Sunday, March 14, 2010

Healthy Meal #2 - Shepherd's Pie

Did you know that Shepherd's pie is made of lamb as the base and cottage pie uses beef? Since I am not using either of those meats, perhaps I should call mine a turkey farmer's pie as it is made of extra lean turky mince.

Lets get started.

For the base...
Meatless Shepherd's pie
2cups morning star farms soy chunks
1 medium onion chopped
1 Lb bag of frozed peas and carrots
1 Tbsp of onion powder
1 Tbsp of garlic powder
4 cloves of garlic minced
salt to taste
2 tsp of olive oil
1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp of all purpose flour

For the topping...
1 medium head of cauliflower boiled until very tender 
1/2 cup of steel cut oats
1 16 oz can of cannalini beans
1/4 cup of low fat parmasan cheese

Saute the onions, minced garlic and cook the soy chunks. Add onion and garlic powder to the meat and continue to cook until slightly brown. Add the bag of frozen peas and carrots. Continue to cook for another 15 minutes.

Remove soy from the pan and deglaze the pan with the vinegar.  Add to soy chunks. 

Blend the boiled cauliflower, beans, oats together to make a paste/purée. 

Place the soy preparation as the base in a Pyrex dish.  Top it off with cauliflower and bean mixture. Bake for 30 mins..  Remove from oven, let stand for 30 mins. Enjoy!

Healthy Meal #1

In my quest for simple, healthy, and most importantly delicious food, I have managed to create quite a number of healthy alternatives to popular dishes.

I have created my own healthy versions of fettuccine alfredo with shrimp, cream of broccoli soup, Shepherd's pie and others. My husband and I are both foodies and what we eat must have taste...good, delicious taste.

I will be posting some of my creations on this blog. So try my recipes and let me know how you like them.


Fettuccine Faux-fredo with Shrimp
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Two medium yellow squash
5 oz tofu (add more to thicken the sauce if preferred)
20 peeled and de-vained medium shrimp
8 cloves of garlic (less if you're not a garlic lover like me)
1 Medium onion chopped
1/2 cup of mushrooms chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil

1 Lb whole wheat fettuccine

Cook the pasta as instructed on the box. Drain and set aside.

Bake (wrapped in foil) or microwave (in a bowl) the squash until it is tender. Squash needs to be fully cooked and almost falling apart. Put the squash, tofu, 2 cloves of garlic and 2 tsp of olive oil and blend until everything is liquefied. Set aside.

Heat the remaining oil in saucepan, add onions and garlic and saute for 3-5 minutes. Add shrimp and mushrooms and cook for 7 minutes. Add salt to taste. Add the squash/tofu sauce. Mix and let simmer for 10 minuites. Stir constantly.

Serve pasta into a bowl, ladle sauce over pasta and enjoy.

What's this about?

Its simple...I am a wife, a mom, and a career woman. I look for quick and easy ways of doing things. I will use this blog to post my life experiences, lessons learned, simple and healthy meal ideas, event planning ideas and other events and activities that are part of my busy life.

I hope you find my postings useful and enjoyable. I am interested in hearing from you so please leave a note when you visit.