The Healthy Ghetto Gourmet I.

Andy and I have been trying a plethora of healthy and cheap recipes. Well I suppose 'cheap' is relative if you don't have a well stocked spice rack but I digress. Everything we've tried is tasty so I'll offer the latest dish. Sorry, I've got no awesome pictures. But believe me, it looks amazing when it is done. It was borrowed from Cheap Healthy Good.

Vegetarian Shepherd’s Pie
Makes 6 servings

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, divided
1 large yellow onion, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon curry powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 small red or green bell peppers, chopped
3 cups cubed eggplant, with peel
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1 1/4 pounds small red potatoes, halved
1/2 cup fat-free half and half (or skim milk)
1 cup frozen or fresh peas
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 pinch Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat 1 Tb. oil; add onions, garlic, curry and cumin. Saute until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl.

2) Heat remaining oil in skillet; add peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and 1/2 cup water. Saute until soft, about 20 minutes. It's a good idea to let a lot of the extra moisture evaporate. Stir in onions. Place in a shallow 8-by-8- inch baking dish.

3) In a saucepan, boil potatoes until done. Drain and smash. Stir in half and half, peas, salt and pepper. Spread over vegetables and top with Parmesan.

4) Bake 15 minutes. Brown in broiler. Serve.

You won't need to fix any sides because this meal is quite filling. We did make a couple of adjustments though. Instead of half and half or skim milk, we just used regular old 1% milk. And we had a small jar of mushrooms leftover from the homemade birthday pizzas for my brother so we threw those in too. Somehow this dish also made more then what an 8 x 8 dish could hold. Perhaps it is because the produce wasn't as small? Nonetheless, it has made enough where I could take some to work and Andy could have a serving for lunch today. And if my memory serves, there will still be at least one plate's worth left after that. I do believe the entire dish cost $15-16 to make.