, corn or squash in my diet everyday along with 2 pounds of non starchy vegetables and a pound of salad.  So I am chewing a lot!  Hahaha!  It is all about calorie density and eating to the left of the red line.  I eat a bunch calorie dilute foods and add the more caloric dense foods such as starch and eat these until comfortably full.  They keep me satisfied 

and keep my tummy happy.   I usually don't go to this much fuss, most times I just have a baked sweet potato but every now and then I like to make something special.

This recipe was not too complicated and could be made less time consuming by using a bag of frozen mixed vegetables.  I ate this along with a huge green salad.  It was comforting and really very delicious!

 

Vegan Shepherds Pie

For the mashed potato topping

5 potatoes, peeled and chopped

1/2 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup almond milk

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon pepper

For the filling

2 tablespoons garlic, minced

1 onion, diced

3 stalks of celery, chopped

2 carrots, sliced

2 cups mushrooms, chopped into small bits

1 cup corn

1 cup peas

1 cup frozen lima beans

1 can salt free garbanzo beans, processed quickly in food processor to break up a bit...keep them chunky (just takes a couple of seconds)

¼ cup parsley, chopped

1 tablespoon salt free tomato paste

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon sage

1 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon Table Tasty salt substitute or use your favorite

1 1/2 cups salt free veggie broth ( I make my own)

Preheat oven to 425ºF.

Add potatoes to a large pot and cover with water. Set over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook until potatoes have softened and are fork-tender. Remove from heat and drain. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking liquid and one of the potatoes...put the reserved liquid and potato in a blender or processor and blend until creamy...set aside.

In a medium-large pot, over medium heat saute onions until they start to soften add small amounts of water, if necessary.  Add garlic, celery, carrots and stir until onions are translucent adding small amounts of water if veggies start to stick.

Add mushrooms, corn, peas, lima beans, parsley, tomato paste, thyme, sage, table tasty and pepper and mix well. Add veggie stock in half-cup increments, allowing it to come to a simmer before adding more. Stir in your blended potato mixture.  Continue mixing until the mixture thickens. Once thick, remove from heat and pour into a pie dish.

Mash the remainder of the potatoes then add the almond milk, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper. Spoon potato mixture over the top of the veggies in the pie dish, and smooth so that it is evenly spread.

Bake pie for 20-25 minutes . Let sit for 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!