Today I have a slice of comfort food for you.  I love lentils!  They’re packed with protein, full of fiber and vitamins, have a great texture, and are perfect in a shepherd’s pie!

This shepherd’s pie is comforting and full of vegetables so it’s really healthy!  Any mashed potato recipe can be used, but you want to make sure they’re pretty stiff and thick so they don’t mush into the lentil mixture.  (Really technical, I know!)  This recipe is nice because the vegetables are pretty interchangeable, too, if you want to experiment with other flavor profiles.

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie Recipe serves 4-6
Protein Mashed Potatoes or your favorite mashed potato recipe
3.5C organic vegetable stock
1.5C dry lentils any color
1C fresh baby spinach
1 medium sweet onion
2 stalks of celery
2 whole carrots
1 portobello mushroom cap
1/2 zucchini
1/2C sweet corn kernels
1/2C peas
3 cloves garlic
2T olive oil
1 bay leaf
montreal steak seasoning to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Bring 3 cups of vegetable stock to a boil.  Add the lentils and bay leaf and reduce heat to a simmer until the lentils have absorbed all the liquid – about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile chop the vegetables, and make the mashed potatoes if you haven’t already.  Preheat the oven to 400.

On medium heat, heat the olive oil in a deep pan an sauté onions until soft.  Add in the other vegetables, except the mushrooms and spinach.  Slowly add in the remaining vegetable stock a little at a time so the vegetables are never in a dry pan.  Add in a few dashes of the montreal steak seasoning.

After all the vegetables have softened, about 8 minutes, add in mushrooms and spinach, stirring until the spinach has wilted.  Add in the lentil mixture and stir well to combine.  Sorry there aren’t as many step by step photos as usual, but the colors of the lentils didn’t love the camera….I decided to spare you.

Combine veggie-lentil mixture in an ovenproof dish like so.
Top with mashed potatoes and bake on the top oven rack at 400 for 20 minutes, or until the top of the potatoes have become golden.  I then broiled mine for 2 minutes to get a nice browned top.

Wait a few moments so potatoes are nice and firm when serving.  Feel free to top with parsley, rosemary, or cracked black pepper.

Enjoy!