Holiday madness

I haven't posted for a while but thats because its all been rather hectic in the Baker household. We are not content with one major stress over the holidays but we are undertaking 2 at the same time. We are in the process of moving house and undergoing IVF treatment. Well, I should say undergone as the embryo transfer was yesterday. I have another blog called http://wheresourbaby.blogspot.com which details the whole process as I didn't think this blog needed all that.
So, I am in the 2 week wait. Pregnancy test is on Christmas Eve of all days.
We are moving house this weekend and the Dr. has basically told me I can't do anything related to the move so poor David has to do it all. There's so much packing to do - and I just have to look at it, and feel helpless. So, needless to say there has not been much cooking malarky going on the last couple of weeks. Last night was take out from the Whole foods hot bar which was lovely but I think they must use a lot of salt as I woke up really thirsty early this morning.

I had a great plan to cook loads of food at the weekend to freeze so we could pull it out for quick suppers but that was not to be. I did manage to cook a Sheperds pie on Sunday night which was nice and we had it with loads of veg and gravy.
I also have some pesto in the fridge that I made that day, as I needed a few leaves of basil for a Rachel Ray dish I made but Whole Foods only had basil in industrial size containers (typical) so I had to use it up somehow. I have tried following recipes for pesto but have never really found one I like so end up just making it up. Its basically, lots of basil, toasted pine nuts (just heat in a skillet for a couple of minutes until golden and oils start to release), olive oil and parmesan cheese. I usually adjust quantities to taste.

I also made a lovely 'Three sisters casserole' from Vegetarian Times. It freezes well too.

I will post here my recipe for Shepherds pie. This is a rough recipe and I change it all the time but it will give you an idea of how to make a vegetarian one. Its a lovely thing to have on a cold Sunday evening with a glass of red.

Vegetarian Shepherds pie

1/2 cup green or brown lentils. (you can use red though at a push but I find they go too mushy)
1 1/2 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
2 or 3 large potatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp oregano
3/4 cup vegetable stock or water
1 tbsp vegetarian worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 cup frozen sweetcorn (optional)
1/2 cup of frozen peas (optional)
1 tsp of ketchup (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Cook lentils in water until tender. Add more water if necessary.
Boil and mash potatoes.
Sautee onion and garlic in oil until soft.
Add stock, tomato puree, oregano, soy sauce, worcestershire sauce and simmer until flavors combined.
Add lentils, corn and peas. Add more water or stock if necessary. It should be slightly runny but not watery.

Season to taste. If you want a bit more tomatoey flavor, you can add the tsp of ketchup at this stage.
Put lentil mixture in a casserole dish.
Top with mashed potato
Bake until the filling is kind of bubbling through the potato at the edges and the top of the potato is golden brown. About 20-30 minutes.
Remove from oven and serve. You can eat as is or serve with any vegetable and some extra gravy if required.

Another option. You can use less lentils and add some Quorn mince aswell (aka TVP) if you eat that. I like the Quorn better if I have to eat this as its soy free.

The rest of this week I think we will be trying to use up the contents of the fridge and freezer to save moving it so some interesting concotions may follow.....