Vegan Shepherd’s Pie with Thyme Vitality essential oil

Personally, I’m all for comfort food in winter.  And in summer!  But in winter, I’ll give myself free rein to succumb.  I figure the S seasons – spring and summer – are built more for Spartan food.  Autumn and winter I classify as AW seasons: “Awww, I’ll have one more serving of casserole, please!”

But comfort and heartiness don’t have to mean using ‘lousy fats’ (saturated fats that lead to high levels of Lousy cholesterol, as opposed to good cholesterol).  There’s never a good reason to eat deep-fried sugar and carbs disguised as cosy treats.

Load up instead on mashes, roasted root vegetables, and slow-cooked veges, legumes and wholegrains, dotted with seafood or lean meat.  And soups!  Throw leftovers and random loitering vegetables into a slow-cooker of stock with plenty of herbs and you’ve a few easy soup meals ready and waiting in the freezer for those ‘can’t be bothered’ nights.

Today, we’re shining the spotlight on lentils, sweet potato and thyme essential oil – key components in our Vegan Shepherd’s Pie recipe.

Lentils are a great plant-based alternative or complement to mince in many of your favourite standards, like chilli con carne, burgers, stuffed baked potatoes and even spaghetti Bolognese.  And they are very economical, making a wonderful way to stretch the household food budget further in a healthy way.

These power-packed gems are gluten-free, slow-burning energy sources, high in both protein and complex carbohydrates, and low in fat.  Better and better!  They are members of the legume family, along with beans, but they are quicker to prepare than most beans and absorb other flavours beautifully, so they are superb choice.

Rich in soluble and insoluble fibre, lentils are also good sources of folate, manganese, iron, vitamin B1 and vitamin B6 (over 20% of the recommended daily intake for each) and zinc (excellent for all-around immune support and over 20% of RDI).  Lentils also include molybdenum, copper, pantothenic acid and potassium.

Brown and green lentils retain their shape better through the cooking process versus the others, which are better suited if you’re after a nice, mushy consistency.

Lentils can be prepared on the same day rather than having to pre-soak from the day before, so they are convenient for spontaneous meals.  Dried lentils keep dried in the pantry for 12 months and tinned lentils retain their nutrition well, so they are super-handy to keep around.  Before you cook dried lentils, spread them out to check for debris then give a good rinse under cold water in a strainer.

For a nutritious switch, we’ve used mashed sweet potato instead of traditional mashed potato on top of our Shepherd’s Pie because sweet potato has oodles more vitamins and antioxidants.  But the choice is yours!  You could even do half and half.  Our recipe is adapted from the Minimalist Baker and the image shows potato topping, so yours – well, yours will look like this, but orange!

Sweet potato is high in goodness and the people of Okinawa consume so much of them that they comprise up to 60% of their diet.  And the Okinawans are famous for their longevity, so that’s evidence enough for me to be happy to include sweet potatoes in my meals just about every day.

The humble sweet ‘tatie is also high in vitamin A and carotenoids, which are awesome for maintaining eye health.  Sweet potato has plenty of fibre and ‘resistant’ starch, which is great for your body’s good bacteria.  It also includes:

• postassium (great for strength and heart health)
• copper (an essential mineral for survival)
• vitamin C and A
• antioxidants (the peel is especially rich so include it as often as you can)
• magnesium (wonderful for muscles and mood)
• choline and manganese (great for supporting healthy brain function)
• iron

On to our third special ingredient: Young Living Thyme Vitality™ essential oil.

Thyme has stood the test of time as a classic culinary herb.  Dried and fresh herbs impart flavour in cooking, but thyme essential oil is the ‘lifeblood’ of the plant so it’s highly concentrated in both flavour and energetic benefits.  Thyme essential oil includes a bunch of valuable constituents like thymol, gamma-terpeninecan and para-cymene.  Please look those up in your favourite essential oils reference book to see their specific benefits and you’ll understand why thyme is one of the essential oils Young Living includes in their Longevity™ softgels along with clove, frankincense and orange: all highly regarded for their immense antioxidant protection for cells and tissues against the damaging effects of free radicals.  Thyme is also a key ingredient in Young Living Inner Defense®, Parafree™ and Rehemogen™.

Please note:  it’s imperative that you only ever add essential oils to food or drink if their label clearly and specifically states you can do so.  The highest impeccable quality is paramount AND not all essential oils, even if the quality is to standard, are suitable for ingesting.  We choose Young Living Vitality™ essential oils for this purpose.

So let’s get cooking.  You’ll be serving up dinner in an hour!

Vegan Shepherd’s Pie with Lentils, Sweet Potato and Thyme

Adapted from Minimalist Baker

Serves 6    Prep time: 15 mins  Cooking time: 45 mins

FILLING INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium onion, peeled and diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1tsbp olive oil
• 288 g uncooked brown or green lentils, sorted, rinsed and drained
• 950 mL organic vegetable stock
• 1 drop Young Living Thyme Vitality™ essential oil to taste* (or 2 tsp fresh thyme)
• 300g/10oz bag frozen mixed vegetables (or whichever frozen veggie combo you love most)

TOPPING INGREDIENTS

• 1.3kg / 3 lbs golden or purple sweet potatoes, well-washed with Young Living Fruit & Veggie Soak and left with skins left on (if you don’t want a rustic texture, peel them, but you’re losing valuable antioxidants)
• 3-4 tblesp vegan butter (or dairy butter if vegan isn’t essential for you)
• Himalayan or celtic salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

METHOD

• To cook quickly, dice sweet potatoes into 1cm cubes, place in a large saucepan with a generous pinch of salt and enough filtered water to just cover the sweet spuds.  On medium high heat, bring to the boil then turn down to a high simmer for around 8-10 minutes until well-cooked through
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 218C/425F and lightly grease a 9×13 (8 cup) baking or casserole dish
• When cooked, drain the sweet potatoes well then mash until smooth, adding your choice of butter and adjusting salt and pepper seasoning to taste.  Cover loosely and set aside
• Saute onions and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned and nicely caramelised
• Add a pinch of salt and a grind or two of pepper
• Add lentils and stock and stir, bringing to a low boil then reducing heat to a simmer and leave uncovered for now.  Cook for 35-40 minutes until the lentils are tender
• At the 25 minute mark, add the frozen veggies and cover.
• When the lentils are about 5 minutes from being ready, put one drop of Young Living Thyme Vitality™ essential oil in a spoon then dip in a toothpick and stir this through.  *Thyme essential oil packs a huge flavour punch, so until you’re used to determining the quantity that suits your tastebuds and recipe, putting the drop in a spoon then using the toothpick gives you excellent control over how much you’re adding.  It’s too easy to aim for one drop and have a slippery second drop slide straight on out after it, potentially overwhelming the other flavours.  The reason we recommend adding towards the end of cooking is that essential oils can lose valuable, delicate properties when exposed to heat
• If the lentil mixture is a bit loose for your liking, add a couple of tablespoons of your mashed sweet potato to help thicken it.
• Transfer the lentil mixture to your prepared oven-safe dish and top with the mashed sweet potatoes.  I like to keep the top a bit on the rough side as I prefer the rustic vibe, but smooth yours down if you prefer.  Grind a dash more salt and pepper over the top, then place on a baking sheet and bake 10-15 minutes or until nicely golden browned on top

This dish will thicken up as it sits, so you might want to let it cool for a few minutes before serving.

Allow any leftovers to cool completely before covering and putting in the fridge for up to 3 days before you must polish it off.

Essential oils are potent, so as always, please follow directions on the bottle and the usual guidelines for safe use of authentic essential oils.

Please ensure you are choosing a brand with complete transparency from seed to seal, such as Young Living.  You can learn in this short video why we only ever recommend and choose Young Living oils and love them so much!

Enjoy the good oil daily.

The information on this site does not constitute advice. Please consult with your health practitioner. When using any of the products mentioned throughout this site, please be sure to read the labels and follow their suggestions for safe use. We make commissions from sales via many of the products we recommend but we only suggest products we genuinely enjoy and want you to benefit from.  Product image used with permission © Young Living Essential Oils.  Recipe images © Minimalist Baker