gardener's pie

In honor of St. Patrick's day I made a vegan version of a Sheppard's pie. I had leftovers in the refrigerator that needed to be used and this was the perfect recipe to use them in.  I sauteed my veggies in vegetable broth (otherwise I'd have used white wine) I really don't drink that much but I'm giving up the sauce for Lent, which is proving harder than I thought it'd be.  I slipped over this last weekend but I'm determinedly back on the wagon, or is it off the wagon? Anyway...


Gardener's Pie

1/2 cup chopped onion
1 celery rib chopped
1 or 2 carrots sliced
3 cups mixed vegetables
1/2 cup cooked lentils (optional)
1/2 cup vegetable broth or white wine
1 cup white sauce
2 cups mashed potatoes

Saute the onion, celery and carrots until soft but still with some bite in them
Add the 3 cups mixed veggies - I used mushrooms and peas and I also added the lentils
Cook until all the veggies are heated through
Add the vegetable broth.
Simmer until all the broth has been absorbed by the veggies
Stir in basic white sauce
Put in 9" pie pan
Cover with 2 cups mashed potatoes

White Sauce

2 T Earth Balance
2 T flour
1 cup soy milk

Melt margarine and then whisk in flour until thoroughly mixed
Pour in soy milk and bring to boil
As soon as sauce is thickened remove from heat
Stir in 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 t pepper

Bake at 400 degrees for 1/2 hour

Really this recipe sounds harder than it is.  It is so forgiving.  You can use any veggie combo that you like. You can skip the white sauce.  You could do a pastry top or a puff pastry top. You really can't go wrong.
The point is to use what you have and what's easy.

As you can see my grocery total is only $17 for the first week of March.  We were in Utah for a few days so that's why it is so low.  I'm still amazed at how this grocery thing is keeping me on track spending-wise.  We are only 2 weeks away from the start of the second quarter of the year.  Our goal is to pay off the house in 5 years or 60 months.  So only 56 more months to go.  :)