Comfort Food: Very Veggie Shepherds Pie

I've recently discovered the amazing world of reddit. There is such a massive array of topics on there, but as can be expected I went straight for the food. I found a great subreddit called veganrecipes where I occasionally share recipes and find amazing ones as well. I definitely recommend checking it out!

Through that group I found out about a subreddit called 52 weeks of vegan food. Of course I was curious and just had to check it out. Basically there will be a theme for every week for the next 52 weeks and people post recipes. Simple, awesome. Bonus is that I can post about my recipe adventures here and then it gives me less brain work for at least a post a week. Which means more posts! But unlike Vegan MoFo, which is intense, the demand isn't everyday and much much more manageable.

So this week's theme is comfort foods. When I think of comfort foods, two things come to mind: my favorite foods now and my favorite childhood foods. They are quite different from one another.

If this question were asked specifically for now, I would say sushi and a creamy dressing salad, well really mostly any ethnic rice dish tickles my comfort food fancy.

As for childhood foods, shepherd's pie is at the top of the list. Not the prettiest dish, it has many good memories attached of both my mom and grand-mother making them for me and my brothers.

Fortunately veganizing this dish is a cup of tea, although I do love a challenge. Simply replace the bottom layer with lentils and other veggies, a few spices and such. The rest stays the same. I also made this low fat by not using margarine or mylk in the potatoes. Just a little cooking water and god quality potatoes and they are just as creamy.

Very Veggie Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

- 5-6 large potatoes, boiled and mashed with 1/2-1 cup cooking water.

- 2-3 cups corn kernels (I used organic frozen corn)

- 1 medium sweet potato, diced.

- 2-3 medium carrots, diced. 

- 1 medium onion, diced.

- 1 bell pepper, diced.

- 2 can brown lentils, or equivalent cooked.

- 1 tbsp tomato paste

- 1 tsp pepper

- 1 tsp paprika

- 1tsp coriander powder

- 1/4 tsp white pepper

- 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Cook all veggies in this order: onions (2-3 mins) add carrots and sweet potato (4-5 mins), add pepper and lentils along with all the spices. Add water as needed to keep the veggies from sticking. 

When all the veggies are done, put them into a large oven safe glass deep dish. Add the corn on top followed by smoothing out the potatoes. Place into the oven on broil just to heat throughout and brown the top slightly.

Serve as is or with organic ketchup! 

Enjoy! 

Sweet Surrender Zucchini Pasta

This summer has my food cravings going through different seasons every other week. Last week, it was fall, I wanted warmth and density because of the colder days and chilly evening. This week, it's bright and sunny and calls for fresh no-cook meals.

Since I do strive to live a raw lifestyle, with tons of fruit and veggies in their most natural form, I love those days when I just want fresh and raw foods. It's also a perk cause it means not having to turn on the stove or the oven. I find that I get my most creative when experimenting with my raw savoury dinners, where the sky is the limit and I love surprising people with the versatility of raw foods, without even venturing into the gourmet aspect of it.

Right now, almost all I can think of is fresh corn. I've always looked forward to this time of year, simply because I can indulge in mountains of it without killing my wallet. I've gotten more picky about my corn in the last few years though. I prefer local and refuse to eat any of it if I cant be 100% sure that it isn't GMO. So organic is the best way to go, or just talking to the farmers at the local farmer's market where there is tons of organic produce that isn't necessarily certified.

GMO's are a big issue right now, with so little testing being done before they hit the market, and the testing being done is usually solely by the manufacturers, there are too many side effects and unanswered questions for me to justify thinking they are truly safe. There are some great documentaries on the subject, like "The World According to Monsanto", "Seeds of Death" and the like. The independent studies that have been conducted, have shown some effects that I'm not willing to take a chance on!

Onto happier topics.

This pasta is quite delicious and overt-fat-free, although I have been known to add a little avocado now and again. It's incredibly fresh. No boring salads on this table.

Sweet Surrender Zucchini Pasta

Ingredients:

- 2.5 cups corn, raw.
- 1 date, soaked for about 10 minutes.
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1/2 cup water
- Pepper, to taste.

- 4-5 medium zucchini, spiralized or peeled into ribbons.
- 3 medium tomatoes, diced.

Blend all the sauce ingredients in a high powered blender until smooth but still retaining some texture.

In a large bowl, pour sauce onto noodles then add tomatoes. Add extra pepper if desired.

Enjoy!