Dairy Free Soy Free Shepherd’s Pie

This is a slightly quicker take on the tradition meal, mostly because I save myself the effort of cutting up lots of vegetables by using precut frozen ones.  It’s also a great comfort food for a rainy day and I feel like I can sneak in all kinds of vegetables without protest because they are covered by fluffy delicious mashed potatoes.

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

• 4 large russet potatoes
• 1 16 oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 lbs ground beef
• 1 diced yellow onion
• ½ cup rice or coconut milk
• 1 can tomato soup
• ½ cup water
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• pepper to taste
• dash of paprika

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Peel and dice potatoes into1 inch squares. Place them in a medium saucepan and cover them with water. Bring the water to boil using high heat, once boiling turn heat down and simmer the potatoes for 10 minutes or until soft and easy to crush.
3. While potatoes are cooking add the ground beef to a skillet with the onion and cook over medium heat until the ground beef is cooked through.  Drain the grease and return the ground beef and cooked onion to the skillet. 
4. Thaw the 16 oz bag of vegetables in the microwave. Once thawed add them to the ground beef onion mixture with a can of tomato soup and ½ cup of water.  Stir to combine and simmer over medium heat.  Mix in salt, pepper, and Worcestershire sauce.
5. Once the meat and vegetable mixture is heated thoroughly transfer the mixture to a glass 9x13 baking pan and spread it evenly across the bottom of the pan.
6. Once potatoes are soft drain the water from them and add a ½ cup of coconut or rice milk to the potatoes and blend with a hand mixer until smooth.  If the potatoes seem too thick add another ¼ cup of milk.
7. Once the potatoes are mashed place big spoonfulls of them in baking dish on top of the meat/vegetable mixture and use a spatula to spread them evenly across the dish.
8. Sprinkle a little bit of salt and paprika on the top of the potatoes and place them in the oven for 20 minutes or until the potatoes start to brown. (*Note: If you're potatoes are still warm and you don't care about crisping them you can skip this step and just enjoy them white and fluffy)
9. Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Dairy Free Soy Free Coconut Curry

Growing up my mom had a tendency to cook somewhat bland food, salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic we’re about the extent of the spices she used to flavor foods.  My mother-in-law is a lot more adventurous with flavors and I didn’t realize what I was missing until I was married.  Don’t get me wrong I still love my mama’s cooking and I often follow in her footsteps with more plain flavors but I’ve also learned to venture out and we’ve had some amazing foods because of it.  My point is that growing up curry was never ever on the menu.  I don’t think I even knew what curry was until my mid twenties and I’m a hesitant curry eater.  I get overwhelmed with the spiciness of it and I didn’t like it much until someone introduced me to coconut curry.  I happen to love this much milder version of curry and thanks to this diet restrictions I made curry for the first time.  I loved it and this will definitely be on future menus even when my diet is back to normal.  So if you are a hesitant curry eater or like more mild flavors I would suggest giving this a try.

Adapted from Mel's Kitchen Café – Coconut Curry Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound chicken breast cut into 1-inch pieces
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion (about 1/2 medium onion)
• 1 red or green bell pepper, finely chopped
• 3 red potatoes cut into 1-inch squares
• 2 cups chopped carrots
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 can (14-ounces) unsweetened light coconut milk
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon curry powder
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 3-4 cups hot, cooked rice for serving

Directions

1. Cube potatoes and put them in a small pot with boiling water to soften, about 8 minutes.  Or put them in a microwave safe dish with water and cover with plastic wrap, heat in the microwave for 5 minutes.  Drain excess water and put aside.
2. Chop carrots into 1 inch pieces or use baby carrots.  Put the carrots in a small pot with boiling water and heat to soften, about 8 minutes. Or put them in a microwave safe dish with water and cover with plastic wrap, heat in the microwave for 3 minutes.  Drain excess water and put aside.
3. Heat the oil in the large pot using medium heat. (Note: If you are starting with frozen chicken, thaw if for a 3 minutes in the microwave then take it out and cut it.   I find it much easier to cut into cubes if it’s only half thawed.  Once it’s cubed but it back in the microwave to finish thawing.) Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and add them to the hot oil. Let the chicken cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the onions and red/green pepper. Cook for 2-3 minutes, until the onions and peppers soften. The chicken and vegetables will continue to cook in the next step.
4. Add the carrots, potatoes, chicken broth, coconut milk, brown sugar and curry powder. Stir together. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes. Stir in the lime juice. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve a ladle or two of the soup over a scoop of rice.