Cauliflower Overload & Healthy Shepherd's Pie Recipe

This recipe was inspired by one of those last-minute improvisation meals. I had some leftover meatless ground beef and a head of cauliflower in the fridge. Ok I'll admit that I bought three heads of cauliflower at the grocery store that week because they were on sale. I'm a sucker for a deal on produce!

What did a gal do with all that cauliflower? As per usual, I cut some up and froze it. I also made Cauliflower Buffalo Wings from the PETA website, which were fantastic by the way.

I had some similar "wings" at a local Ottawa restaurant and was inspired to make some at home. They turned out really good, even omnis approved!

I still had lots of cauliflower left so I made a Cauliflower-cream mac and cheese dish.  This is my favorite homemade mac and cheese sauce to make, comparatively to cashew or non-dairy cheese based recipes. I'm still tweaking my recipe for this, so stay tuned!

After this, I STILL had more cauliflower! What's a girl to do? Cauliflower mash. And then I put it in a shepherd's pie. How very French-Canadian of me ;)

I made them in individual servings because it's easy to serve and keep extras for lunches. And of course, because they are so much cuter!

Mini Healthy Shepherd's Pies

Ingredients:

For the cauliflower mash: Roughly 2 cups of chopped cauliflower
1/4 - 1/3 cup of potato starch or potato flour (depending on how thick you like your mash)
1/2 cup of nutritional yeast
1 teaspoon of vegan butter or oil (optional)
1 teaspoon of onion powder
A dash of garlic powder
A dash of salt

For the shepherd's pie: 3-4 small ramekins
1 batch of cauliflower mash (above)
1 cup of meatless ground beef
1/2 cup of canned corn (I used creamed corn but you can use regular corn if you like)
1 tablespoon of ground flaxseeds (also called flaxseed meal)
2 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
Ketchup, for serving (optional)

Directions:

Boil the chopped cauliflower in a saucepan for 15-20 minutes until it is soft. A fork should slide easily through the pieces. Drain out most of the water. You want it to be damp, but not so wet that you have a soup at the bottom. Add in the potato starch, nutritional yeast, vegan butter or oil, onion powder, garlic powder, salt and mix thoroughly. It should have a thick consistency like mashed potatoes.

Preheat the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Divide your meatless ground beef between your ramekins and pat down to make a somewhat smooth surface. Spread the corn on top the same way. Scoop out some cauliflower mash and fill the ramekin to the top. I like to smooth out the top again but that's totally optional. Sprinkle the flaxseeds and nutritional yeast on top of the mash. This will make a kind of crust and will turn golden in the oven.

Place the ramekins in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the mash starts to brown slightly. Wait 10 minutes to serve, they will be very hot. Serve with ketchup if that's your thing. Enjoy!

VegFoodFest 2014: Part 2 - Saturday

Saturday was a beautiful morning in Toronto heading to Day 2 of VegFoodFest hosted by the Toronto Vegetarian Association. If you haven't seen the previous post, here it is.

My breakfast consisted of Cookies & Cream Marshmallows and a Sticky Bun from Apiecalypse Now Bakery. Because who doesn't love an overload of sugar first thing in the morning!

VegFoodFest 2014: Part 1 - Friday

Last year was my first time visiting Toronto's massive Vegetarian Food Festival (the biggest in North America!). I had such an amazing time and you can read all about it here. This year, I knew I had to go and experience it again. There is something magical about being surrounded by all these wonderful like-minded people.

My Friday night started off with Doug McNish doing a cooking demonstration of his Mac&Cheese. He showed us how to make a cheese sauce using butternut squash and nutritional yeast, then topped it off with some fresh breadcrumbs. So yummy!

3-in-1 Restaurant Reviews - Toronto

During my weekend at the Vegetarian Food Festival in Toronto, I took advantage of the multitude of veg restaurants in the area to stop by a few of them. If you haven't read my posts about the festival, here are the links for Day 1, Day 2 and Day 3. Some of these restaurants I had heard of already, but Happy Cow definitely helped picking them out. I ended up visiting Kale, The Hogtown Vegan, and Sadie's Diner. I presented them in chronological order, but it turns out it's also in order of preference, enjoy!

VegFoodFest 2013: Part 1 - Friday

First, a tidbit about me:
2013 is my first year being vegan... Weird, I know. I almost feel like I've been vegan forever because I've been researching and dipping my toes into it for years. I grew up in a smaller northern Ontario town that had little (read: nothing) to offer the veg community, so it was difficult for me to make the jump from vegetarian to vegan. Immersing yourself into this culture and connecting with people in it is so amazing. I did this mainly online and with social media, since I felt I was so far from it physically. Toronto, by far, is the closest veg-destination and will probably always be my favourite (to be determined...) Their annual vegfest was the next step in strengthening my vegan lifestyle and of course, to be shared with you lovely readers.

My wrist tattoo - April 2013