Dressed up pizza & vegetarian shepherd's pie

October 19 & 20, 2013

We had a busy Saturday. We went to my son's best friend's birthday party. Afterwards, we had just enough time to come home and hang out with our puppy for about an hour. Next up it was time to get my daughter to her activity of the day. The Girl Scouts were having a lockin. My son and I decided to do a pizza and movie night together.

I had a coupon for buy one large cheese pizza and get one free. Before we left to bring my daughter to the lockin, I pulled some veggies out of the fridge. My son asked if he could help. He sautéed some onion, garlic, green pepper, broccoli, and mushrooms for me. He seasoned them with salt and garlic & wine seasoning. We set them to the side until we got home.

Once we got back with our cheese pizza, it was time to dress my slices up. I added the veggies to the pizza and topped each piece with a slice of provolone cheese. I put the pizza under the broiler just until the cheese melted. Oh yum! It turned out great. I froze the second pizza. I have never tried that before so I hope it freezes alright.

I wanted to use up some of the leftovers in the fridge. I had veggie meatballs, carrots (that had cooked when I made veggie broth), and corn leftover from when I made soup. I settled on shepherd's pie. I chopped up the meatballs and put them in the bottom of my mini pie pans. I sautéed half of a small onion, 1/2 a large bulb of garlic, 1/2 a leek (sliced), celery, one turnip, and one purple potato. After a few minutes, I added in a splash of homemade veggie broth. After the veggies were cooked, I stirred in the leftover corn, carrots, and a handful of peas. The veggie mix went on top of the meatballs. I made a quick gravy. I didn't feel like cooking up onion/garlic for it tonight so I just melted some butter and stirred in flour. I whisked in homemade veggie broth and then stirred in the broth that I had mixed with corn starch. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and garlic & wine seasoning. I topped the veggie mix with mashed potatoes. Well, it was half potatoes and half rutabagas. A thin layer of gravy went next. It was all topped off with cheddar cheese. I put it in the oven at 400 until the cheese melted. We also had a side of cottage cheese. For some reason, the three of us have suddenly taken a huge liking to cottage cheese.

My daughter loved it. She had two pies. My son's throat was hurting so he didn't eat too well. He said that he liked the veggie mix but wasn't big on the mashed potatoes. He isn't much of a potato lover though. Instead, he ate a big bowl of my homemade maple applesauce. I was surprised that the leftover veggie meatballs worked. I guess any leftover meat would work fine.