Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

So, I've got some leftover potatoes in a bag. And a bunch of vegetables. I decided to make shepherd's pie. I think because it was part of a challenge on Top Chef last week. And it's finally not 91 degrees here.

I looked up a bunch of recipes on the 'net, and the one common thread was "use whatever you've got". So, here goes:

Veggie Shepherd's Pie (most veggies are from CSA, and hence the amts are estimates)
1/2 cup dry brown lentils: 0.25
1 T. canola oil: 0.03
3 small carrots, diced: 0.30
1/2 red onion, diced: 0.25
2 small summer squash, diced: 0.40
1 small bell pepper, diced: 0.50
1 cup frozen peas: 0.60
1/2 pt. cherry tomatoes, quartered: 1.50
2 cloves garlic: 0.10
1 Tbsp soy sauce: 0.10
pepper and sage to taste: 0.15
1 piece veggie bouillon: 0.50
1 T. cornstarch

1.5 lbs potatoes: 0.20
1/2 cup milk: 0.07
1 Tbsp butter: 0.06
4 oz cheddar cheese: 0.50
S&P&garlic powder to taste:

Total: $5.51 for one 9x13 pan, 12 servings. $0.46 per serving. Served this with collard chips.

Rinse the lentils. Cover with water (at least one inch, maybe more), bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover, cook for 20 min. Drain.

Saute onion, pepper, carrots, summer squash in oil until browning and carmelizing (great flavor). Add cherry tomatoes, peas, and garlic and cook until tomatoes give up their liquid. Add bouillon cube, sage, soy sauce and pepper.

Mix cornstarch with 1/2 cup water. When well-blended, add to veggies and boil until thickened.

Meanwhile, peel potatoes, cut into large pieces, and put in a pot covered with cold water. Bring to a boil and simmer 20 mins or until they are pierced easily with a knife. Blend with a hand mixer, adding milk, butter, salt and pepper.

Grease 9x13 pan. Spread veggie mixture on the bottom. Spread mashed potatoes on the top. Top whole thing with shredded cheese and bake at 375F for 30 min. I used 375 because that's what the collard chips need. You could use 350F.

This was a keeper. Cheap and delicious. Yum yum yum.

I hate it when food goes bad

I'm pretty good at using up food so that I don't waste it. This weekend (Sat), I bought tortillas. Now generally, I buy flour tortillas and stick them straight in the freezer. This time, I tried a new TJ's product, whole wheat organic wraps. I ate one on Saturday in a sandwich.

Tonight: quesadillas. And I opened the package, with 9 tortillas left and - they were starting to mold! After only a few days in the fridge! $2.00 down the drain. Bummer.

And then I gotta send my spouse up the hill for tortillas, right before dinner. Luckily we live nearby.

This reminds me of a Christmas Eve dinner, our first in So. Cal. together, when I decided to make fajitas for dinner. Now, back then ('97), I didn't really cook. But I bought the ingredients, and made the fajitas, and opened up the tortillas (which I didn't buy, because my spouse already had them, he was the cook), and...they were moldy! And it was 8 pm on Christmas eve! So every place was closed.

So we ate fajita fillings. I was SO disappointed, and apparently, I haven't forgotten about it.

So, back to the freezer for my wraps/tortillas. Sadly, they lose freshness that way. But better than tossing them.

Ethiopian Lentil Stew, Fried Rice

Last night's dinner was Ethiopian Lentil Stew. I served it with sourdough bread. With the sourdough, it was quite good (but then, Ethiopian food is served with injera bread, which is sour). Without the sourdough, it was just "meh". I don't have a picture. I had it for lunch today and will have it again Thursday for lunch, so there's still time...

Tonight's dinner was fried rice, and I did quite a good job today.

Fried Rice:
1 cup uncooked brown rice: 0.60
1 3/4 cup water
1 T. canola oil: 0.04
4 green onions from the garden, sliced: 0
2 cloves garlic, minced: 0.10
1/2 Tbsp grated fresh ginger: 0.05
3 small carrots, diced: 0.20
1 medium summer squash, diced: 0.50
1 cup frozen peas: 0.50
10 cherry tomatoes: quartered: 0.30
3 eggs: 1.06 (these are free range eggs...)
2 T milk: 0.02
2 tsp dark sesame oil: 0.15
2 T. low sodium soy sauce: 0.17
juice of 1 small orange (from our tree)
salt and pepper to taste

Total: $3.69 for about 5-6 cups, or $0.67 per serving.

Cook the rice a day ahead. I use the rice cooker.

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium high. Add zucchini and carrots and peas and saute until the zucchini starts to brown at the edges and is cooked. Add the ginger, garlic, and green onions. Saute 30 sec. Add the rice and stir-fry for about 5 mins to warm. Add S&P to taste.

Beat the eggs and milk in a small bowl. Add S&P to taste.

Move the rice to a bowl. Add a bit more oil if necessary, and add the eggs. Cook the eggs, breaking up, until set. Add to rice in the bowl.

Add the quartered tomatoes and saute until they give up most of their juice. Add the soy sauce. Add the eggs and rice mixture. Add the sesame oil and orange juice. Mix well and heat through.

We served this with steamed broccoli (tossed with olive oil, S&P).


Steamed broccoli:
almost a pound of fresh broccoli ($0.67), cut into florets. Peel the stalks and slice.

Steam in the microwave with a little water for 4 min.

Toss with 1 Tbsp olive oil (0.10), and S&P.

This makes 4 servings, $0.19 each.


(There's some sourdough bread and hummus on the plate too.)

A Couple of Yummy Dinners

So, tonight's plan was Ethiopian Lentil Stew. Which I made. But you know, stew generally gets better with time. And well, I went to the grocery store today. While I didn't really need much, I noticed that potatoes were on sale ($0.68 for 5 lbs), and broccoli and cauliflower were on sale (0.77/lb), so I couldn't resist.

So I made aloo gobi. And I had Indian spiced chickpeas in the freezer. And I made kale chips. I am in utter heaven. This was SUCH a good, vegan dinner.

And last night I was craving crazy amounts of salad, so I made a salad with avocado, toasted walnuts, pomegranate seeds, cherry tomatoes...we had it with the old standby, Mediterranean Chickpeas and Rice.

Been Missing!

I know, I haven't posted many new recipes lately. Truthfully, I haven't made any, except for a delicious couscous and black bean salad (made with whatever veggies I had around...). I've also had a very busy work schedule, and had guests in town last weekend (family - Mother in law and her best friend). And my running schedule is getting longer. So I've been doing a lot of cooking of the "old favorites".

I promise to try at least one new recipe this weekend, maybe two if I'm up for it.

On the running front, I've discovered that running >6 miles really suppresses my appetite. And, what I do crave, is raw fruits and veggies. I am remembering now during those last two 3-day walks, that when my training walks got to >10 miles, the same thing happened. I wanted salad salad salad. So I've had a watermelon-strawberry-kale smoothie today (didn't much care for the kale, would have been better with banana, which I didn't have). And an apple. I am going to go to the farm and buy myself some lettuce and hopefully avocado.

The dinner plan for tonight is chickpeas and rice, which I love, but am not feeling (not raw). Instead of the zucchini with cherry tomatoes, I'm going to put the cherry tomatoes in the salad. Still have to find that avocado!!

Potato Peanut Curry

Another great recipe from Cook For Good. This one is printed on-line. You can find the recipe here. We had this with green beans and leftover baked limas.

Potato Peanut Curry (I made 1.5x the recipe, used fresh tomatoes, and added chard)
1. 5 lbs organic potatoes, scrubbed and diced into 1/2 inch chunks: 0.90
20 oz fresh tomatoes, pureed: $0
3 T. tahini: 0.56
3 T. peanut butter: 0.19
3 T. canola oil: 0.12
1 cup water
1 bunch chard, steamed and pureed: 0
6 cloves garlic: 0.30
1 tsp cayenne: 0.10
3/4 tsp turmeric: 0.15
1/2 tsp salt
Total: $2.32 for 6 servings. $0.39 per serving (3/4 cup to 1 cup each), plus $0.40 for a piece of flatbread (per slice).

So, I basically followed the directions. I used fresh tomatoes, added the chard with the tomatoes (steamed and pureed first), and totally forgot about the parsley (should have picked it when I picked the chard).

Spaghetti Squash Casserole

So, I struggle with spaghetti squash. Today, I made a casserole. It's not very pretty. But it tasted very good.

I also tossed the seeds with olive oil, s&p, cumin, and a teeny pinch of brown sugar and roasted. Yum! My toddler asked for more (truthfully, I only gave him the last few).

Spaghetti Squash Casserole.

1 spaghetti squash: $2
1 onion, diced: 0.30
1 T canola oil: 0.03
1 zucchini, diced: 0.60
1 red bell pepper, diced: 0.60
1 carrot, diced: 0.10
2 cloves garlic, minced: 0.10
a bunch of fresh tomatoes, chopped: 0 (that one darn tomato plant...) Probably about 3 cups.
salt, pepper, basil, oregano to taste
2 cup of cottage cheese: 1.75
1/4 cup parmesan cheese: 0.38
1 oz mozzarella cheese (basically one piece of string cheese): 0.25

Total: $6.11 for what looks like about 8 cups. I'm just guessing though. $0.76 per cup

1. Cut squash in half. Scoop out seeds (save seeds to roast). Put cut side down in a baking dish with 1-2 cups water. Bake at 350F for 1.5 hours. Let cool. Scoop out squash with a fork.

2. Saute onion in oil until soft and golden. Add squash, carrots, peppers and saute until soft. Add garlic, diced tomatoes, salt and pepper, and basil and oregano. Simmer a long time, until cooked down. Add a little red wine if you like.

3. Add spaghetti squash and stir.

4. In an oiled casserole dish, layer 1/2 of the veggie mixture. Top with cottage cheese. Add remaining veggie mixture. Top with parmesan and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 350F for about 30 min.

This was a little runny (as happens when you've got watery veggies - like zukes - in a casserole). But still, very very tasty. We had our neighbors over for dinner. Ate this with bread, fresh limas with blue cheese, and some great homemade carrot soup made by the neighbor.