Never Met a Potato I Didn't Like

I remember one winter in Maryland when I decided I would eat nothing but vegetables. I was 22 and no doubt in a calorie-counting phase. I dropped this breaking news on a photographer I worked with and he laughed for a bit. Ken, a gardener, shared with me the knowledge that I would get very little nutrients from vegetables sold at Giant all winter. I changed my mind (I probably went and ate ice cream).

I really could eat a salad every day, however. Tonight I mixed arugula, celery, cucumbers, carrots, a tomato, broccoli, cauliflower, a handful of walnuts, yellow raisins and sunflower seeds and two hard-boiled eggs with some of my favorite dressing: olive oil, red wine vinegar, honey, lemon juice and mustard (just eyeball these things. Despite what some cooks say, you really can’t go wrong).

I started to boil a large potato to put it in the salad but then thought better of it and decided to make a vegetarian shepherd’s pie. So when the potato had boiled, I let it cool and mashed it with a dollop of margarine and a splash of soy milk. Perhaps some wouldn't like the flavor of vanilla soy milk mashed potatoes. But I never met a potato I didn't like.

I then sprinkled a 8x8 pan with a mixture of the following: 2/3 a can of kidney beans, about a pound of Morningstar veggie crumbles I browned on the stove with two cloves of garlic, a carrot, along with the leftover cauliflower and broccoli. I added a thin layer of feta cheese before spreading the mashed potato on top. I then baked it for 25 minutes at 400. Yum yum.

Tomorrow, I'm going to dig out Joy of Cooking.