I have saved Veganism! (Potentially): The theoretical vegan flapjack

I just had a brilliant idea, which seems like it will almost work (being unable to get to the health food store to buy coconut oil and test my theory, I figure I'd run it by the ppk) Vegan Flapjacks.

FlapJacks are some what of an obsession of certain people, essencially they boil down to pancakes cooked in bacon grease (kinda gross when you say it out loud).

So for the vegan version, I was thinking of melting some coconut oil as its a rich fat that is solid at room temperature like bacon grease. It's also known for going a bit crispier than the traditional oil.

For the bacon-y flavour I was thinking a hickory smoke and some soy sauce, possibly garlic or some other flavour.

Ideas thoughts? Food science ?

Use your rice cooker: 1 pot meal ideas`

Chow took on a similar view to the mexican rice I made.

Check it ou:

VEganmofo! Apple Pie Smoothie from Chow

Veganmofo: Chow foods Cute hummus Appetizer!

Veganmofo; HRM Hidden Gem: Formosa Tea House

If you know me, you have probably heard me take place in Darthmouth Bashing. It happens, the bridge thou shall not cross etc. However, let me tell you about a magical Vegan Heaven that exists across the bridge of doom.

Formosa's Tea House.



This place specializes in Vegetarian Foods, ingredients are listed on the menu so vegan items can be found out. They import all kinds of funky fake meats and their portions are huge for the prices.

Plus they have tea! Lots and lots of tea and other gifts.

Their snack menu contains a million different Vegan Delights, dumplings steamed or fried are my favourite. Mock Ham, Cabbage, Mushrooms, Tofu and all kinds of goodness lurks inside. Plus Vegan Oyster Sauce. Amazing.


They do Wontos, soups and curries. Steam buns of all kinds (many vegan ones like the BBQ Bun and Red Bean).

We had a mini vegan party to celebrate Blake Graduating. I forgot again to take photos, too busy eating Sorry!.


Here's my Vegan Red Curry Mutton with rice (all meals have rice or noodle option).

And the 20 dumpling order we split around the table, this is half way through the feasting is up top.

The owner is adorable and amazingly helpful, our tea is always re-steeped and he does the neat Green Tea Pouring with the ceramic shots and encourages you to try it.

You can also get their meals tax free and frozen to go. And the offer complimentary candies and fresh fruit with your meal! One of my new favourite places.

Veganmofo: Halifaxs Eats Backlog Sushi style!

Hey folks,

I have some older mofo photos for you from earlier this month when my friend Geoff came to town and we hit up B-Well Sushi Cafe. One of the best things about this place is there prices, all the rolls are around 4-6$ including dragon rolls. Mind you they do up all their rolls in smaller pieces, but they list exactly what is and is not vegan on their menu and their sushi pizza is amazing!

Very good place to relax, sip coffee or tea and enjoy some light tasty Japanese food.

I sadly forgot to photography all of the meal so I wound up missing some goods like the adorable and super tasty sushi pizza. But I did manage to get this shot of some rolls, so not all was lost.

They also added some new menu items like iced plum wine and udon bowls which can be made vegan. Mine accidentally came with imitated crab, but everything else was amazing.

It's one of the few places were getting an assortment of vegan style rolls won't break your bank and Edamame is 3$ instead of 5$. I love, love, love Edamame but somehow paying 4$+ turns me off it every time. So I enjoy getting an order or two while I'm here.

They also have wifi so you could get some work done or hang out for longer.

I believe The right is the Yam Tempura and the left is a veggie delight roll with Kanpyo, shitake, cucumber, avocado and possibly some other tasty stuff.

Overall for clear menu marking and pricing, B-well is a great place they also offer soy so you can get Matcha Lattes or amazing ginger tea. Be sure to ask about the lattee mix, one has dry milk but I always forget which.

Sadly their Salad Dressing and Miso Soup are not Vegan,  but Props for writing that on the menu and labelling vegan items as Vegan. The one thing I hate about hitting new or haven't-been-here-in-a-while sushi places is remembering what comes with bonito, what has Dashi/fish stock and whose dressing is mayo based etc. Clear menu labels make B-Well super accessible and their selection goes beyond the simple cucumber roll without breaking the bank.

Veganmofo: lazy baking

Been a bit of a lazy day, but before I headed off to class last week I whipped up a batch of Banana bread from 100 Best Vegan Baking Recipes.

Like a good banana bread this one came together easily and quickly with lots of down time. The result was a soft subtly sweet centre and light crust. Great morning snack!

Sadly I had no walnuts to ad and didn't feel like chocolate chips. Eat Warm with Earth Balance and cold coffee.

Veganmofo: Squash Ribz time!

 

 Sorry about the delay in posts midterms and life has been kicking my butt. I have been eating and photographing though, so expect some food porn to appear eventually.

But enough about excuses, today is about ribz! My awesome Vegan Pal Blake was down for a week and made plans to make his famous ribz, unfortunately we got side tract with other adventures and never got around to it. This is one of those recipes someone talks about, but they don't really have a recipe for it. Here are his instructions to me and I'll give you some precise details about what I did and how.


Blake's explination: no recipe. I wish make BBQ sauce while I cook thin strips of squash to get them all crispy (coconut oil/butter works best), cover in sauce then cook some more.

So with his words of wisdom in mind I set off to slice my squash

Blake's Acorn Squash Ribz

• 1 Acorn Squash

• 2 Tbsp Olive Oil (I don't have coconut butter sadly)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/3-1/2 BBQ Sauce (I got lazy and used some old stuff, I imagine Tequila Cherry from this post would work great though!)

• 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice ribs along indents in squash, space across your baking sheet, use a basting brust to coat the squash in oil on all sides. Bake for 30 minutes, turn over and bake another 30 minutes until crispy.

While the squash bakes, sort through the guts to remove the seeds. I'd recommend popping them into a dry or lightly oiled skillet with some coarse salt and chili powder to snack on because these ribz are gonna take a while. If you don't have BBQ sauce laying around, you could also prep that and sides while the ribz cook.

This one was baked directly on the rack

Once the squash is crispy and cooked through, bast with BBQ sauce (liberally!) on both sides and bake at 450-500 for another 10 minutes, flip and re-baste and bake again until the sauce is caramelized. I feel as though continuing this process earlier on with numerous flips/bastes would produce even better results, but these came out great. Extra points for a broiler finish.

Serve with your choice of sides, I did mashed potatoes and steamed veggies!

Veganmofo: Autumn's Seed roastin

Autumn is a great time of year, brilliant colours, bounty harvest of produce and above all Squash, Pumpkin and more Squash.

Veganmofo has been going crazy for pumpkin recipes and it's only fitting. These babies are cheap and boy do they scream fall when you bite into cupcakes, pies, pastries, doughnuts, biscuits, soups, stews, roasts and anything else infused with this orange goodness.

As you will likely be gutting all kinds of these seed filled gems, I figured I do a quick post on how to prep your seeds for roasting and eating.

1. Gut your squash. Spoon all the stringy seedy mess into a light mess straigher.
2. Running warm water over the mess, squish with your hands to seperate the seeds form the orange muck.
3. Remove orange muck into compost and continue rinsing until seeds are clear and clean.
4. Allow seeds to fully dry.
5. Pre-heat a cast iron skillet with a light coating of oil.
6. Add dry seeds and toast over medium high heat 5-10 minutes or until browned. Tossing with seasoning of choice. Splatter guards are your friend!

And Voila! super tasty snack to munch while you wait on the squash/pumpkin.

Seasoning options include

• coarse sea salt
• dill and thyme (and salt)
• Coarse pink and black pepper with salt
• Chili powder, paprika and garlic salat
• Cinnamon and sugar, finely ground
• Cinnamon sugar and cayanne
• Cajun mix
• Cumin, Coriander, Salt, ground mustard seed and curry powder
• Oregano, thyme, sage, poultry spice and vegan-chicken-stock-powder
• Nooch, salt, paprika and garlic

But don't limit yourself to the list! Try all kinds of combos!

Note: these can also be baked, sans oil at 400 but watch them carefully!

Pumpkin French Toast Casserole (or banana, apple, other fruit)

This is basically my lazy, casual rendition of French toast, with less work. This recipe is about using what you have on hand or things that you may have no other use for or are about to get up and leave you.

The original Recipe is from Vegan Brunch by Isa, amazing book and worth your hard earned money.

This recipe is great for when you have some stale or dry bread that is past it's prime. Because this recipe is the my lazy vegan version, you can use any old bread or an assortment of breads. No matter how old, dry, stale, hard, broken or decrepit it is, because instead of perfect slices our bread is going to be cubed, torn and shredded. I also made sure to save and add all the bread crumbs I had laying around, so dump out those bags and scrap your cutting boards! Waste not, want not.

This recipe is all about using what you already have, so experiment and substitute to suit your needs. If you don't have pumpkin try squash, banana, fruit compote, sweet potato, apple sauce. Anything!

What you will need:
Baking Dish
Bowl
Cutting Board

Ingredients:
1 cup canned pumpkin (alternative, depending on what you have could be apple sauce, compote, mashed bananas)
1 cup almond milk (or any other vegan milk)
2 T corn starch (again, it you like potato or other starches use them)
2 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
two shakes of all spice
optional: Earth balance for buttering the baking dish and dotting the top
Optional add ins: Anything you have laying around, nuts (whole, broken, ground), coconut, dried fruit, chocolate chips, oats, flax seeds, this is your dish and it is about using what you have.

Add ins can either be mixed with pumpkin mixture, or tossed with the bread, or even sprinkled over top of the dish! Whatever you want.

a little liquid from jarred ginger or a little bit of grated fresh ginger (again, this is to taste so for stronger bite add more)
expired bread, I had a good 3/4 loaf but you could round this out with fresh bread, all bread crumbs or any bread like items you have around.

Dice your bread into bite sized cubes or tear into chunks if using soft bread save all end pieces, crumbs, fluffy bits and odds and ends. Set aside.

Mix everything else together in a bowl and preheat your oven to 350.

Place all your bread into a shallow rimmed baking dish (you can use a casserole dish or deep dish, this will result in a softer casserole. As the pumpkin mixture is pretty wet, and depending on how hard/dry your bread is you may want more layers to keep in moisture.) Since I like mine less-moist and a little crispy, I'm using a shallow baking dish so my bread is effectively in a single layer.

Pour pumpkin mixture over bread and let sit until oven is ready, the longer it sits the more it absorbs and the softer it gets. So depending on the tough/dryness of your bread and your preference for soft/pudding style eats you may want to let it sit longer.

Alternatively you can prepare this and place it in your fridge to dish out smaller amounts to cook on an as needed bases. Or even fish out your bread cubes to fry, traditional French toast style throughout the week. MMM

But since I'm being lazy, I'm just gonna plop the whole mess in the oven and not let it sit very long. About 12 minutes, stir let it sit another 12, then bake.

Baking time was around _____, again if you'd like a more pudding style dish you could stir/mix it as it cooks and reduce the cooking time.

Voila!

Serve alone, dusted with sugar, spices, citrus zest, berry sauce, syrup, ice cream or w/e.

Veganmofo: Diaya

So it's only been very, very recently that Diaya has become available here and more recently that it has made it's way into the normal grocery stores. But since that has happened the 24/7 shop has it on sale almost all the time (only 1$ off, but still). Whenever i'm there I stock up, since my first bag of Diaya the one and only thing I've ever really made has been Mac-N-Cheese.

The one form Diaya's website here

Try this delicious gluten and dairy free recipe by Daiya fan Dawn Grey in Lawrence, KS.

Servings: 4
Preparation Time: 30 mins

8 ounces gluten-free or regular pasta, any shape 3 cups Daiya style Shreds 3 tablespoons vegan butter 2 cups unsweetened (soy / rice) milk product 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast ¼ teaspoon black pepper ½ cup gluten-free bread crumbs ¼ teaspoon paprika ¼ cup vegan parmesan cheese (optional)

Cook pasta according to package instructions.  Drain thoroughly when done.  Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare the cheese sauce while oven is warming. In a small pot melt the butter. When melted, add the pepper and nutritional yeast.

Stir in the milk or crème product. Add the cheddar, and cook over low/medium heat for about 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent burning.  Stir in the macaroni and mix together. Transfer to an 8x8 casserole dish. Top with the bread crumbs and paprika.  Bake for 15 minutes uncovered, or until the cheese is bubbling and top is starting to brown.

For health purposes I served this with a salad and some lame bottled dressing from the fridge. Because if I'm going to eat salad it's normally just to round out a meal, because sometimes a salad is just a salad. Usually if I pick up Diaya the rest of this comes together with stuff I have on hand and if I happen to luck out and have a bag of salad greens or some lettuce, I'll do a salad on the side.

Veganmofo Hump Day!: Flash mob!

That's right it's mid-mofo time! To celebrate, we're taking part of the Veganmofo-Hump-Day-Flash-Mob and promoting fellow vegan artist Leslie Hall in all her Gem-glory!

She's written a song for the occasion which you can listen to on Kittee's site here: Click me!!

So rock out to her new tune and check out more amazing videos on her site!

Lyrics, because they are just too awesome:

I eat the finest cuisines, in the finest of places  Stuff my mouth full and always say thank you.  But if it's raised in a cage, and it can't even move, if it's hormone filled and in a bad mood.  I'm gonna pass on that.  Reach for something better.  The only milk I'll drink comes from the nipple of a soy bean. Veggies make you live forever, and they seem to taste much better. when they're cooked and grown with love.  So give a chef who knows what's up a hug. Momma just can't seem to get it, Papa he just rolls his eyes. When I tell them I'm much healthier, they just say that it's all lies.  But beans, nuts, fruits and veggies can really fill the belly.  Get you vitamins you need, shiny hair and extra speed.  Don't take that meat-wich any further, I want a marinated, deep fried, hand-tied mushroom burger.  I like it!  We gotta stand strong for our feathered furry sometimes scaly animal friends and their little babies.  'Cuz I wouldn't want to live in a cage in a dark warehouse killed at an early age.  Pumped full of hormones, sleeping in my feces.  Never met my mother, raised by machines.  Never get sunshine never get green, but that's just me.  [That girl loves fruit leather.]  So ask us what we're eating.  Delicious and repeating, fruits and veggies are so nice.  With a slice of tempeh,  yes, I'll have that twice.  Don't forget the legumes!

Veganmofo: Sald Expose!

 Ok Mofo-ers, this is a rare occasion around these parts but I'm going to do an expose on salads. Yes, that is right, greens and raw vegetables in all their vegan supposed glory.

 

Now I'm not the biggest fan of salads as most of you know, but there are few things that for me make salads both palatable and worth eating. So let me break this down for you in how to make sure your salads are extra tasty and more than a side dish.

 First up, is the grain salad. If I don't know it's a salad, I'll eat it. I like grain salads for their portability, tastiness and above all their lack of lettuces. Sorry lettuce. This is AFR mango black bean quinoa goodness. Salads based in grains just sit better with me, they seem like more real food and they hold dressing like a champ.

 The next one is a shocker, but Vegetables. Yup, they go in salads sometimes they can even make the whole thing worthwhile. Fresh peppers are perhaps my favourite their subtle sweetness and crunch make it worth while. Other pickled vegetable offerings can add busts of flavour which help the boring lettuce-y nature of our salad companions.

 

Dressings! This may be my favourite part. Pre-vegan I hated all forms of creamy dressing due to my general icky-feelings towards cream and weird milk/egg mixtures. But vegan creamy dressings rain supreme. Vinaigrette are all well and good, but something about the fattiness or thickness which clings to your selection of ingredients put thicker dressings above the rest for me.

This is where you salad gets the most of it's flavour, so shop around or better yet make your own! Additions like maple syrup for sweetness, Dijon for spice, blended dressings lend their thickness to every bite. Even if you stick with same base day in and day out, swapping your dressing is an easy way to avoid boredom.

 On that flavour note, seasonings. I know, seasoning a salad sounds trite, but I enjoy the difference it makes. Obviously if you have a green thumb or cash to burn, fresh herbs and seasonings are best. But I find even a simple sprinkle of complimentary dried herbs lending their flavours can turn a salad into something I have to eat into something I want to eat.

 Perhaps my favourite part of salads! Toppings! Adding all kinds of stuff to make it more interesting. Flax seeds for texture/omega 3, chickpeas are an all around salad champ! legumes, means, fruits, bacos (vegan bacon bits) or anything else your little heart desires! Make the salad your own, top it with nooch, spicy peppers! Nuts, Seeds, Sprinkles! Anything to make it less boring.

 On the topping note, there is the fruit option. I used to be a firm believer in fruit salads keep their fruit and vegetable salads should never be eaten (I've obviously become lax in my views). Turns out adding fruit or other sweet bits to a savoury salad can make it pretty fantastic. Especially with creamy or spicy dressings, having the natural sugar pops the vinegar. This one has a raspberry vinaigrette with cranberries! Strawberries, raspberries, apples are all classic choices. I've heard good things about grapes and even banana. If adding fruit to your veggies still sounds too scary, make a fruit salad! anything to change up the normal routine.

Finally, protein. This is what takes salads from blah to meal quality for me. Plus it comes together super fast if you keep a selection of things on hand. Some seitan sausage, tvp, bacos, tempeh bacon or croutons, nuts, seeds all add a little something to make salads more than just rabbit food. Another option is the addition of fats, from flax seeds, nuts, avocado, and oils! These also help with balancing out a salad into a meal.

Veganmofo: A lazy day and quiet breakfast

Veganmofo: Spotlight on Tea

Next up on Veganmofo is a highlight on Tea! Yes lovely tasty tea. With the our awesome local selection at World Tea House, I could feasibly be showcasing a different tea for years to come!

Today's tea is their Welcome Blend which is a soothing chamomile/herbal blend  made to relax and ease ones tensions. This refreshing blend of Organic Chamomile, Rosehips, Lavender, Roses, and Pink Peppercorn. Brews a floral cup with a thin liquor and a sweet and spicy character. It is very, very floral and light.

Since I haven't been feeling 110% I decided to grab a second selection, the tea is smooth and lightly flavoured. No caffeine so it isn't my go-to tea, but whenever I'm feeling a bit under the weather my first thought is TEA! And since I have terrible cankers, I figured a soothing stress free blend would help.

 Plus everything taste better in a fancy tea pot.

Not only does World Tea House have 100+ variety's, custom blends, tea-ciders, tea-lattes, tea-hot-chocolates and amazing stuff! They really know their tea, Phil the owner goes actually travels to the tea farms himself so everything is ethically sourced. You can get tea brewed hot or cold or to take it home (tax free! woo!).

I've learned soo much about tea since going there, so it's really an amazing place to order, no artificial sweetener or flavours. Organic and fair sourced whenever possible their selection is fantastic. Enough plugging, check out their site or facebook menu.

Veganmofo V: Autumn Mac-N-Cheeze

So once upon a time a brilliant Mac-N-Cheeze recipe appeared on my mofo feed using butternut squash. Better still, it used all the other ingredients I have laying around the apartment. It was calling my name and unlike the majority of things my greedy mofo-eyes started bookmarking for later, it wouldn't require I get up, put on pants and drag myself to the grocery store or market.

 

 Hurrah! I had a butternut squash in the fridge that was planned for AFR's Coconut Squash rice, but the stem had started going funky on me, so I roasted that sucker and cut off all the questionable chunks of skin just to be safe.

For those of you who don't know there are a variety of schools of thought on the Squash roasting process, to make things simple, I'm going to give you mine:


Lazy Woman's Guide to Roasting All Large and Orange Things:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Cover your baking tray in a silapat or tinfoil (or lightly grease it, sugars can get messy as they cook)
3. Take a sharp knife and carefully slice your squash/pumpkin in half length wise. I also cut off the bit with the stem, but mine was starting to go bad.
4. Remove pulp/seeds. (Optional: put seeds aside for roasting later)
5. Lightly coat cut side of squash in olive oil and place cut side up on the baking sheet.
6. Place squash in oven for approximately 30 minutes.
7. Flip the squash over and return for another 30 minutes or until a fork easily peirces the squash

You can then slice, scoop or eat as is. I find it easier to scoop out the flesh and leave the skin intact, it also saves copious amounts of peeling/chopping while the squash is hard and resistant.

Anyway, time went on and I finally decided that I had eaten enough leftovers to warrant making myself some Mac. But suddenly, the original post was not in my feed, it wasn't stared or showing up when I search. Distraught, I found a few other tasty looking offerings but they were not the same. Thankfully a few google searches later I had found it On Raw for 10$ a day! (link to recipe).

Now  despite having everything I need right there, I did make a few changes for one I used my blender (which proved to be a  bit of a hassle) instead of a food processors. Actually, in my usual fashion I bastardized the poor recipe to death.

Complete list of changes made

• Used blender instead of food processor
• As such only used 1/2 of squash and closer to 3/4 cups of almond milk
• Apparently forgot about the lemon juice all together (whoops)
• Used Earth Balance
• Took some panko/Earth balance and toasted them together in my skillet
• Blended sauce, added it to a mixture of Gluten Free Rice Macaroni and steamed kale
• Topped with toasted bread crumbs and paprika/chili powder
• Baked for 20 minutes covered at 350, removed cover and baked for 10 more minutes

So for this version you will need (original recipe from Raw on 10$ a Day Here)

• 1/2 roasted squash, skin removed
• 3/4 cups almond milk
• 4 tablespoons Nooch
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tablespoons earth balance
• 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp onion powder, 
• Fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbps parika and 2 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 cup panko
• 2 more tablespoonsof earth balance
• 1/2 pack of rice-macaroni
• 1/2 bunch of kale

Preheat oven to 350 and bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook pasta as directed on box, chop kale and add to a steamer basket above your pasta. Blend the first 7 ingredients in your blender/food processor until smooth. Stir it a few times to be sure.

Once pasta/kale is done, drain liquid and rinse under cold water. Dump pasta/kale into casserole dish and toss together with sauce until everything is evenly coated.

 

Pre-heat your cast iron skillet and melt 2 tbsp of Earth Balance, add your panko and toss until evenly browned.

 

Add these to the top of the Mac-N-Cheeze sprinkled with paprika and chili powder. Cover with lid and bake for 20 minutes until sauce is bubbly. Remove cover and turn to 400 to crisp top (approximately 10 minutes).

Eat with salt, pepper and hot sauce!

Veganmofo: Late night snack

NaNaNaNaNa...KALE CHIPS!! KALE CHIPS!!

Yup, the farmers market produced a lovely haul of kale, so I decided to bake them into salty nooch heaven. There are some super complex recipes out there but I keep mine dirt simple.

Lazy-persons-kale-chips

• 1 bunch of kale, de-stemmed, dried and torn
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1/2 cup of nooch
• 1 tbp coarse salt or more to taste
• 1 tbp chili powder

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Wash, de-stem and dry your kale. Toss dry torn leaves into a bowl with oil and massage until coated. Afterwards dump/sprinkle in the nooch. Toss and massage some more, before adding the salt and chili powder. Alternatively take you noochy kale and lay it out in a single layer then sprinkle with salt/chili powder.

Bake for about 5-7 minutes, until the kale is crispy but not burnt.

 Eat immediate and pat yourself on the back for all those super food nutrients you are now enjoying.

Veganmofo V: Iron Chef Challenge #1: Secret Chickpeas!

 So I was a tad bit late to the game and craving something hearty (after all it is thanksgiving weekend, even if you are a single girl living alone). Therefore my humble entry into the first Vegan Iron Chef Challenge is

::drum roll::

Chickpea Pie!

As it turns out there are about a million different ways people make shepard's pie both vegan and non-vegan. The way my mother used to do it was super plain, fry hamburger (maybe onion), top with cream corn and mashed potatoes, sprinkle paprika and bake. But a quick google search brings up thousands of variations most of which seem to involve gravy and some carrots/peas/corn/green bean combo.

Here's my recipe.

Single Chick's Pea Pie

• 1 can chickpeas (homemade if you aren't pressed for time)
• 4 thin skinned potatoes
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 2 small (10 oz) cans of veggies (whatever is on sale, I used 1 carrots and peas + 1 10 oz can of carrot, pea, corn and bean)
• 2 large spoon fulls of white miso
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 1/4 WW flour
• 1/2 onion
• 4 large garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp celery seed, poultry seasoning, oregano, thyme, sage, Rosemary, paprika
• 1 tsp coarse ground salt
• fresh ground pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp earth balance
• 1 cup water, vegetable stock  or water mixed with boullion.
• 2 stalks of green onion (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and heat 2 large Tbsp of oil oil in cast iron skillet
2. Scrub and chop potatoes before adding to boiling water, cook until done and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, Dice onion and mince your garlic. Add onion to hot oil and stir, add salt and pepper. Drain your can of chickpeas and vegetables (keep chickpeas separate from veggies!).
4. One onions start to become translucent add your garlic (reduce heat to medium high) and seasonings. Continue to cook until fragrant.
5. Add chickpeas, stirring to coat everything in oil/spices. Cook until chickpeas are seasoned. Then add earth balance until melted and sprinkle flour into pan. Stir quickly to dissolve flour completely (it may be easier to combine flour/earth balance in a small dish and then add to pan).
6. Once flour mixture is coating the chickpeas, mix miso and warm water together stiring until miso is dissolved. Add the miso mixture to skillet and stir. Cook for 3-4 minutes, then add your water/broth slowly, stir until mixture thickens.
7. 
8. Continue to cook chickpeas/gravy until mixture is thick and begins to bubble, reduce heat to simmer stirring occasionally. Allow this to cook for another 7 minutes before adding your drained vegetables. 
9. Cook mixture until your mashed potatoes are ready, aim for at least 15 minutes so the flavours can hang out a bit.
10. When potatoes are cooked, drain and mash them with the Almond milk, adding just enough to get a consistency you enjoy. Mix in the green onions to the potatos.
11. 
12. Take your gravy chickepea mixture and layer it into an oven safe casserole dish or pie pan. Cover mixture with mashed potatoes, top with additional green onion pieces if desire crack black pepper and parika over top. Bake until top is golden brown and dish is heated through.

This is a super rich and pretty salty gravy thanks to the miso, I think next time I would try adding 1/4 cup of nooch to the base to see how it goes. In my household we always ate shepherd's pie with a side of pickles, so grab some of those if you have them and chow down.

Either way there is no attractive way to plate this puppy, so here she is:

Silky, creamy, rich and savoury filling with potato/scallions.