A Request For Shepherd's Pie

With St. Patrick's Day this week Himself was feeling a bit mournful about having to fore go Corned beef and Cabbage. He asked if we could have Shepherd's Pie. There's a recipe for it in the Engine 2 book.  It's delicious and healthy and won't leave you feeling heavy from the gravy because there's no gravy and no oil in the recipe. 

As you can see this was devoured  as soon as it came out of the oven! See the Engine 2 book for  the full recipe- I'm just going to explain " Meat Crumbles" a bit.

Meat Crumbles are reconstituted textured vegetable protein ( the reddish brown stuff you see in the casserole dish here) and can be found pre-made and refrigerated or frozen or you can do it yourself.  It is easy and if you are trying to reduce oils salts etc .  Bob's Red Mill makes a dry package of Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) and  all that's in it is the defatted soy protein.  To reconstitute it, you just add the appropriate amount of boiled water or vegetable stock and stir. If you are making it ahead of time like I did, just cover it and refrigerate.  I made mine in the morning before work and then it was one less thing to do when I got home that night. There's a bit of chopping and sauteing involved in this recipe so if you are short on time , doing a few things beforehand can really make a difference.

If you can't have soy I would use quinoa as a substitute in this. Cook quinoa according to directions on package and then add it in place of the TVP in the recipe.

Hidden salts to watch for:  As I  put the peas in the steamer I saw that there was added salt in the package. Peas are so tender and sweet it baffles me as to why anyone would package them with salt but some companies do so check your frozen foods.   I bought Annie's Naturals Vegan Worcestershire sauce for this recipe and there is salt in that too.  There is often salt in canned tomato products so be careful there as well. 

This was a very enjoyable recipe and provided 5 dinners and 2 lunches for us.