Chick Pea Pie

One of our favorite recipes that we make for lunches or dinner at least twice a month is-- you guessed it, Chick Pea Pie! It tastes like Thanksgiving, and chicken pot pie and any other old school comfort meal you can think of that normally features meat. It is super easy to make and if you have a mandolin slicer it comes together even faster. 

The most time consuming thing in this recipe is chopping your vegetables. Other than that you simply combine all the ingredients, mash them up a bit and place in the oven. It is just that easy! This is a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance that we simply could not live with out! We've always added nutritional yeast to ours to give it a bit of a cheesy flavor but it's just as good without it. 

What to do:

Use 3 cans of Chick Peas (we use the low sodium kind) and soak for about 20 minutes in the largest bowl you own -- trust us you'll need the room later!

Once the soaking time is over preheat your oven to 350°F. Then drain the beans and place back into the huge bowl. Using a potato masher, mash the chick peas until there are no whole beans left.

Grab a cutting board (and here's where your mandolin slicer comes in handy!) and a larger sized sweet onion. Cut the onion into four quarters. Slice each quarter so you have very thin onion pieces and place into giant bowl. If using  a mandolin slicer you can do this step right over the bowl!

Grate 3 large carrots into your bowl (again mandolin slicer is handy for this step).

Cut one head of broccoli (NO STEMS) into small florets (yes we're lazy and yes we use the mandolin for this step too).

Slice up some chives (about 2 teaspoons or more depending on flavor preference) into nice thin slivers-- add to humungous bowl.

Add a 1/2 cup of bread crumbs, 1 cup of vegetable broth, 4 tablespoons nutritional yeast,  1 teaspoon salt, and 3 tablespoons olive oil to the bowl and mix all around.

Transfer ingredients to a very large casserole dish or two regular sized dishes. Then cover with tin foil and place in the oven for about 45 minutes. Once that time is up remove the foil and place back in the oven for 15 minutes.

Let cool a bit and then serve with some hot sauce!

Here's to staying Meat Free in the City- The Meatless Fleet Team

Surprising Stuff Saturday!

When you find yourself under the weather and working so hard at your part time job for minimum wage (which is a whopping $7.25 p/hour these days-- sure it hurts the wallet and our ego but at least it's something!) and swimming in as much school loan debt as we are, you're always on the lookout for a cheap, quick and meatless meal!

We give you this Saturday's surprise stuff-- the FRESCO BURRITO at Taco Bell. Obvi, we aren't fans of fast food as it can be most unfriendly to one's waistline and complexion BUT these little beany burritos are definitely a lesser evil when you're too tired and/or sick to cook! Each one is only 8 grams of fat and 340 calories-- again these aren't going to help you get rid of any "lunch lady arms" but if you find yourself out with friends who love to think outside the bun you'll still want to make sure you order this item as it has no meat, dairy or egg product and it is actually THE LEAST FATTENING MEAT FREE ITEM ON THE ENTIRE MENU!  Prices will vary by sales and your location, but they run between $0.99 and $2-- and trust us we won't argue with that!

For more information about ingredients check out this link:

http://www.tacobell.com/menuitem/Fresco-Bean-Burrito

Here's to Staying Meat-Free (not broke) in the City- The Meatless Fleet Team

 

 

Nom nom nom= Beany Burrto!