It's That Time of Year…..

It's vegan time of year for us again! I had plenty of cookies and cheese over the holiday season to warrant another January detox. I am having fun trying new recipes, eating more greens and trying the various vegan restaurants in NYC.  So far my favorite recipe was vegan banana bread but we ate it so quickly I didn't get to take a picture. I'll try to make it again soon and post it with pictures. This weekend I made a Vegan Shepard's Pie that came out really well and was fairly easy.

Ingredients

1 onion

1 tbs olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 ½ cup veggie broth

¾ cup beer (I used a Left Hand Milk Stout)

2 tablespoons tomato paste

3 medium potatoes

½ cup soymilk

½ cup mushrooms

3 celery stalks

3 carrots

1 parsnip

½ cup frozen corn

½ cup frozen peas

fresh rosemary

½ tsp fresh pepper

½ tsp curry

¼ tsp cumin

½ tsp coriander

½ tsp turmeric

Optional: Breadcrumbs for topping

Optional: Daiya Mozzarella for the top

Method

1.     Boil chopped and peeled potatoes in a large pot.
2.      While the potatoes are cooking, sauté onion in 1 tbs olive oil until translucent.
3.      Add carrots, celery, and parsnip. Sauté 2 minutes.
4.     Add mushrooms. Sauté 2 minutes.
5.      Add spices.
6.      Add ½ cup vegetable broth to the pan and cover on medium heat. This way you don’t have to use so much oil, vegetables will cook using the water.
7.     In a separate bowl combine 1 cup vegetable broth, ½ cup beer, 3 tbsp of flour, and tomato paste and whisk.
8.      While the vegetables are cooking, return to the potatoes.
9.      Drain potatoes when they are soft and blend them (using an electric mixer) with soymilk and pepper.  Set aside.
10.  When the vegetables in the pan are soft enough to sick a fork through the carrots and celery, add the mixed vegetable broth, beer, flour, and tomato paste. Continue to cook in pan until a thick gravy forms.
11.  Place the vegetable mixture in a tall baking dish or brownie pan.
12.  Place the mashed potatoes on top.
13.  Top with breadcrumbs and bake for 35 minutes at 375 degrees.