Vegan Shepherds pie

by Maryanne Old
Aug 25, 2023

Hello and welcome to a slightly different blog from me today..

Autumn is all about 'cosy' and that goes for food too. However this traditional Shepherds pie recipe is Vegan and so delicious, I just had to share..

Those if you that know me, also know I dont like cooking much 😅. Unfortunately, I still cook almost everyday as, I do have a family to feed .

I have been a vegetarian / pescatarian for almost 30 years... I made my choice at the time as, I didn't like the welfare and environmental concerns with mass producing meats.. My mum thought it was a 'faze' and she humoured me but this faze has lasted a pretty long time 🤣.

For many years I have eaten fish a couple of times a month and I do eat dairy but not much, as I've always been sensitive to it.

Now with the environmental awareness of eating animals in a mass produced way. I feel its a good time to talk about what's involved in giving up meat and other animal products.

Now I'm no big activist, I don't like "preachy' vegetarians and I've not bought my sons up veggies, niether is my husband a veggie or my dog. I believe it's a choice and not one I should make for them.

That being said I do 2/3meat dinners a week , 3/4 veggie so the whole family is no stranger to plant based food.

I realy like the message that's strong at the moment .... 'cutting down' not giving up.

If all meat eating families cut out meat 2 days per week and cut out dairy one day per week , this would ease the pressure on the industry. This would benefit the animal, the environment your health and your pocket!

You can be perfectly healthy cutting down, just 2 days of the week. I don't believe you should have to be a veggie if it's not what you want. But cutting down is a win win for everyone.

So in order to help that.. I felt I could share a few dinners with you that I feed my massive brood with .. filling healthy, tasty, nutricious and just as simple as cooking a meat one.. If you can make just small changes, it will become simple and part of your normal life style..

I'm currently looking to becoming 70%vegan but I'm not ready to go the whole hog yet.

What ever your thoughts..no one can argue that, two meat free dinners and one dairy free day is impossible. It's pretty easy to do that and the benefits to our planet and the animals/farmers/ lands, that feed us, will be huge if everyone pulls together.

So here's my simply delicious Shepherds pie.

Ingredients. (To feed 4)

2 packs of plant based mince

Olive oil

Garlic salt

2 vegetable stick cubes

Salt and pepper

Vegetarian gravey

1 leek

3 large carries

1 large onion

1 courgette

250g mushrooms

2kg potatoes

Method.

Finely chop all the vegetables..

In a large saucepan boil the potatoes .

Meanwhile ..

In a large frying pan fry the Carrots and onions untill slightly soft , then add the courgette ,leeks and mushrooms, stock cubes and garlic , sweat them down for 20 mins on a reasonably high heat.

Add the mince and fry untill all looks glossy and cooked through.

Make the gravy thick in a cup then add it to the mince mixture, let simmer for 10 minutes adding water to get the consistency you want.

Once done, add it to your oven dishes.. I've made enough to freeze a couple too.

Once your potatoes have boiled to being soft and ready, drain the water and mash as normal adding vegan butter ( I promise you will LOVE vegan butter).

It's so good and such an easy switch to get you started on alternative dairy products.. my boys haven't even noticed that I changed from the dairy butter to dairy free.😃

Mash the potatoes till creamy adding salt and pepper to taste.

Then spread over your oven dishes filled with the mince mixture.