COOK WITH US ~ Healthy Vegan Recipes!!

John and I recently finished a 14 day stint as vegans and it was great. We lost weight, had more clarity, felt more energized, and slept better. But we did face a few challenges. It was difficult getting use to a diet that doesn't have meat. So we had issues staying full. We didn't have any breads or pasta to hold us over either. We only consumed fruits, vegetables and beans. I know this is more extreme for some vegans but we were participating in a more stringent version of the DANIEL DIET with our church.

One of the first things we quickly realized was we were going to have to get really creative with our meals or we we're going to be miserable. We both looked up recipes that we wanted to make and tried them out every night. I have to say, they were really good. The strange thing is, I didn't really miss having meat for dinner.

My sisters and their families went vegan with us as well, so we agreed to rotate having dinner at each others house for a few days. John and I hosted dinner at our house last Wednesday and we wanted to do our best. We decided to make the best vegan recipes we had found and have a complete meal with an entrée, side, soup, salad and dessert.

The dinner consisted of Shepherds Pie, SWEET POTATO HASH, CAULIFLOWER SOUP, Blueberry Spinach salad and PLANTAINS.  I decided to make a quick YouTube video of us cooking dinner. Hopefully it will provide some meal inspiration! Happy Cooking & God bless!!

Shepherd's Pie
8 medium size Potatoes
1/2 cup of chopped Onions
1 cup of chopped Mushrooms
1 tablespoon of Minced Garlic
2 cups of Carrots
2 cups of fresh Spinach
1 cup of Sweet Peas
Garlic Salt to taste

Directions:
Boil potatoes and carrots separately until soft, set aside. Sauté chopped onions, minced garlic and mushrooms at medium heat for three minutes. Add softened carrots, sweet peas, fresh spinach and sauté for another three minutes. Place into a casserole dish. In a separate dish, mash potatoes until smooth and season to taste. Spread mashed potatoes on top of veggies and then bake for 15 minutes.

Blueberry Spinach Salad
1 bag of fresh spinach
4 ounces of fresh blueberries
1 orange
1 teaspoon of Garlic salt
1 tablespoon of Olive oil
1 tablespoon of Agave Nectar

Directions:
Cut the orange in half and squeeze all juice into a bowl, add garlic salt, olive oil, and agave nectar. Mix dressing well. In a separate bowl, add spinach and blueberries. Finally, add dressing and make sure it's evenly distributed on salad.