Quick & Easy Shepherds Pie

  

Quick & Easy Shepherds Pie

 

• 2.5 lbs baby red potatoes
• 1 pkg Yves veggies ground round
• 1 pkg Simply Organic mushroom sauce
• 1 1/3 cup frozen (or fresh) mixed vegetables
• 1/4 cup vegan cream cheese (I used 1/2 plain & 1/2 chive & garlic)
• 1 cup Daiya cheddar shreds
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350. Cut potatoes into quarters and boil until soft.

While potatoes are boiling, prepare mushroom sauce according to package directions.

Heat veggies ground round, veggies and 1/4 tsp garlic salt in saucepan over medium low heat.

Once potatoes are boiled, strain & transfer them to food processor (or large bowl for mashing). Add garlic, cream cheese & salt to food processor and blend until smooth. Mix mushroom sauce and veggies ground round together.

Layer in bottom of large casserole dish, next layer the potatoes into dish and smooth out. 

Sprinkle with cheese & pepper.

Pop in oven and bake for 30-45 minutes. That's it! Super simple and delicious!

Galaxy Nutritional Foods Vegan Cream Cheese-Chive & Garlic Review

First off, I have to say that this cream cheese by far, trumps all of the other varieties I have tried. Mind you, I have only evewr had Tofutti ;) It is smooth and creamy, tastes so similar to the real thing it is almost kind of eerie. Even my omni fiance likes it which is huge, because most vegan dairy substitutes just don't measure up for him.

To be honest , I did not come up with a recipe for this flavour like I had originally planned. It is so good, I don't want to cover up that awesome flavour, so I have been eating it spread on crackers or a bagel and I am okay with that! I think in the future, I would like to try and do an alfredo recipe as V suggested. Time will only tell.

If you have access to Galaxy Nutriotional Foods Vegan Cream Cheese at your local grocer, I highly suggest you give it a try. If they don't, ask them to roder it!...It is that good!!!

Cream of Brocolli Soup!

This is by far the best version of vegan cream of brocolli soup that I have made so far, I loved it! I didn’t follow a recipe when making this, I made it up so all of the measurements are approximate…You can tweak to your liking. I like to think of this as a super awesome guideline rather than an actual recipe!

• 1 giant head of brocolli, thick bottom stems removed
• 1/2 medium yellow onion
• 1-2 tbsps olive oil
• 1 23oz Unsweetened Mimicreme
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• salt, to taste
• cracked black pepper to taste
• 1/2 pkg Daiya cheddar shreds

Heat olive oil in large stockpot, over medium-high heat. Pulse onion in food processor for a minute or two, you want nice tiny pieces. Remove onion & toss in stockpot. Now pulse the brocolli for about a minute, you will have mostly small pieces but some nicer large chunks are okay too. Toss that in the stockpot and season with a generous pinch of salt & pepper. Stir & put a lid on it. Let the veggies soften, this will take about 5 minutes. Now add you vegetable broth, stir and put the lid back on, wait another 5 minutes or so. The brocolli should be a nice bright green & should be tender but not soft & mushy. Add the Mimicreme, turmeric, garlic salt and stir. Let the soup come to a soft boil and turn the heat to low-medium. Taste & add any additional spices. I found that even the unsweetened Mimicreme is a tad on the sweet side so I added quite a bit of salt & pepper, keeping in mind that the Daiya will add a bit of saltiness as well. Once the soup has simmered for about 15 minutes or so, it is probably good to go. Toss in your Daiya shreds, stir and let them melt right in (takes about 5 mins). Your soup is now ready to serve…Let it cool first though so you don’t burn your tongue! This soup will keep for 5 days in the fridge. I didn’t freeze mine but I miagine it would be okay.

Galaxy Nutritional Foods Cream Cheese Review!

Galaxy Nutritional Foods has an awesome variety of delicious, vegan, cheese alternatives. With both soy & rice based cheeses, they have an option for everyone. Their newest product is the Vegan Cream Cheese, which comes in two flavors, Classic Plain and Chive & Garlic. Both are dairy, cholesterol and gluten free as well as Kosher certified.

Both flavors are nice and rich, with a smooth, creamy texture. Originally I had planned on making a cheesecake but decided instead, I wanted to make a citrus infused, cream cheese glaze for some carrot cake cupcakes! I used the Carrot Cake recipe from Vegetarian Times February 2009 issue and then my own spin on the VCTOTW Cream Cheese Frosting.

I am very pleased with this cream cheese, it worked out perfectly. I have a couple ideas for the Chive & Garlic flavour but would love to hear suggestions on what you guys would like to see me make next!!!\

Until next time,
                            xoxoxo  <3 Momo