Lentil-herder's pie

Super comforting shepherd's pie. Lentils and veggies with cashew gravy, topped with creamy mashed potatoes. Adjust vegetable ratio to your taste, or try some other veggies (mushrooms? kale?).

1.25 cups lentils
2.5 cups broth

.5 T earth balance
1 medium onion, chopped
.75 cup celery, sliced small
1 cup carrots, chopped small
1 cup peas
salt, pepper to taste

1 batch cashew gravy

8 medium potatoes, chopped
3 T earth balance
.75 cup soy milk
1 t salt
.5 t pepper
paprika


Cover lentils with broth and cook until soft, about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Saute onion in earth balance at medium-low heat for five minutes, add celery and carrots, season with salt and pepper, cook for another five minutes, and peas and cook until veggies are almost cooked (still a bit crisp).

Mix veggies and lentils together and put mixture in a casserole dish. Pour gravy over the lentil-veggie mixture and stir to gently mix. You may have a bit more gravy than you need, so save some to serve on the side.

Meanwhile, boil potatoes until soft. Mash potatoes with soy milk, earth balance, salt, and pepper.

Top lentil-veggie mixture with potatoes. Sprinkle a pinch of salt and a little paprika over the top. Bake for 20 minutes.

Green chili frittata

Easy brunch! Serve with salsa and sour cream.

8 eggs
1 cup milk
1 T flour
1/4 t salt
1.5 cups cheddar cheese
6 long green chilis, chopped


Preheat oven to 350. Whisk together eggs, milk, salt, and flour. Stir in 1 cup cheese and the chilis. Pour into a 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle remaining .5 cup cheese over the casserole. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the center is set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for five minutes before serving.

Spinach-artichoke pasta bake

Adapted from the amazing thugkitchen.com. This can easily be both vegan and gluten free, and is definitely delicious.

Tofu-artichoke sauce

4 cloves garlic

1/3 cup almonds (slivered will blend best)

1 can (14 oz) water-packed artichoke hearts (not marinated), drained

1 box (12 oz) silken firm tofu, drained

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon juice

Spinach

2 teaspoons olive oil

1 yellow or sweet onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

12 cups baby spinach

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Pasta

1 pound penne pasta (gluten free if you wish)

1 jar (3 cups) tomato sauce

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook pasta according to its package directions.

In a food processor or strong blender, blend the tofu-artichoke sauce ingredients until smooth (a few little chunks of almonds might stick around, but that's ok). This will take a while. You can add some water, one tablespoon at a time, if it won't blend.

Cook onion in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic, cook for one minute. Add spinach and salt. Cover with a big lid, and cook (stirring often) until spinach is wilted. Stir in lemon juice and take spinach mix off the heat.

In a large mixing bowl, combine pasta, spinach mix, and tofu-artichoke sauce and stir until totally mixed.

Line the bottom of an 8x8 (or bigger) baking dish with one cup of tomato sauce. Pour pasta mixture over the sauce. Pour remaining two cups of tomato sauce on top of pasta and spread it around with a spoon or spatula until evenly distributed across the top of the pasta. Sprinkle last two tablespoons of nutritional yeast over the top of the dish.

Cover your baking dish and bake for 25 minutes. Uncover the dish and bake for 10 more minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes before serving.