My Plant-Based Family

Eating Whole Food, Plant-Based Diet recipes, On a Budget.

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Lentil Shepherd’s Pie for the Virtual Vegan Potluck

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Today I’m taking part in the Virtual Vegan Potluck. I’ve participated before, “bringing” Gluten-Free Apple Muffins and Gluten-Free Pumpkin Muffins (with or without chocolate chips.) Now I’m branching out a bit with a main dish, trust me you will LOVE it!

 

You can start at the beginning of the potluck at Vegan Bloggers Unite or simply pick the category that most interests you. There are 169 bloggers participating so it may take a while to make your way through. The potluck was designed so you can seamlessly click from one blog to the next.

shepherd pie VVP

This Lentil Shepherd’s Pie has a lot of steps and a lot of ingredients but it is EASY to make. It has gotten rave reviews at several venues, even the Omni’s love it. It is a great holiday meal and perfect for a potluck. My toddler could not get enough.

shepherd's pie

Lentil Shepherd’s Pie (Vegan & Gluten-Free)

Ingredients

Potato Layer

  • 4 large potatoes
  • up to 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • up to 1/2 cup plant milk
  • salt and pepper to taste

Lentil Layer

  • 2 cups cooked Lentils
  • 1/2 tsp Liquid Smoke (optional)
  • salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Veggie/Sauce Layer

  • 2 ribs celery, chopped
  • 2 carrots, sliced
  • 1/4 cup onions, diced
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup chopped mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup green beans (I used frozen)
  • 1/2 cup green peas (I used frozen)
  • 2 Tbsp Brown Rice Flour (I use brown rice flour for a GF version, you can use wheat flour)
  • 1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
  • 1 cup Rice Milk
  • Optional onion powder, garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste

Do

Potato Layer

  1. Scrub, peel, and cut potatoes into large chunks.
  2. Cover with water and bring to a boil, cook potatoes until they are very soft.
  3. Drain potatoes and mash with a potato masher.
  4. Add salt and pepper, nutritional yeast and about half of the milk. Continue to mash or (whip) until everything is mixed, add more plant milk, nutritional yeast and salt as necessary to get the flavor just right. (Depending on the size of your potatoes this might not be enough seasoning)
  5. Set aside.

Lentil Layer

  1. Place cooked lentils in a pie pan, stirring in Liquid Smoke if desired.
  2. Spread lentils and pack them down into a smooth bottom layer.

Veggie/Sauce Layer

  1. Cook carrots, celery, and onions in a skillet, adding small amounts of water when veggies begin to stick.
  2. As the veggies begin to soften add mushrooms, green beans and peas.
  3. Once all veggies are soft, sprinkle in flour and nutritional yeast then give it a quick stir.
  4. Add 1/2 cup of the plant milk and lightly stir. Keep your eye on this and add more plant milk as it thickens, continuing to stir.
  5. Add garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to your preference.
  6. Once the sauce is like a thick gravy pour the veggie/sauce over the lentils.

Spoon potatoes over Veggie/Sauce Layer and smooth out. Put in the oven and broil for 10 minutes. Check often to make sure the top is browning and not burning.

– – –

This dish is great for a potluck, a family holiday dinner or to take to a family who needs a little bit of blessing. It reheats beautifully and could be frozen for a future meal.

I hope you ENJOY!

If you want to make your way through the potluck you can got back to On the Path to Zen or forward to Veghotpot to check out what they brought.

I hope you take some time to make your way through the potluck.

Healthy Cravings

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What is Healthy Cravings?

Healthy Cravings is a group that meets each month to learn more about plant-based living. You don’t have to be plant-based or vegan to participate, just interested in healthy eating. I do my best to cater to allergies and intolerances. Many people who come are just interested in adding more variety to their diets.

We always eat and have a different food theme each month. We have watched video clips, had guest speakers share their stories and always have great discussion. I constantly pull ingredients out of my pantry and refrigerator as a “show and tell” and when appropriate allow for samples.

If you are in the Mesa/Gilbert/Apache Junction area (in Arizona) and want more details send me an email. There is a recommended donation of $5 but it is not required. I never want money to stand in the way of someone coming.

Healthy Cravings takes a break June-August but I teach classes during the break. For more information send an email to myplantbasedfamily@gmail.com

Past Themes and Recaps

2012

2013

How It All Began 

Many people are curious about what we eat and I thought an in home demonstration would be the best way to address questions but also show how good our food is. I hosted my first food demo in June of 2012, planning to have more when ladies from my church asked if I would be interested in holding them as part of our Women’s Ministries. I thought it sounded like a great idea.

Most of the women who came are from my church but several are friends I’ve known outside of church, and some are local ladies who I’ve connected with through this blog.

As the group grew I recognized a need to include men as well. After all, it is very hard to change to “food culture” of a home without everyone being on board. As of September 2013 the group will be co-ed!

The purpose of the group is to be a support system and information center for anyone interested in plant-based living.

1 Year of Blogging…A Year in Review

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Tomorrow marks my 1 year blogiversary. It’s also my husbands birthday. My birthday was New Year’s Eve so we have all kinds of celebrating going on here.

I thought the best way to celebrate 1 year of blogging was to list some of the highs and lows from the last year.

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Food Related

  • I’ve made a lot of great friends in the blogosphere and some new friends in the real world.
  • Healthy Cravings got off to a great start.
  • We’ve had a lot of friends make the change to a plant-based diet.
  • I realized my youngest son has a gluten intolerance and had to reevaluate they way we ate…again.
  • I created a bunch of original recipes and had a blast in the process.
  • I hosted or co-hosted a lot of parties and meetings.

Apple Cinnamon Muffin

Blog Related

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Personally

  • Our daughter moved in with us this summer but moved back to her mom’s right before Christmas.
  • I went on my first women’s retreat and loved it.
  • One of my dearest friends had a stroke and continues to recover. This event shaped everything else and I’ll always remember it as being the “biggest” thing in 2012.
  • We took our annual trip back to Oklahoma and Texas to visit family. I got to travel solo to Texas to visit my dad in the fall.
  • I started helping out in the children’s ministries at our church and have loved every minute of it.
  • I stopped nursing! This marks the first time since 2008 that I haven’t been pregnant or nursing or both. I admit I sometimes miss it but I love the freedom.
  • My husband and I celebrated 7 years of marriage, 6 years in Arizona and 5 years (almost 6) at our church. Our boys will be turning 2 and 4 in the next few month.

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Looking Ahead

  • I have a number of recipes I need to post including blueberry muffins, gluten-free chocolate cake, and chocolate frosting.
  • More stories from other plant-based families.
  • I hope to host more parties.
  • Our oldest will be graduating high school in Michigan.
  • I’ll strive to be a better wife, patient mom, consistent housekeeper, healthier cook, persistent in prayer, faithful in bible reading, a more contentious friend and more helpful blogger.

Thank you all for hanging out with me this year! It has been a pleasure spending time with you!

Holly

Meal Plan Monday: No Nonsense in November

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I really enjoyed October’s Vegan Month of Food, a.k.a Vegan MoFo but I admit I got a bit burned out. I wasn’t eating as well as I should to feel great. There were many days that time with my family took a back seat so I could continue blogging and fulfill my commitment of 20 posts last month. I finally came to my senses and realized time with my family was way more important than pounding out another recipe.

The Virtual Vegan Potluck was another fun event. I brought Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins. They were a virtual hit; I also took them to several events where they were adored! To check out other recipes visit Vegan Bloggers Unite and make your way through appetizers, beverages, breads, salads, sides, soups, main dishes and finally desserts.

During the month’s of November and December I hope to stay family focused. I also want to focus on nourishing our bodies, not just filling them up. This takes planning; it will not happen without effort. I will still be blogging and sharing recipes so I don’t think you’ll have time to miss me. I also have my last Healthy Cravings of the year this week.

No Nonsense Meal Plan

Breakfast will be oatmeal, breakfast quinoa, toast with nut butter and fruit and cereal on busy days. We also have leftover whole wheat and gluten-free pancakes.

Lunch is usually leftovers or a nice soup. Sometimes I’ll make a quick pasta for my kids or an easy almond butter sandwich.

Snacks are usually fruit or sometimes a parfait with chia “sprinkles” and walnuts. My little guys love these parfait’s. They also love green smoothies and will remain completely silent until they have consumed the whole thing… marvelous!

Dinner requires a bit more effort. I’m also prepping for Healthy Cravings so I’ll be cooking all week for that. I’m hoping to incorporate the same ingredients to make it a bit easier on me and my budget. This week I’m planning to make a Vegan Shepard’s Pie, attempt a new Mexican inspired casserole (hopefully a 1 dish meal), maybe a veggie soup and of course a full Thanksgiving Spread for Thursday’s Healthy Cravings. You can follow me on Pinterest to see what other idea’s I’m kicking around.

If you are like me and continually on a quest for more recipes (or at lease recipe inspiration) make sure you check out the Virtual Vegan Potluck you can even vote for your favorite recipe for each course by sending a message to Annie. You don’t even have to vote for me (unless you really want too) but please vote. Check out those details here.