As I mentioned in a previous post, my roommate Emily gave up meat for Lent and we’ve been taking turns cooking for each other once or twice a week.
I get a lot of requests to show examples of actual meals I eat (as opposed to just the desserts); therefore I thought I’d post about our dinner last night.
For more examples of how I eat, see: My Non-Dessert Recipes.
Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie?
I initially wanted to make a real shepherd’s pie, topping my Bread-Free Vegan Stuffing recipe with mashed sweet potato and then baking. But life got busy, and there was no time for the extra baking step. So I settled on a “deconstructed” shepherd’s pie. It was so absolutely delicious that now I don’t think I’ll ever bother trying the longer version!
(Unpictured, I also had Ezekiel toast and a larger serving of the lentil filling.)
Sleepy Sweet Potatoes
(deconstructed Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie)
- 1 medium onion, sliced (175g)
- 1-2 cups spinach (I used 60g)
- 2-4 carrots, cut into coins (I used 140g, but feel free to use more)
- 1/2 can diced tomatoes
- Optional: 1 zucchini, cut in coins (I used 280g, but I steamed 1/2 separately and mixed them in later.)
- 1 stalk celery, cut into coins (I used 65g)
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup cooked lentils, drained and mashed (I used 110g Westbrae)
- 1 1/2 tsp dry basil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
- 1-2 tbsp olive oil (You can omit this, but you’ll lose the yummy, buttery taste!)
Heat oil, then add carrots, zucchini, onion, and celery. Cook a few minutes (like 10), then add spinach, lentils, spices, and tomato. Cook 2 more minutes. Add the water, bring to a boil, then cover and lower to simmer for 45-50 minutes, or until the carrots are soft and stuffing is flavorful. Without the optional ingredients, this makes around 3 cups, or around 2 servings. Serve with rice, polenta, or roasted potatoes or yams.
I finally got to try this for dinner tonight and it was DELICIOUS!!! And so colorful. I took a picture of all the veggies cooking in the pan and I couldn’t resist taking a picture of my dinner plate, too 🙂 Isn’t it funny that today also happened to be a sort of dreary day? Kind of like the day you described in your post. I guess I was just in the need of some color! Thank you so much for the idea!
It’s always a dreary day when I have the BEST things to photograph.
Oh well… at least the dreariness can’t mess up taste, which is more important anyway, right? 😉
Yum!! I’ll be making this for dinner tonight… since I’m sleepy and have all the ingredients on hand. 🙂
Great recipe! My mom, who never likes the vegetarian recipes I make, loved it. I added some mushrooms, which were delicious with the lentils.
Hi Katie, This sounds awesome. Do you know what the nutritional information on this would be?
Do you know why I love you?! Everything is so easy,appealing, and tasty! Thanks so much for helping my family be healthy 🙂 loving the non-dessert entry’s!
Can I put all of these ingredients into a crockpot and get the same results? Can I find cooking times for sweet potatoes somewhere on your site?
Hello Friends,
Please advice me if sweet yam (with soy milk ) help sleep well?
Thank you very much for your advice.
Sincerely,
mike
haha i know this comment is really late but i had to respond to the QOTD 🙂
i am a super deep sleeper, apparently when i was a little kid i slept through my dad accidentally setting of the fire alarm! but somehow my moms voice always manages to wake me up.
ps. these potatoes look so good!!!
I know it’s pretty intuitive, but the potatoes are not listed
This was so yummy! I’m not always a fan of lentils but I loved this recipe 🙂