Recipe # 2: Tiggy's Shepherd’s Pie

A perfect winter recipe!  My good friend Tiggy sent this to me.  She is a great cook and this recipe was easy and awesome.  The original recipe calls for mashed potatoes only, adding the cauliflower was my touch.  Instead of corn and celery you could use just about any veggie- parsnips are great in this dish too.      

One 32 oz carton of vegetable broth    

½ cup uncooked barley

1 cup uncooked lentils

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion, diced
2 medium carrots, diced
1 cup celery, diced

½ cup corn

½ cup Boca or Morningstar crumbles (sausage) OR 1 cup fresh mushrooms, diced

1 ½ teaspoon garlic powder

1/8-1/4 tsp each Rosemary, Sage, and Italian Seasoning (or to taste)
1/3 cup soy sauce or Bragg’s amino acid

2 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 c. chopped cauliflower
about 1/3 cup vegetarian broth 

1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes    

Salt and pepper to taste

Olive oil cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Reserve 1/3 c. vegetable broth and set aside.  

In a covered saucepan, bring remaining vegetable broth, barley and lentils to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.

In a large pot, add potatoes and cauliflower and cover generously with water.  Boil potatoes for 20-25 minutes.  Drain well and return to pot.  Mash well with a potato masher, adding the nutritional yeast and reserved broth as needed to reach desired consistency.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

In a large skillet, stir fry onions, carrots, celery, corn, mushrooms or crumbles and all remaining seasonings in oil for about 10 minutes.

Add the cooked barley and lentils to the skillet.  Mix well until combined.  Add more seasonings if needed.   

Spray cooking spray into a large casserole pan and add barley mixture to pan.  "Frost" the top with mashed potatoes and cauliflower.  Spray frosting utensil with cooking spray to avoid potatoes sticking.

 Bake uncovered for 30 minutes.  Serves 8-10.