Shepherd's Pie Variations

LL Taco Filling Shepherd's Pie

There are a lot of ways to do Shepherd's Pie. This is a super-easy one for a potluck. You may have to show people how to fix it on their plates, but it's really a tasty one dish meal much like that SDA staple - the haystack.

There are a variety of vege-meats that work for this dish. You can even use plain textured vegetable protein if you season it up like vegeburger.  Ultimately the barbecue sauce give it the flavor. This dish is really three in one and has always been a King family favorite. You can even fix it up for people so they don't have to assemble it. It's up to you. I like to make mine from separate bowls of potatoes, vegeburger and mixed vegetables. Here's how it works.

Ingredients for Taco Filling version (without mashed potatoes ingredients)

 
Ingredients:

• Mashed potatoes - (See "Mama's Mashed Potatoes")
• Frozen or canned mixed vegetables
• Loma Linda Taco filling, Loma Linda Beefless Chunks, Loma Linda Redi-Burger, Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles, Worthington Vege-Burger
• Bulls-Eye or KC Masterpiece barbecue sauce.
• Tomato Sauce (for the Loma Linda Taco Filling version)

Directions:

1.  Make up a big pot of Mama's Mashed Potatoes or fix some up your favorite way.
2.  Heat up a big pot of mixed vegetables or put together your favorite mixed veggies (peas, carrots, corn, green beans, Lima beans, etc.).
3.  In a large skillet pour in your vegemeat straight out of the can or bag. If you use the LL Beefless Chunks, pour off some of the gravy.  Brown the vegeburger or chunks or crumbles till it looks well cooked.  With the Taco Filling version, add a little tomato sauce to take down the Mexican spices a little bit before you add the barbecue sauce and cook it in a little bit.)
4.  Pour barbecue sauce into the vegemeat to make a kind of barbecue gravy.
5.  Set the skillet out on the counter alongside the mashed potatoes and mixed veggies in this order - potatoes, barbecue vege-meat, and mixed veggies.
6.  If you'd rather make it as a single dish, do this.  In a large casserole or two or three if you make a lot, put a bunch (that's a technical term used by famous chefs) of mashed potatoes into the casserole to make a bed for the other ingredients. Then spoon a layer of barbecued vege-meat and a layer of mixed veggies.  Cover with foil and you can reheat it in the warmers at church as a single casserole dish.

The LL Beefless Chunks version of shepherd's pie.

This is a really tasty dish and one of those King Family favorites. It's in our cookbook.  This is another one that people will scrape the dish clean. The picture to the left is made with either Morningstar Farms Recipe Crumbles or NEAT burger or any other brand of vegeburger. The Recipe is in my Sept. 1, 2016 blog. I have forseen it!   ;-)

© 2015 by Tom King

Vege Pene Stroganoff

Add some veggies and garlic bread and you've got a nice supper.

This is admittedly an adaptation of a more traditional stroganoff recipe. The beautiful thing about what our forefathers used to call "made" dishes is that there is room for adapting the recipe to what you've got on hand.  This can be made with almost any sort of pasta you want. I chose pene pasta because I was out of egg noodles, but it works either way. It works with several types of vege-meats. This one is pretty adaptable.

Ingredients:

• Loma Linda Choplets, Loma Linda Vegetable Steaks, Loma Linda Beefless Chunks, or Worthington Vegetable Steaks,
• Chopped onions
• Pene pasta, rotini or egg noodles
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/8 cup evaporated milk
• Mushrooms
• 1 Tbsp flour
•  Butter, margarine, olive oil
• Parmesan cheese
• Small can of sliced olives

Directions:

Get a great big bowl for mixing the pasta. It's very messy as you can see!

1. Cook the pasta according to directions. Should be slightly al dente'. Drain and set aside.
2. While the pasta is cooking, drain the juice from the Vegetarian meat can into a bowl and set aside.
3. Brown Beefless Chunks in butter, margarine or olive oil. If you use Choplets or Vegetable Steaks, cut them into strips before browning.
4. Put browned vegetarian meat into large mixing bowl.  Use the skillet to saute the onions and mushrooms. When ready, add to browned vege-meat in the big bowl.
5. In skillet add tablespoon or so of flour and stir into olive oil. Heat till it starts to thicken. Add the liquid from the vege-meat can and allow it to thicken slightly. Add evaporated milk, sour cream and allow to thicken again. Add water to the sauce till it thickens again. Add water a little at a time till you have a nice saucy consistency. 
6. Pour the pasta into the big bowl with the vegetables and the vege-meat. Mix and then add the sauce. Stir in olives and you're done.

As I said you can use several different noodle-like pasta types and any of several beefish vege-meats. Choplets probably make the best stroganoff dishes. It's pretty easy to make, sits well overnight, travels well and is easy to expand to makes lots and lots of delicious pasta.  Sprinkle a little Parmesan on it when you serve it up and it's really nice.

How cool is that?

Tom King
(c) 2015