{SHEPHERDS' PIE}

Our cousin, Lucy, just shared this recipe with us. It's yummy!

{Mashed Potato Topping}

6 medium potatoes

1 T vegan bullion

soymilk

salt and pepper to taste

{Filling}

1 medium onion, chopped

3 carrots, chopped

1 c spinach, chopped

1 can diced tomatoes (I blended these.)

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2 c cooked lentils, slightly mashed (1 c dried)

1/2 t basil

1/2 t salt

1 T soy sauce

{Layer on top of Filling}

2 cans green beans

1 can corn

{Sprinkle over Mashed Potatoes}

2 T nutritional yeast

freshly ground pepper

• Cook lentils.

• Boil potatoes in water & vegan bullion until soft.

• Meanwhile, in a saucepan, saute onions and garlic until soft.

• Add the carrots and cook until soft. (Add water as needed.)

• Add the spinach, tomatoes, mashed lentils, basil, salt, and soy sauce.

• Allow to simmer, uncovered, until the liquid cooks off.

• In a large bowl, mash together the potatoes, soymilk, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

• Preheat oven to 350.

• Pour lentil mixture into a 9x13 baking dish.
• Layer with corn and beans.
• Layer with potatoes.
• Sprinkle nutritional yeast and pepper on top.
• Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

Note: I think next time I'll try cooking the whole lentil mixture at once in the pressure cooker. I'll let you know how it goes. I think I will also broil the whole thing for 5 minutes or so after it bakes, so the top is a little crispy.

Pressure Cooker Instructions:

As promised, I tried cooking the filling in the pressure cooker. It worked great! The only thing you may not like as well is the really soft carrots. If you don't want them that soft, just steam the carrots separately.

• Put all filling ingredients plus 1 1/2 to 2 cups liquid (including tomato liquid) in pressure cooker. (Do not precook lentils; use 1 cup dry lentils.)

• Cook on high pressure for 10 minutes, natural release.

• Follow assembly and baking instructions above.

{PICO DE GALLO}

This is one of our favorite meals. It's amazing how good simple natural foods can taste when they are flavored right! (The picture is of my daughter's plate- she wanted me to take a picture of hers)

10 roma tomatoes

1/2 onion

1 bunch green onions

1 bunch cilantro

1 1/2 t. garlic (or a little more if you love garlic!)

1/2 T. apple cider vinegar

juice of 2 limes

salt to taste


brown rice
black beans
avocados
corn
pecans
tortilla chips

• Chop everything up and combine it in a bowl.
• Serve with brown rice, black beans, avocados, corn, pecans, and chips

{BLUEBERRY FLAX SMOOTHIE}

I got this recipe off of Dr. Fuhrman's website. It is really delicious!

2 c. fresh or frozen blueberries

3/4 c. soy milk*

1 T. flax seeds

3-6 dates (depending on how big they are)

• Put ingredients in blender and blend until smooth.

*You can use other kinds of milk (I used rice milk today)- it will just change the texture slightly depending on the thickness of the milk. I also add more milk sometimes. It blends easier but then it's less like icecream, so it just depends on what you feel like.

In case you forgot how incredibly good blueberries are for you, I got the below info from Dr. Fuhrmans' website too. They are really good for your heart and also for diabetes. Eat up!

One cup of blueberries contain 80 calories and a whole pint gives you about 225 calories. Like all other foods, the calories in blueberries come from its macro nutrients - 56 grams of carbohydrate, 1.5 grams of fat and 2.7 grams of protein. But it is blueberries' micro nutrient content that packs the most impressive wallop. Blueberries are packed with tannins, anthocyanins that have been linked to prevention - and even reversal - of age related mental decline and anti-cancer effects.

The flavanoids in blueberries -- catechin, epicatechin, myricetin, quercetin, ankaempferol -- are a mouthful of strangely spelled words, but more importantly, they are extremely valuable for superior health. And remember, phytochemicals are not optional nutrients; they are essential for normal function of your immune system.

{AVOCADO WHIP CREAM}

My daughter wanted gingerbread cake with applesauce and whip cream for her birthday. I decided to mess around with Avocados and soymilk and see what we could come up with. It kind of tasted like pistachio ice cream! It worked well for this dessert and I think there are a lot of things that you could use it for in place of whip cream. I'm not a huge fan of the soy whip cream which is why I wanted to try something new. It's far from being perfected because I've only tried it once, but it was good enough to use it again and maybe mess around with it to come up with other versions. It's not lowfat but still healthier than most other options. It does have a green tint but it looks pretty in real life (I know the picture doesn't look great!)

1 1/2 c. soy creamer

1 avocado

1/8-1/4 t. stevia (equal to about 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar)

• Put all ingredients in blender and blend (I used the sauces button on my Blendtec)

*You might be able to whip more air into it if you blend it longer but I didn't really experiment too much because of time. We weren't using it right away, so I stuck in the freezer for about 30 minutes and then when we were ready to eat I blended it up one more time.

{ CORN CHOWDER }

Mom added some stuff to this recipe, and we like it as well or better than the original:

water to saute
1/4 c. sweet red pepper, finely diced
1 c. onion, chopped


3 c. potatoes, diced
1 c. carrots, chopped
1 c. celery, chopped


3 c. water
1 T. Better-than-Bullion no Chicken broth (or vegan broth powder)
1 t. Mrs. Dash, Spike, or other herb blend
1 t. garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 t. salt


3 1/2 c. frozen corn
2 c. non-dairy milk

• Saute onions and sweet peppers in water until onions are transparent.
• Add potatoes, carrots, and celery, and continue to saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.
• Add water, bullion, salt, and Mrs. Dash.  (The water will barely cover the potatoes.)
• Simmer for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through.  Stir often to prevent potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan.
• Blend non-dairy milk and 1 1/2 c. corn until very smooth.
• Just before serving, add remaining 2 c. corn and the cream mixture and heat through.  Do not boil.

I don't remember where we got this recipe. (Joanne?) It's a good one. I made some changes to the original to make it thicker (more chowder-like). I'll put the original recipe in parenthesis.

1/4 c sweet red pepper, finely diced (1-2 T)

1/2 large onion, chopped

6 c potatoes, peeled and diced (3 c red potatoes)

3 c water

1 T vegan "chicken" bullion or powder

1 t Mrs. Dash, Spike, or other herb blend

1 t salt

3 1/2 c frozen corn

2 c soymilk

• Saute the onions and sweet peppers in water in the bottom of a large pan. Cook until onions are transparent.

• Add the potatoes and continue to saute for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

• Add the water, bullion, salt, and Mrs. Dash. The water will barely cover the potatoes.

• Simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. Stir often to prevent the potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

• Blend soymilk, 1 1/2 c of the corn, and 1 c of the cooked potatoes in a blender until smooth and creamy. (The blended potatoes are not in the original recipe.)

• Just before serving, add the remaining 2 c corn to the broth and vegetables. Simmer until the corn is hot.

• Add the cream mixture and heat through. Do not boil.

Note: For an even thicker soup, add 1 T cornstarch to the blended mixture.

Pressure Cooker Instructions:

I made this last night in the pressure cooker. I changed some of the liquid and spice amounts. (The changes are bolded below.) It turned out great! I also made these biscuits.

1/4 c sweet red pepper, finely diced

1/2 large onion, chopped

6 c potatoes, peeled and diced

1 c water

1 T vegan "chicken" bullion or powder

1/2 t Mrs. Dash, Spike, or other herb blend

1/2 t salt

3 1/2 c frozen corn

1 c soy/rice milk

• Put all ingredients, except the corn and milk, in the pressure cooker.

• Low Pressure, 1 minute, quick release.

• Blend 1 1/2 c. corn, 1 c. milk, and 1 c. cooked potatoes/onions/peppers until very smooth.

• Add blended mixture and remaining 2 c. corn to soup.

{GARLIC LEMON DRESSING}

This is a very easy and very healthy salad dressing. And it's delicious! (Laura, are you the one who found this one? Where?)

1 can white beans, undrained

2/3 c lemon juice

1 t salt

1 t pepper

6-8 garlic cloves

1/8 t stevia

• Blend all ingredients until very smooth. Chill before serving.

{GREEN BEAN CASSEROLE}

Eliza found this one on Fat Free Vegan. Don't be fooled, though; it is NOT fat free. It is, however, delicious. It even got husband approval, which is no small task at my house.

{Beans}

2 quarts water

1 T salt

1 1/2 lbs. fresh green beans, trimmed and cut into bite-size pieces

• Bring water to a boil in a large pot.

• While the water is heating, cut up the beans.

• Add the salt and beans to the boiling water.

• Cover and cook for 6 minutes.

• Drain beans in a colander, and spray for a minute with cold water to stop the cooking.

• Let them sit and drain in the colander.

{Sauce}

10 oz. mushrooms

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pinch cayenne pepper

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

2 T flour

3/4 c vegetable broth

1/2 to 1 T orange juice concentrate (original recipe calls for sherry)

3/4 c soy creamer

• Trim and discard mushroom stems, and chop mushrooms into small pieces.

• Saute mushrooms, garlic, cayenne, salt, and pepper until mushrooms are very soft. (Mushrooms exude enough juice that you don't need to use water, oil, or spray.)

• Whisk the flour into the vegetable broth and add to the mushrooms, along with the orange juice concentrate.

• Simmer, stirring, until mixture thickens.

• Add the soy creamer and simmer until thick (about 5 to 10 minutes).

{Topping}

2 slices whole-grain bread (original recipe calls for 1 1/2 slices)

1 T Earth Balance margarine (optional)

1/8 t salt

1/16 t freshly ground black pepper

3 oz. French fried onions

• Put the bread, margarine, salt, and pepper into a food processor and pulse until crumbly.

• Pour into a bowl and add the onions.

• Stir to combine.

{Assembly and Cooking}

• Preheat oven to 425.

• Spray 9x13 casserole dish and pour in the beans.

• Pour sauce over beans.

• Top with the onion mixture.

• Bake at 425 for 15 minutes.

Note: If you're not serving this right away, refrigerate the topping separately. Allow everything to come back to room temperature before topping the casserole; bake it for about 20 minutes.

{ALCOHOL-FREE WASSAIL}

(Photo plagiarized from here.)

Wassail has been around for a long time. The term started out as an old English saying, "Was hal," which means, "Be hale," or "Be of good health." We have a family holiday tradition of "wassailing." We sit around, sipping wassail, and make toasts to each other, the new year, etc. Here's the recipe.

3 cans apple juice concentrate, prepared normally

1 can orange juice concentrate, prepared normally

1 can pineapple juice concentrate, prepared normally

1/2 c lemon juice

6 cinnamon sticks

15 whole cloves

• Mix all ingredients and simmer for a while. (We just put it in a crock pot and let it warm all day. It smells terrific!)