Shepard’s Pie

INGREDIENTS
3 potatoes, boiled and mashed
12 oz bag of frozen mirepoix
16 oz bag of frozen vegetables (my bag contained 7 veggies)
3 cloves of garlic
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
2 teaspoons rosemary
1 teaspoon thyme

DIRECTIONS
Heat water and boil chopped potatoes until soft. While potatoes are boiling heat mirepoix mixture, add frozen vegetables and zucchini. Pour vegetable broth into the vegetables and stir in whole wheat flour, tomato paste and Worcester Sauce. Once you have your sauce mixed into the vegetables add the rosemary and thyme.

Drain boiled potatoes and mash. Stir in some unflavored soy milk, 1 tablespoon of garlic, 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast and pepper. NOTE: I used a mixer to get a nice, smooth consistency in the potatoes. I also left the skins on.

Pour vegetable mix into 9×13 Pyrex pan and spread evenly. Scoop mashed potatoes into pan, smoothing as you go. Top with a sprinkling of paprika. Heat the oven to 400 and cook for 15 minutes.

SOURCE: Inspired by Sharon Basner Oliver from the McDougall Group on Facebook

Lahmucan (Turkish Pizza)

Ingredients:lahmucan
3 Eggplants, roasted
1 onion, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon tamari (or light soy sauce)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 teaspoon kirmizi biber, or combination sweet paprika and cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cumin
handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Dough
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon agave nectar (or other sweetener)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup spelt flour
1 yeast packet

Directions:
Rinse and dry each eggplant and slice them in half. Score each half in a diamond, cross-hatch pattern. Place all 6 halves on wire roasting rack. Heat oven to 400 degrees and cook for 40 minutes.

While the oven is heating up combine all ingredients in order, in a mixing bowl. Using a mixer on a low setting mix dough until it forms a ball. Cover and set dough aside for 40 minutes while the eggplant roasts.

Let the eggplant cool for about 10 minutes. Add the onion and red pepper along with some water, curry powder and tamari and saute for about 10 minutes. Once the eggplant has cool scoop the inside and place in a food processor along with the tomato paste and kirmizi biber. Puree until ingredients are combined. Add the sauteed onion, red pepper and parsley and pulse to break down. The vegetables shouldn’t be completely broken down, but have some minor chucks.

Once the dough as risen, roll it out and divide into 4 separate pieces. With a rolling pin, roll out each piece of dough to resemble a single serving pizza. Top each piece of dough with the eggplant mixture. Cook each Lahmucan for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Serving Size: 4

Nutritional Facts: 1 Lahmucan
Calories: 463
Total Fat: 2.4 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 588.9 mg
Potassium: 1287.8 mg
Total Carbs: 91.8 g
Protein: 16.5 g

Notes: This was also the second time I made Lahmucan, the first time time from Vegan Magic, which I think lacked flavor. I continued reading other sites and saw a pureed eggplant mixture using assorted spices. Not sure the tamari was needed when sauteing the onion and red pepper. If you are not a curry fan, you could probably do without the powder and not lose much flavor.

You can adjust the amounts of flours to your liking. I do want to try spelt and besan. Lahmucan can be eaten folded up, but with the dough recipe above it was not very pliable and the dough ended up tearing as I ate away.

Source: I pulled this recipe together referencing a few different website including Vegan Magic and Food Network. In the ended I combined what I read into my own recipe.

Potacos (Potato Tacos)

Ingredients:Potacos or Potato tacos
4 Russet potatoes, cubed
2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
corn tortillas (I used store brand from Mi Pueblo)
shredded lettuce or cabbage
pico de Gallo
chipotle nayonaise

Directions:
In a small bowl mix the whole wheat flour and spices together and set aside. Peel the Russet potatoes and chop into small, bite size pieces. Drop chopped potatoes in a pan of cold water. Boil the potatoes for 5-7 minutes, remove from stove and drain water. Add the potatoes back to the pain and shake the dry mix over the potatoes. Cover the pan and shack to coat the potatoes with the dry mixture.

Heat the over to 450 degrees. Place the potato pieces on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake potato pieces for 35 minutes. At 17-18 minutes using a spatula oven the oven and turn the potatoes pieces to get a nice even browning.

Take 2 corn tortillas and gently fold them and place them in your toaster (not toaster oven) and push the toaster down. When the time is up, you will have quick and simple taco shells. Fill shells with lettuce or cabbage, drip chipotle nayonaise, added potato chunks and top with fresh pico de Gallo.

Serving Size: 12 tacos

Nutritional Facts: (1 corn tortilla with potato filling)
Calories: 104.3
Total Fat: 1.6 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 54.5 mg
Potassium: 222.9 mg
Total Carbs: 23.1 g
Protein: 2.3 g

Notes: You could simplify this recipe by substituting 1 tablespoon of taco season, instead of mixing your own, but this will add a bit of sodium to the recipe. The potatoes were actually a tater tot recipe from Fifteen Spatulas (see link below), adapted to be spiced up and served as taco filling. I am still working on a oil free version of a chipotle nayonaise. The store bought brands all contain oil in their adobo sauce. Recipe will be posted as soon.

You can also substitute 4 cups of hashed brown potatoes for the Russet potatoes. This saves a bit of time. If you do this, then use 1 tablespoon of whole wheat flour (not 2 TBSP) and mix with your taco seasoning. I also reduced the temperature to 350 for 15 minutes, as these are smaller potato chunks. I think these work better than the larger chucks, but both are tasty.

Source: Fifteen Spatulas

Baked Falafel

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups chickpeas
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon tahini
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper
5 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop the onion and cilantro. Add all ingredients except the cilantro and parsley into a food processor until mixed. Transfer mix to a bowl and add the cilantro and parsley. Roll mixture into 1 1/2″ balls or 2″ patties about 1/2″ think. Place onto baking pan covered with parchment paper.

Bake for 12 minutes on each side, until nicely browned (since it’s baked, only the part actually touching the pan will be browned and crispy).

Serve in pita pockets, with hummus, tahini sauce, tomatoes, lettuce and/or cucumber.

Serving Size: 16-20 balls/patties (depending on size)

Nutritional Facts:
Calories: 61
Total Fat: 1 g
Cholesterol: 0 mg
Sodium: 147 mg
Potassium: 91 mg
Total Carbs: 11 mg
Protein: 2 g

Notes: I have changed this recipe a few times now, using the link below as the base. I have used a small onion and I have used dried, minced onion. The difference being when I added the small, chopped onion to the food processor it did require more whole wheat flour since there was a fair amount of liquid in the onion.

I have also soaked and cooked dry chickpeas and used canned, both yield similar results. I prefer the cooking my own chickpeas, to reduce the sodium level, even after I rinse and drained the canned chickpeas. This does some advance planning, I usually soak the chickpeas for 6-8 hours and then boil them for about 75-90 minutes.

Source: Chow Vegan

Black Bean Brownies

INGREDIENTS:
1 can black beans
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup agave nectar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa (unsweetened)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup oats
2 tablespoons flour (I used whole wheat flour)

DIRECTIONS:
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Pour mixture into a bowl and add the oats and flour. NOTE: I ground up my oatmeal into a flour instead of leaving them as rolled oats. Pour contents into and 8×8 Pyrex pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or when the top is firm to the touch.

SOURCE: Dr. McDougall Discussion Board courtesy of shell1226