Day 25: "Vegan" Shepherd's Pie

I got the original recipe from Whole Foods but changed it a little so it's not quite Vegan anymore. The only additions I made was a little bit of cheese and ground turkey. It's still a very healthy alternative to the original Shepherd's Pie, loaded with starchy mashed potatoes. Instead, it is topped with mashed cauliflower and millet. I've never used Millet before so I did a little research....

Millet is an excellent gluten-free source of magnanese, tryptophan, magnesium and phosphorus. While it is technically a seed, it is usually prepared as a grain that can be eaten in place of rice. It is easy to digest, supports stomach and spleen, is beneficial to the kidneys and helps to create an alkaline condition where there is too much acid.
On to the recipe..

Serves 6

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter, plus more to oil baking dish
3/4 cup dried millet, rinsed and picked over
Salt and pepper to taste
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 cup rice milk (oops...I got  vanilla without thinking but it didn't affect the dish)
1/2 head cauliflower, broken into small florets
1 small yellow onion, chopped
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
1 (16-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1/4 cup chopped parsley, plus leaves for garnish
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and mashed
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and mashed
2 cups frozen corn kernels, thawed
1/2 pound cooked ground turkey

Just realized I didn't mash the beans..skipped that step. I also didn't have any tomato paste. But it still turned out fine!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Oil a 9-inch square baking dish with butter and set aside.

Bring 2 cups water to a boil in a medium pot. Add millet and 1 teaspoon salt. Cover, reduce heat and simmer 30 minutes. Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in another medium pot on medium heat. Add half of the garlic and cook until light golden, 3 minutes. Add rice milk and cauliflower and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat and cook until very tender, about 12 minutes. Add cooked millet to cauliflower and mash together with a potato masher until creamy. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions, remaining garlic and thyme and cook, stirring frequently, until onions soften, about 4 minutes. Add mixed vegetables and chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper. Cook 6 minutes. Stir in tomato paste. Add chickpeas and kidney beans to the vegetable mixture along with 3/4 cup water and ground turkey, stirring to combine well.

Spread the vegetable-bean filling in the bottom of the baking dish. Sprinkle corn evenly over the mixture, then top with the cauliflower mash. Bake for about 25 minutes, until heated through. Cool for 5 minutes, then serve, garnished with parsley leaves.

Nutrition

Per serving: 620 calories (60 from fat), 6g total fat, 0g saturated fat, 27g protein, 118g total carbohydrate 24g dietary fiber, (WOW), 0mg cholesterol, 600mg sodium

::Tip of the Day::  Cook your own meals at home versus buying frozen foods (or takeout). In the book No Impact Man by Colin Beaven, a study in the UK showed that the amount of time people now spend driving to the supermarket, looking for parking, wandering the aisles in search of frozen pizza or premixed salad nearly equals the time people spent preparing food from scratch just 20 years ago.