Healthy Lentil 'Shepherds' pie

 Today has been a feast day of gorgeous comfort food! I really fancied a shepherd's pie, but of course, without the meat.

Whenever I want something inspired by meat dishes I go for either brown/green lentils or aduki beans. Lentils are much easier and cheaper to get hold of, so are usually the first choice.

I had my organic veg order arrive yesterday. So having planned what we were going to make this week, the shepherd's pie was first on the list!

We always batch bake in this house because I can't cook most days, if I want to cook, someone is always helping, as in I choose the ingredients, sit down and tell them what to cook, and do the taste testing..

Today's meal is definitely a keeper! (I'm getting the hang of writing these recipes down)
Super comforting and super filling! If you need that full feeling without the fear of piling on the lbs,
I really suggest you try this.

So here it is.

Vegan Lentil Shepherds Pie.

You will need.
A large rectangular oven dish
A very big pan, or deep sided wok
2 pans to boil your veg and lentils.

Serves 6-8 people - I made 6 portions, because I like my food!

Ingredients

1 cup dried green lentils
1 leek
1 celery
1 red bell pepper
2 courgettes (zucchini)
400g chestnut mushrooms
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 stock cube or 1 and a half tbsp stock powder in 250ml boiled water
1 tsp turmeric
black pepper
6 slices or grated vegan cheese (optional)

Mash topping.
1 butternut squash
3 mini-medium potatoes

Start boiling the lentils.
In a food processor, blitz the celery and leek till they are very small pieces.
Add to the wok or large pan and with a little oil sweat them down.
Process or chop the mushrooms to how you like them, I used my chunky strip blade on my food processor. Leave to one side.
Chunky chop the courgette and red pepper, add to the celery and leeks, stir and cover the pan,leaving it for 5 minutes to sweat down. Add the chopped mushrooms and vegetable stock, turmeric, black pepper  and stir.
Once the lentils have softened add to the vegetable mixture and gently mix. leave to simmer on a low heat.

Pre heat oven to 180oC fan

wash the butternut squash and potatoes thoroughly as we will be keeping the skins on.
Once you have washed them, chop into cubes, rinse, add boiling water and simmer till they become soft (about 15-20 minutes)
Drain and mash well, add salt and pepper to taste.

Transfer the lentil mixture to the oven dish,






Then Add the Vegetable mash, layering or sprinkling the vegan cheese on top.

Bake for half an hour, and serve with your favourite green veg. I had peas and kale. and a dollop of mayo!


We even had berry crumble after!






I used chestnut flour, millet, vegan marge and coconut sugar for the crumble topping, and added maple syrup and amaretto to the berries, Seriously naughty!

Seriously stuffed now.

Hope you enjoy this meal as much as I did!


Fancy cake for dessert? Try this Cupcake recipe 

Simple Gluten Free Vegan Chickpea and Mushroom Pie

The easiest and rather cheap pie filling I have ever made! I was really tired and wanted something quick, so I came up with this.
I've yet to perfect gluten and rice free vegan pastry, but it wasn't a bad attempt :-)

Instead of pastry you could add mashed potato, mashed swede and carrot, mashed sweet potato, or even mix the filling with pasta - it's totally up to you!

Serves 4 as a pie

Ingredients:

For the filling:

400g chestnut mushrooms
2 teaspoons gfv boullion or a stock cube
2-4 tablespoons millet flakes/quinoa flakes/oats
tablespoon chia seeds
400g tin of ready cooked chickpeas, or your favourite legume
tablespoon tomato puree
salt and pepper
optional extras...
one medium carrot chopped
25g peas 

chop the mushrooms ideally in a food processor and sweat down in a wok on a medium - high heat
once the mushrooms have become watery, add the boullion, tomato puree, chickpeas, millet flakes and chia seeds - stir.
Add hot water if the mixture looks dry.

Once the chickpeas are heated through it's ready to eat as it is! Serve with mash potato or pasta and veg,

For the pastry that's in the photo...
3 measured tablespoons of each,
buckwheat flour, chestnut flour, almond flour
heaped tablespoon coconut oil
level tablespoon sunflower oil
tsp xanthan gum
tablespoon soya protein powder (optional)
water to bind

Bind the flours and fats together till they form breadcrumbs.
Add water a little at a time, you don't want to mixture to become too wet.
once your dough seems pliable, roll out on greaseproof paper then either bake separately at 200oc for 15-20mins or on top of the filling  at 180oc fan for 20-30mins