Sheppard's Pie with Sweet Potatoes

2 lbs of sweet potatoes

1 cup diced onions
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup diced celery
1 bell pepper of any color, or 1 package of mixed pepper strips - diced
1 pkg baby bella mushrooms
1 pkg of Sunshine veggie burgers (3 burgers)
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

scrub the potatoes and poke with holes to release steam.  wrap in foil and bake for an hour at 400 degrees.  let cool.  They will easily slip out of their skins, discard the skins and mash the potatoes

water saute the veggies, with tamari.  Put veggie mixture into the bottom of a 2 qt casserole dish, spread the mashed sweet potatoes on top.  bake at 350 for 30 min, uncovered. 

This was a big hit with my little guy.  He was very excited to hear that there was "pie" for dinner, and he loved the mix of savory veggies with sweet potatoes.  He asks for this dish quite often now.

Garden Vegetable Soup

2  onions, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk of celery, diced
12 ounces of sliced baby bella muchrooms, diced
2 small zucchini - diced
1 large can of diced tomatoes
4 cloves garlic
Italian herbs and salt to taste
4 tbls powdered vegetable broth mix

Water saute the onions till translucent.  Add in the rest of the veggies and cover with water.  Stir in the herbs and veggie broth mix.  Bring to a boil, then cover and turn down to a simmer for about 30 minutes.

This was enjoyed buy adults and the resident child. :)

Heirloom beans and Eggplant

Have I mentioned how much I am loving heirloom beans from Rancho Gordo?  They are so flavorful.  Last night I paired Vaquero beans with eggplant, and it was quite yummy in the words of my 4 yr old.

2 small/medium eggplant
1 pkg sliced baby bella mushrooms
2 cloves garlic - minced
1 pckg Trader Joe's fire roasted onions and peppers
1/2 jar of FF Trader Joe's tomato sauce
1/2 Cup Vaquero beans - soaked for at least 4 hours

1) Preheat oven to 400
2) chop off the ends of the eggplant and slice in half lengthwise.  Spray very lightly with olive oil spray and put face down on baking sheet, bake at 400 for 45 min
3) While eggplant is baking, cook the beans.  I like my pressure cooker, 12 minutes at high pressure with a natural release worked fine for these beans.
4) when eggplant is done, scoop out the flesh and chop.
5) In nonstick pan (large), water saute the sliced mushrooms, adding in the garlic after the mushrooms are soft.
6) add in the onions/peppers and continue to water saute.  Optionally add some basil (I used frozen).  Add in the eggplant beans and tomato sauce.  Lower heat, cover and simmer.

I served this over brown rice but it would go well over pasta too.