Vegan Shepherd’s Pie
A classic comfort food recipe that’s healthy, hearty and filling. Bottom layer is chock full of vegetables with corn and kidney beans in a delicious tomato sauce. It’s a great meal all by itself to warm you during the cold winter months.
2 pounds Yukon gold potatoes, cut in chunks
Florets from one head cauliflower
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/2 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1/2 t sea salt
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound of cremini mushrooms, chopped
2 carrots, sliced
2 celery stalks, sliced
1 bunch collard greens, chopped
3 T Kirkland No-Salt Seasoning or other no-salt seasoning
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
2 cups cooked kidney beans
2 cups frozen corn
1 t paprika
2 T April’s Vegan Worcestershire Sauce
Sea salt
Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender. Drain and set aside. Steam cauliflower until tender, then set aside, reserving steam water. In a large pot, saute onion over medium-high heat until it starts to brown. Add garlic and cook an additional minute. Add 1/2 cup water, raw vegetables, and no-salt seasoning. Cook over medium-high heat until vegetables are tender, adding more water if needed to keep from sticking. Add remaining ingredients. Salt to taste. Transfer to a casserole dish. Blend cauliflower with 1/2 cup steam water, seeds, onion powder, garlic powder. Mash blended cauliflower with potatoes. Carefully lay the mashed potato mixture over the cooked vegetables. Sprinkle with paprika. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Deep Dish Tortilla Pie
I’ve been making this tortilla pie for years and it’s always a hit. I often use black beans instead of pinto and swap out the flour tortillas for corn and make it into a Enchilada Casserole.
This recipe is in my cookbook Whole Food Goodness.
1 large onion chopped
2 cloves garlic minced
4 cups chopped broccoli
1 4 oz. can mild green chilies
1 can no-salt diced tomatoes
5 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp oregano
1 6 oz. can tomato paste
2 cups fresh or frozen corn
3 cups cooked pinto beans
Sea salt
4 Ezekiel Tortillas or other whole wheat tortilla
1 Recipe Seed Cheeze Sauce
Sauté chopped onion, over medium-high heat, in large pan until it starts to brown. Add garlic and cook one more minute. Add 1/2 cup water and broccoli and cook until broccoli is tender. Add more water if needed to keep from sticking. Once broccoli is tender, add remaining ingredients up to beans. Cook 5 – 10 minutes. Salt to taste. Add more water if needed for moisture.
In a cast iron skillet, pour Seed Cheeze Sauce to cover the bottom of the skillet. Lay one tortilla in the skillet and top with 1/3 of the vegetable mixture. Drizzle cheeze sauce on top. Do this with the two remaining layers but instead of topping the last vegetable mixture with cheeze, place a tortilla on the top, then cover with remaining cheeze sauce. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes. Serves 8-10.
Chicken Style Cauliflower Gravy
This gravy is wonderful served over Thanksgiving Chic Pea Loaf or Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes. This recipe is from my cookbook Whole Food American Favorites.
1 pound cauliflower florets
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
2 T Chicken Style Seasoning (page 100)
1 1/2 t onion powder
Sea salt
Steam cauliflower in a covered pot with 1/2 cup water until tender. Blend steamed cauliflower, steam water, and remaining ingredients with 1 cup water until smooth. Add 1 more cup of water. Blend to mix. Heat if needed.
Cauliflower Mushroom Gravy
This gravy is great served over my Cauliflower Mashed Potatoes, Thanksgiving Chic Pea Loaf, or Holiday Lentil Loaf, and is in my cookbook, Whole Food American Favorites.
1/2 head cauliflower
1 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
1 cup chopped mushrooms, cremini or white button
1 t dried thyme
Sea salt
Break off cauliflower florets into large pieces and steam in 1 cup water until tender. Transfer cooked cauliflower and steam water to blender jar, along with onion powder, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, and sunflower seeds. Blend until smooth. Set aside. Sauté mushrooms and thyme in 1/4 cup water until mushrooms are tender. Combine the cauliflower mixture with the mushrooms. Stir in more water to reach desired consistency. Salt to taste.
Spaghetti Squash and Millet Marinara
I love to use cooked millet in place of pasta in Italian style dishes. When added to spaghetti squash, it adds a heartiness to the squash and is much more filling. Millet is high in protein, fiber, vitamins, minerals, and is a great source of complex carbohydrates that our body uses for energy! If you want energy, eat a high-carbohydrate diet.
1 spaghetti squash, cooked *
1 cup dry millet, cooked**
Marinara (Use your favorite bottled if desired)
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 24 oz box Pomi tomatoes
1/2 can tomato paste (3 oz)
1 t basil
1 t oregano
1/2 t turmeric (optional)
1/4 t black pepper
*Cook spaghetti squash in the oven at 350 for about 1 hour until soft. I leave it whole. No need to stab it with a knife or anything . Just place it on a baking sheet and turn on the oven. I’ll put this in the oven in the morning while getting ready for work.
**Boil 2 cups water. Add dry millet, turn heat to simmer, cover and cook until tender, about 15 – 20 minutes.
Saute onion in a dry pan over medium-high heat until it starts to brown. Add minced garlic and stir for 1 minutes. Add tomatoes and tomato paste and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a low boil then turn to simmer. Add herbs and spices. Cook 10 or 15 minutes.
Scrape squash strands into a bowl. Add desired amount of millet and top with marinara.
Cream of Broccoli Soup
6 – 8 cups water
2 heads of broccoli with stalks (enough for 4 cups chopped florets)
Florets from 1/2 head cauliflower
1 medium yellow sweet potato, baked (enough for about 1 cups mashed)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 medium carrots, chopped
1 t marjoram
Fresh group pepper as desired
Place 4 cups water in a sauce pan. Cut off stalks from broccoli, trim, slice and place in a sauce pan with 4 cups water. Add cauliflower florets. Cover and steam until tender.
Saute onion in a soup pot or large sauce pan over medium high heat until it starts to brown. Add a little water if needed to keep from sticking. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add celery, carrots, and chopped broccoli florets. Cook until tender.
When cauliflower and broccoli stems are tender, blend with sweet potato, including cook water from vegetables, until creamy. Pour into soup pot. Add more water if needed to thin. Stir in marjoram and pepper and heat through.
Apple Oatmeal Crumble
Oat groats are the whole oat kernel when it comes off the plant. Eating grains in their whole intact form is the most nutritious way to eat them. And oats, in particular, are one of the best foods for restoring a healthy gut. (This is a great interview with Dr. Richard Matthews about this.) And Dr. Tom O’Bryan, who specializes in gut health, says that the pectin in cooked apple skins is more biovailable then raw and is really good to heal the gut. (Video interview with Dr. Tom O’Bryan) He recommends eating a tablespoon of cooked apple 3 times a day. I figure I’ll get it done in one shot with breakfast. It’s a great way to sweeten up the oats. Feel free to add a tablespoon or two of chopped nuts or sprinkle on some flax meal.
Watch my video on how to make this here.
1/3 cup oat groats that have been soaked over night (Sprout them another day and they are even better!)
1 cup water
1 large apple chopped
1/2 cup cranberries (optional)
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t cardmom
2 T rolled oats (optional for creaminess)
1 t honey (optional)
Soak oat groats over night for quicker cooking. In the morning, rinse the groats and place them in a sauce pan, add a cup of water, cover, turn on burner to high and bring to a boil. When it comes to a boil, lower heat to simmer, add cranberries and apple. Cover and cook 15 minutes. Stir in spices and rolled oats if using and let it set for 15 or 20 minutes. Add a little honey for sweetness.
Figgy Oat Bars
After being on an elimination diet for a year I learned to be totally satisfied with fruit for dessert. However, when my fig tree produced an over abundance I wanted to try making some kind of dessert. I took a Banana Oat Bar recipe that I have and used figs instead of bananas, left out the nuts and dates and it worked great!
25 figs, trimmed (leave on skin)
1/4 cup of red flame grapes (For extra moisture and sweet. I had an abundance of them as well.)
2 cups rolled oats
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 T apple cider vinegar
Blend figs, grapes, and vinegar in a high-powered blender until smooth. The seeds in the figs make this very thick. Place oats, baking soda and cinnamon in a large bowl and mix well. Pour pureed fruit over oats and mix so that all the oats are moistened. Transfer batter to an 8 X 8 cake pan and bake at 350 for 15 – 17 minutes. Cool before cutting.
Green Spanish Rice
On an elimination diet I always have cooked rice and sweet potatoes on hand. For this recipe I use the yellow fleshed sweet potatoes instead of orange. They have a firmer texture and believe it or not, replace the texture of beans, which are often not tolerated by those with food sensitivities. This is one of my more advanced stage recipes. I wasn’t able to add tomatoes or chili powder until after a year. When I was finally able, halleluia!
Cooked short grain brown rice
1 small baked sweet potato, cut in 1/2 inch cubes
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped or can chopped tomatoes
1 t turmeric
2 t chili powder
4 cups finely chopped broccoli
1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
1/4 t black pepper
Salt to taste
Sauté onion in dry pan until it starts to brown. Add garlic and cook 1 minutes stirring constantly. Add tomatoes and cook until juicy. Add spices and broccoli. Cook until broccoli is tender. Add sweet potato and desired amount of rice, cilantro and pepper. Heat through if needed. Salt to taste.
A nice addition is chopped almonds or pumpkin seeds.