Vegan Shepard's Pie

Delicious and satisfying winter comfort food!
Could be served as a holiday meal or at a dinner party.

Serves 10

Ingredients

1 Head roasted garlic (*instructions below)

For the potato layer
8 medium potatoes
2 Tbsp. Earth Balance (or other vegan buttery spread, or leave it out completely for no added oil)
1/3 Cup soy or other unflavored non-dairy milk, or vegetable broth
4 cloves roasted garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Veg layer
1/4 Cup water
1/4 Cup red wine
1 parsnip peeled and cut in a small dice
2 carrots peeled and cut in a small dice
1 medium onion cut in small dice
2 stalks celery cut in a small dice
8 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
4 cloves roasted garlic
2 tsp. dried thyme

Sauce
1 Tbsp. tamari sauce
1 Cup vegetable broth
1/4 Cup red wine
3 Tbsp. flour

To make roasted garlic, preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut the off approx. 1/4 inch of the tip end of the bulb and peel off the outer layers of skin, leaving skins of individual cloves attached. Place in the middle of an 8x10" piece of foil and spray with a bit of cooking spray. Place in oven for 30 minutes. Open foil and allow to cool for 20 minutes before attempting to take the cloves out of their jackets.

Peel and dice the potatoes cover with lightly salted water, allow to come to a boil. Turn heat down and allow to simmer for approximately 20 minutes until potatoes are very soft (while waiting on potatoes start on veg mix below). Drain. Return to pan. Add Earth Balance, soy milk, 4 cloves of roasted garlic, mash potatoes until just barely lumpy with a potato masher, or use a hand mixer. Add salt and pepper to taste, stir.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees, and spray a 12x9" glass or ceramic baking dish with cooking spray.

While waiting on potatoes to cook through peel and dice parsnip and carrots and dice celery and onion, slice mushrooms, and if very large cut slices in halves or quarters. Line a skillet with 1/4 Cup red wine and one quarter Cup water. Once heated through add all vegetables except frozen peas and corn. Once onion is translucent and other veg are soft add four cloves roasted garlic and stir through. Reduce heat to low. Place frozen corn and peas in microwave and cook for two minutes (don't worry if they are not completely cooked through). Add peas and corn to skillet. Add dried thyme.

To make the sauce; in a small dish or measuring cup wisk together 1 Cup vegetable broth, 1/4 Cup red wine, 3 Tbsp. Tamari sauce and 3 Tbsp. flour.

Add sauce mixture to veg mixture. Turn up heat, bring to a boil and allow to thicken. Take off heat.

Spread veg mixture in bottom of greased baking dish. Layer potatoes on top. Cook in preheated 375 degree oven for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and allow 10 minutes to stand before serving.

Serve with vegan gravy if desired. The Happy Herbivore (link provided) is probably the best vegan gravy I have had.

Veg Chili

Feeds 8
It's great stored in the fridge and reheated

Ingredients

1 medium onion chopped
1 green or red pepper chopped (if you like things really spicy use a hotter pepper)
2 cans organic chili hot beans
1 can red beans or dark red kidney beans
2 cans tomatoes (spice things up using chili ready tomatoes or fire roasted tomatoes)
1 can tomato sauce
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp paprika
1 Tbsp. chili powder
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/3 bag of Quorn grounds Use TVP for veganizing
Ketchup(use the kind made with cane sugar, not corn syrup)

In a large non-stick dutch oven sweat out the onion and green pepper in water or a little red wine.
Pulverize the tomoatoes in a ninja, magic bullet, blender or food processor.
Add the tomato paste, tomato sauce and pulverized tomatoes to the veg.
Add spices and a couple of big squirts of ketchup * note my measurements are guidelines add more or less spice dependent upon your taste.
Cook the mixture for at least 15 minutes, longer to allow flavors to blend.
15 -20 minutes before cooking add the beans and the Quorn grounds and allow to heat through. If you use TSP you will need to rehydrate it before adding to the chili.

Final Harvest Vegetable Soup

Makes 10-12 servings
Is better reheated the second day!

In a large stock pot saute' the following in red or white wine:

1 large garlic bulb chopped finely
1 medium onion chopped
2 small leeks, white parts only, chopped
1 stalk celery chopped
1 large carrot chopped

Saute' until very soft and starting to caramelize, then add 1 large vegetable cube (vegetable bullion), 1 box of vegetable stock, two cups water, 1 tsp. each; salt, pepper, basil, oregano, parsley. If you prefer to use fresh herbs tie them up in cheesecloth and hang them in the pot. Bring the pot up to a boil and turn heat down to low, adding two cans petite diced tomatoes and two tablespoons tomato paste.

Meanwhile prepare whatever fresh vegetables you have. I used potatoes, green beans, green pepper and cabbage. At this point you may also add in barley and lentils, bring the pot up to a boil again, reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until vegetables are cooked through. About 20 minutes before serving you may also add in whatever frozen vegetables you like.

Apple Butter

Not exactly a vegetable but, it does take advantage of seasonal offerings!

Makes approximately 4 cups finished product. You may can the butter, store in the fridge for up to two weeks, or it also freezes well.

Ingredients
15 smallish apples
1/2 Cup Demerara sugar
1 Tbsp. pumpkin pie spice (or 1 tsp. cincinnamon, 1/4 tsp. allspice, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg and 1/4 tsp. cloves)
1/4 cup water

Core and quarter apples. Place all ingredients in a large stock pot and cook over medium heat for at least 45 minutes. Apples should start to break down and become soft, continue cooking past this point until liquid is almost all reduced and apples are a medium-dark brown.
Place in batches and run through food processor until the butter is of the desired consistency.
If you are going to use a food mill, potato masher or an immersion blender instead of a food processor you will need to peel your apples. If using a food processor there is no need to peel.

Vegetarian Enchiladas Verde

Now that you have made salsa Verde it's time to use it!

Serves 6

Ingredients

12 corn tortillas
2 cups salsa Verde
2 ears corn cut off the cob (or use frozen)
1 yellow onion chopped
2 cloves garlic smashed and chopped
1 can of beans of your choice, rinsed and drained
1 lb. grated queso fresco (or cheese of your choice)
1 tsp. cumin

Preheat oven to 350. Wrap 2 stacks of 6 corn tortillas each in foil. Place in preheated oven for 10 minutes to soften.
Saute' chopped onion and garlic in a non stick skillet sprayed with a bit of cooking spray until onion is translucent, add corn to heat through. Allow the onion to just start to caramelize. Add a tablespoon of water if necessary. Add beans. Using a masher or the rounded side of a spoon mash up some of the beans. Sprinkle with cumin and stir. Set aside.
Spray 13x9" glass or non stick pan with cooking spray. Ladle in one cup of the salsa Verde, spread over the bottom of the pan evenly.
Spoon a small amount of salsa Verde in each tortilla, then spoon in some of the bean/corn/onion mixture, sprinkle with a bit of cheese, roll and place seam side down in the baking pan. Repeat this until all of the tortillas are used up. Your pan should be full. Ladle on the rest of the salsa Verde and spread evenly over rolled enchiladas. Sprinkle on the remainder of the queso fresco.
Bake in 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes.

Salsa Verde

We have tons of tomatoes that aren't going to ripen before the first frost additionally, we got some in our CSA share this week. I decided to make a green tomato salsa with the green tomatoes which would traditionally be made with tomatillos. Makes approximately 4 cups, but the recipe could easily be adjusted to make a smaller or larger quantity.

Ingredients
3 lbs. green tomatoes quartered
1 yellow onion chopped
3-5 jalapeno seeded and chopped (or other chili pepper depending how hot you want your salsa)
4 cloves garlic smashed
1 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. cumin
1/4 cup water
zest and juice of one lime
1/2 Tbsp. honey
1/2 cup roughly chopped cilantro

Toss all ingredients except the cilantro in a large stockpot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer 15 minutes. Stir. Add cilantro, stir and simmer five more minutes. Remove in batches and run through food processor until desired consistency.

Spaghetti Squash Supper

Delicious way to enjoy the abundant squash of late summer and fall!

Feeds Four

Ingredients

2 Spaghetti Squash

Sauce
2 cans tomatoes or 2 lbs. fresh tomatoes without the skins
12 oz. fresh white or baby bella mushrooms
1/2 large red onion
1 green pepper
2 cloves garlic
2 tsp. basil
2 tsp. oregano
red wine or vegetable broth

Preheat oven to 350. Cut squash in half, scrape out seeds. Place cut side down on a baking sheet lined with parchment or non-stick mat. Bake at 350 for 30 to 45 minutes (squash will scrape out easily when cooked properly). Set aside until cool enough to handle, then scrape out into a large bowl.

While squash is cooking heat a large skillet and saute' the mushrooms, onion, green pepper and garlic in red wine or vegetable broth until onion is translucent. Run the tomatoes through a food processor add to skillet along with herbs, bring the sauce up to where it just starts to bubble, reduce heat and allow to cook down over low heat.

Pour sauce over squash and serve.

I have been experimenting with the no oil plant based diets like Forks Over Knives, Happy Herbivore and Engine 2 Diet, you could just as easily saute' your veg in oil if you choose.

Reflections

I started this blog so that I could remember the recipes I created this year using veggies from our CSA share. We joined the CSA in February, and in March, before getting any veggies from our share (these didn't come until June), I took the leap and decided to become a vegetarian. This was not a spur of the moment decision, nor was it a leap I took blindly, or all at once. I am coming up on the six month anniversary of this change and felt it a good time to reflect on how why I did it, how I did it, and not only renew my commitment to this lifestyle, but to also inspire myself to work toward the next step (giving up dairy completely), and perhaps show others how it can be done.

I have spent several years thinking that I was living incongruously. I am an avid animal lover, activist, educator and sometime rescuer. I would use denial tactics; rationalization, justification, same as everyone else, to justify my continued eating of animals. The cognitive dissonance was getting to me. Then, one March day I ate a Five Guys hamburger for lunch. This was a rare choice, as I considered the Five Guys hamburger the ultimate hamburger and saved it for a special treat. Most days I ate salad or soup and salad for lunch. That night I happened to get the flu. I spent the entire evening re experiencing that hamburger in the very worst way. It was a really bad flu and I could not keep anything down, outside of toast, for at least three days.

In my weakened state I had a brilliant idea! I thought, I haven't been able to eat for several days, why not make the leap to vegetarianism? It would be easy, just don't eat meat again from this point. I had done the same thing with coffee a couple of years earlier. Once I recovered from the flu I thought about what I knew about change. As a former smoker, and having spent 12 years as mental health counselor who dealt primarily with addictions, and the last five years as a probation officer, I know a thing or two about preparing to make a change, making a change and maintaining that change (stages of change). Cold turkey, for lack of a better term, rarely works. This was a change I wanted to maintain long term so I knew I had to stage it, plan it and make the changes in a way that was going to help me commit every step along the way. Including finding support in making and maintaining my change. All this was going to take time.

I decided to start somewhat small, I would not eat meat from the point of my recovery on, I did not immediately stop eating fish. I wanted to have options while I figured out how I was going to maintain this change long term, and find my support. I set a goal date of 90 days to stop eating fish, after my annual coastal vacation. I kept this goal and have stuck to it. I gave up milk immediately, this wasn't difficult, I find I like almond milk better in my cereal. Giving up all dairy has thus far eluded me. I have been going out of my way to find dairy that is 'cruelty free' and cheese that uses non-animal enzymes but, thus far, giving up sour cream, butter and cheese has been quite a challenge. I have significantly cut down on all of the above. I haven't set a date yet to give up dairy, but I am working that way; the cognitive dissonance, once again is becoming unbearable, and my defenses are useless.

My family and friends, with a very minor exception, have been quite supportive. My devoted husband has happily eaten every vegetarian meal I have prepared at home. There will always be those people who don't understand or who don't want to understand. Most of my support has come in the way of online resources and books. To name a few: Vegetarian Times magazine, Forks Over Knives (book and DVD), Happy Herbivore (online blog and several cookbooks), on Facebook; Rip Esselstyn and Engine 2 Team, Why Veg, Our Hen House and Vegucated. All of the aforementioned I find to be helpful resources that are not what I consider to be 'over the top' with scare tactics and judgments, which seem to be the common tactics of some of the other groups and resources I have found.

With the growing season coming to an end, our own garden as well as the CSA shares will stop producing soon. I suspect winter in Ohio will be challenging as I will have to find other resources for fresh food. Food Inc ruined me for the grocery store!

More recipes soon!
Thanks!

'Peasant Style' Bruchetta with Root Vegetables

1-Fennel Bulb, cleaned and trimmed
2-4 Leeks, cleaned and trimmed
4-5 Carrots, scrubbed
2 large Garlic Cloves
2-3 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp. Agave Syrup
4-5 thick slices of French, Italian, or sourdough cut in cubes
2 sprigs fresh Rosemary
1 sprig fresh Thyme
Kosher Salt

Preheat oven to 400. Slice fennel and leeks thinly, cut carrots into coins, smash and chop garlic. Toss all with olive oil in a glass baking dish. Pour balsamic, and agave over vegetables and cook in 400 oven for 45 minutes. Remove pan from oven, add cubes of bread, rosemary, thyme and a good sprinkle of kosher salt. You may add more oil or balsamic if your veg has dried out too much. Put back in 400 oven for 20 minutes or until bread is nicely toasted.

Roasted Tomato Sauce with Penne

This week we got some lovely heirloom tomatoes from our CSA. I am getting a fair amount of tomatoes from my own garden, so I decided to roast these and turn them into a nice sauce.

4-6 medium tomatoes
2 heads of garlic
6 fresh basil leaves
6 fresh sprigs of Greek oregano
1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400. Prepare an ice bath by filling a large bowl with ice and water. Blanch tomatoes by bringing a large pot of water to boil. Cut a small 'x' in the bottom of each tomato, put the tomatoes in the boiling water, 2 at a time, for 1-2 min, or until skin starts to peel back around the 'x'. Remove and place immediately in the ice bath for 2-4 minutes. Once all tomatoes are blanched peel them.
Cut peeled tomatoes in half. And place in a parchment lined baking dish. Break apart the garlic heads and peel the cloves. Stuff the whole cloves in each tomato half anywhere the tomato will allow. Then roll and stuff the basil leaves (typically best to stuff this in the seeded softer area). Stuff in the oregano sprigs. Bake in the 400 oven for one hour, or until the tomatoes start to caramelize.
Allow the tomatoes to cool slightly, place in food processor and blend until smooth. Add the balsamic. Serve over penne.

Enchilada Stack

Tons of fresh veggies in this! Great recipe to make with your sweetie, as there are a lot of ingredients and a lot of steps in this one. This week brought us some heirloom peppers, more onions and more summer squash from our CSA, and this recipe made use of those ingredients well.

Makes four servings
Preheat oven to 375
Line a jelly roll pan (or cookie sheet with sides) with parchment paper

1-16oz. jar prepared enchilada sauce (you could also make your own)
9 vegetarian corn tortillas
1/2 cup shredded cheese (can you vegetarian cheese, vegan cheese shreds or skip it altogether)
1 can black beans run through food processor (or use refried beans)
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Veg Mix
1 summer squash, peeled and diced
1 large onion diced
2 large portabella mushroom caps diced
1 large mild pepper diced (can use green, red, purple, orange, yellow)

In a large skillet heat olive oil, add all veg and cook down until caramelized (10-15 mins), over medium heat.
While veg mix cooks down line jelly roll pan with parchment. Place four corn tortillas on the pan. Spread enchilada sauce on the tortillas. Spread a layer of beans on each of the tortillas, top each with a sprinkle of cheese and another tortilla. Spread enchilada sauce on tortillas, top with a layer of the veg mix. Place a third tortilla on top of the veg mix, layer on sauce and cheese. Cook in 375 oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven when nicely browned. Allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before using a pancake turner to remove each stacked enchilada to a plate for serving. Top each enchilada with fresh salsa.

You could also use any veg you wish in the veg mix! Zucchini or corn would work great! Could also add a bit of cumin in while they cook down!

Fresh Salsa

I make salsa a couple of different ways but, both have the same ingredients.
The first way I like to make salsa is to blanch the tomatoes to get the skins off. This takes time, and if you are in a hurry you can just as easily leave the skins on the tomatoes. I find that if the skins aren't too tough this works out just fine.
Recipe makes about 1 cup of salsa.


4 medium tomatoes, in a large dice
1 small onion, chopped in a small dice
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 minced jalapenos
1 Tbsp. lime juice
dash salt
Fresh cilantro, chopped roughly, to your taste

Mix all ingredients. Serve immediately. Bear in mind jalapenos grow hotter in the fridge, so any leftovers you have will be hotter than what you started with!

Pepper Relish

Great way to use up all of the peppers coming in right now. You can use any peppers you like in this relish. Depending on the peppers you use your relish can be sweet or hot, or somewhere on the continuum between the two. I used a lot of mild banana peppers, some hot banana peppers and a couple of jalapenos, and my relish came out a really nice hot that is easy to eat.
This recipe makes about 1 cup of relish. The recipe could easily be halved or doubled.



10-12 peppers, minced
1/4 cup vinegar (white, red wine, or rice wine are best)
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. olive oil

Mix all ingredients in a jar, or in a plastic storage container and let sit several hours or overnight. This relish is a great topping for baked potatoes, potato salad, pasta salad, anything you'd like to add a little pep to. It's my experience that if you use rice wine vinegar the flavor is a lot more smooth and less sugar is needed.

Squash Bread

Great way to use up yellow, crookneck & summer squash that are coming in like crazy now!

Makes 2 loaves







3 eggs
3/4 C sugar (or 1 C agave nectar)
1 C applesauce
1/4 C oil
1 Tbsp. vanilla

3 C whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2 tsp. cloves, 2 tsp. cinnamon & 1/4 tsp. nutmeg)
3 C grated, peeled squash

Preheat oven to 350.
Grease or use non-stick spray on 2 loaf pans
Sift dry ingredients together & set aside
Beat eggs until foamy and bubbly
Add in sugar or agave, applesauce, oil and vanilla
Beat in dry ingredients by the cupful, until well mixed but, not over mixed
Add squash and mix until just incorporated, do not over mix
Cook 80 minutes, or until pick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean
Cool pans on wire rack for 15 minutes, turn out loaves and cool on wire rack for 30 minutes
Wrap loaves tightly, will keep for a day or two on the counter, or up to a week in the fridge

You could add, nuts, raisins, dried cherries or other dried fruit to this recipe as well, stirring in with the squash.

I made the applesauce myself by coring two medium apples and putting them through the Ninja Master Prep. My loaves were quite dense and I suspect if you used less applesauce and more oil they could be lighter, or no applesauce and 3/4 to 1 C of oil might produce and even lighter loaf. I try not to use oil, or as little oil as possible because oil is a heavily processed food.

Cucumber Salad

This week we have been getting a lot of English cucumbers from a friend. I love cucumber salads, all kinds, and I discovered a great secret recently; rice wine vinegar! If rice wine vinegar is used to make the salad there is no need to add sugar! This cucumber salad is dilly and delicious! Perfect for making up and taking to your next family get together too! Requires little effort.

Feeds a gaggle!

3 large English cucumbers
1/4 C very thinly sliced onion
1/4 C rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. dill
2 tsp. salt

Pare cucumbers neatly from end to end, cutting off every other strip of the green peeling. This leaves a nice stripy pattern on the cuke. Cut off ends, discard. Cut cucumber into slices about 1/4" thick. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with salt. This will bring the water out of the cucumber and give you a little more liquid to work with.
Slice onion very thinly and toss into the cucumbers. Add rice wine vinegar, give a stir. Sprinkle on the dill and stir well. With the dill, fresh is best, freeze dried is the next best and dried is a last resort. Use a lot less dill if you are using dried.
You can enjoy this salad immediately, after a few hours, or let marinate over night. Flavor changes slightly as it sets, but always remains delicious. You will want to eat it within 2-3 days or it gets a little droopy.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes with Farfalle

Tonight, I used the cherry tomatoes I roasted on Sunday to make a pasta dish. I borrowed heavily from the second part of this recipe at Epicourious

Feeds 4

1/2 box Farfalle, cooked al dente
1 recipe roasted cherry tomatoes
2 Tbsp. kalamata olives (may be omitted)
2 oz. reduced fat feta
Fresh parsley

Cook pasta al dente according to directions on the box, drain, return to pan, toss with cherry tomatoes, olives and feta. Garnish with parsley.

Herb Garden

Grilled Squash and Eggplant

Feeds 4


1/4 C olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
3 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

1 large yellow squash
1-2 small eggplant

Preheat grill to get it hot. Whisk together first five ingredients. Slice squash and eggplant lengthwise into 3/8" planks. Immediately place in large shallow dish and pour oil/vinegar mixture over slices. Turn to coat both sides of planks. Grill 5-7 minutes on each side (squash may require slightly longer).
Serve immediately.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

Great way to use all of those cherry tomatoes that are coming in now as well as garlic and basil, all which are plentiful now!

3 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
10 basil leaves cut chiffonade
4 cloves garlic minced
1 or 2 Tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 250F. Line roasting pan with foil. Put all ingredients in roasting pan and toss. Roast for 2 hours.

At this point you can toss the roasted tomatoes with hot pasta and serve immediately.
You could also mix the tomatoes with farfalle or other pasta add balsamic or red wine vinegar, chill and serve as a cold pasta salad.
The tomatoes could also be sealed in freezer bags, frozen, and thawed as needed to toss with pasta, salad or eaten as a snack.

Green Beans

2 pints green beans blanched
1/4 of a large red onion (other onions would work, I just like the color contrast)
1/4 of a red, orange or yellow pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp. sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste
* optional: toasted sesame seeds

Heat 3 Tbsp. sesame oil in a large skillet.
Once oil is quite hot, turn the heat to medium, add the onion and peppers and stir-fry for approximately 6 minutes. Add garlic and continue to stir fry. Get a good carmelization on the onions and peppers, but not so much that they go too soft or loose their color.
Add blanched green beans. Cook 10 minutes or so, until beans still have some crispness, but have not lost their bright green color. At this point you may keep warm on lowest heat with lid on the pan, be aware beans will begin to lose their crispness the longer you cook them.
Toss in sesame seeds if desired and serve.

Potatoes and Swiss Chard

A few weeks ago we were getting a lot of Swiss chard from our CSA, as well as potatoes, onions and garlic. I used this recipe to deal with the abundance of the chard.

Feeds 4

6-8 small red potatoes (you could easily use yellow or fingerling)
3-4 cups of Swiss chard cut chiffonade
1 Tbsp. chopped rosemary, leaves only (fresh from the herb garden is best)
4-6 cloves garlic (left whole)
1 Tbsp. olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet
Wash and cut the potatoes in to approximately 1 inch cubes.
Cook the potatoes and the whole garlic cloves in the hot oil for 10 minutes or so until the potatoes are softened and they are getting a nice brown on the outside.
Sprinkle the salt on the potatoes while they are cooking.
Once the potatoes are nice and brown and soft, remove the garlic cloves. You can dispose of all but two of the cloves. Smash and finely chop the two remaining cloves and add back into the potatoes. Add the rosemary. Cook a few minutes longer.
Add the Swiss chard and stir, cooking only a few minutes just until the chard starts to wilt. Add salt and pepper to taste.

You could use basil, thyme or any herb you prefer rather than the rosemary.

* This recipe borrows heavily from one I found at Flatbush Farm Share

Veg Egg Bake

Great way to use cherry tomatoes and peppers that are coming in this time of year
Feeds 8

6 eggs
1/4 C milk (almond, soy, or skim, all types would work fine, you could also use water)

4 veg sausage patties, crumbled (I used Morningstar Farms, you could use any)
Handful of cherry tomatoes chopped
1 C mushrooms, chopped
1 large bunch green onion (chopped including greens)
1/2 pepper, chopped (red, yellow, orange, green, any would work)
3 oz cheese ( I used goat, but any cheese, to include veg cheese would work)
4 slices toasted bread (homemade if you are so inclined, otherwise any toasted bread would work)
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 375.

Spray 9x12" baking dish with cooking spray or lightly oil.

Line bottom of baking dish with toasted bread. You may have to cut the bread to get it all to fit properly.

In a medium bowl crack the eggs, and whip really well with a wire whisk. Add milk and continue whipping until the mixture forms bubbles. Add salt (about 1/4 tsp.) pepper (about 1/4 tsp.) and a sprinkle of pepper flakes.

Add all chopped veg, crumbled cheese and crumbled sausage patties to the eggs and give a stir.

Pour over toast slices.

Bake for 40-50 minutes.

Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

*You can add different veg and/or omit any veg you dislike.