a good try for meatless shepherd's pie

i'm still trying to find recipes to add to my new Vegan menu, so i tried a new recipe for a vegan shepherd's pie. i came across one that had a few of my favourite ingredients; mushrooms, lentils and mashed potatoes. it was ok but needed a little tweaking;

• more mushrooms less lentils (it ended up being lentil to mushroom 3 to 1)
• needed more seasoning (i'm told that Bahamians are heavy with seasoning food and i followed the recipe so it was a little bland)
• i'm still not used to having mashed potatoes without all the milk and butter (just not the same with rice milk) 

my friend had recommended home-made cashew milk so i will have to try that. i have made almond milk at home and it was AWESOME!!!! i could drink that down by the gallon. (still remembering a joke about a nut-bag LOL) i will post that recipe soon so you can try it, it's worth the extra effort.

so...got off track a bit, sorry. (that's how good the almond milk is ;)
so the shepherd's pie wasn't a hit but it's part of the process. i will try it again and let you know.
when we follow our hearts it's rarely easy. just press on....

It's a Keeper!!

Discouraged after my recently failed Vegan Dutch Baby (custard pancake), i trudged on to find a vegan recipe that was easy to make and ingredients easy to find. With renewed determination i scoured the internet but still a bit wary of how things would taste. Remembering how i ate before, good flavour relied mostly on animal fat/protein, now i’m finding recipes with spices i’ve barely even heard of much less have an idea of how they taste!

Thankfully there was success!! I love a good, hearty meat & bean chili. Well i found a recipe on a site, recommended by a friend, for Pumpkin Vegan chili and it was great! Easy ingredients and you pretty much just dump everything into a pot. I’m also thankful for an adventurous and easy going boyfriend that is willing to try anything i cook once and will eat it “as long as it tastes good, meat or no meat.” After a few bites, i hear, “It’s a keeper!” 

Is there a tried and true substitute for eggs??

Happy Monday everyone,

Yesterday, I was looking forward to Sunday breakfast, so i attempted to “veganize” a Dutch Baby. Don’t do the freak! It’s not a real baby it’s a delicious custardy pancake that you bake in the oven. I have no idea why it’s called a dutch baby but it is an awesome thing.It puffs beautifully while it bakes and serve with honey/maple syrup and fresh fruit such as strawberries, blueberries and bananas. Definitely a nice change for a weekend breakfast and not totally bad for you.

So today was my first shot at substituting eggs in a recipe using flax-seed. I was told by thecookinginn.com that for each egg needed i would need one heaping tablespoon of flax blended until it becomes a fine meal then add 1/4 cup of cold water and blend for a few minutes and WHALLA i would have the equivalent of one egg. The recipe calls for 2 eggs so i made enough for what i needed (also using almond milk instead of the whole milk it called for).

Hopeful, i watched the oven window for the telltale puff of goodness. It never came. Always putting taste before looks, i kept believing it would still turn out. 15 minutes past the usual 20 minute cooking time, it was still doughy under the flat but nice crust that had developed.

I have heard also about using gelatin (which i’m not sure is vegan), tofu, and mashed bananas or apples. Any suggestions about what would work better??

Hello, my friends

Hiyah,

i’m just getting started with this, my first blog, so please bear with me. it’s a new year but this is not a new year’s resolution. going vegan has been pressing on my mind for almost a year and a half. the new year just happened to coincide with new information so the combination of these two have renewed my convictions to live out what i believe.

so…gimme a day or so to get this thing up and running and hope to hear from you guys soon.