Vegetable Pot Pie with Daiya Vegan Cheese

This is a fairly basic veggie pot pie recipe, but the addition of wonderful Daiya vegan cheese makes it a step way above the ordinary.  I used to make veggie pot pies years ago, but there was no vegan cheese on the market that I would put anywhere near my mouth, so though the pies were tasty, they were really just a bunch of vegetables in a crust.  Well, hello Daiya!!  Daiya vegan cheese will spike up any meal giving dishes that restaurant-made quality.  You can buy it at any Whole Foods in North America, plus a wide, wide variety of other natural grocers.  For a listing of where to buy near you just click here for their locator page.

Note on amount of vegetables to use:  Use as many as will fill up whatever size pie dish you have, so you kind of have to eyeball the amount. My theory is it's better to have too much than too little.  I have a very deep pie dish as well, so all my veggies almost filled up a 4 liter cooking pot (see photo below).

ingredients:

• 1 double layer pie crust; either store bought or home made
• 2 - 3 average sized potatoes, cubed
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• a variety of veggies, whatever you have on hand (I used 1 small zucchini, green beans, peas, corn, mushrooms, broccoli florets and stem chopped up)
• 1 head red or green chard or large bunch spinach, chopped
• 2 - 3 cups vegetable broth (from cooking the veggies, see method below)
• herbs of your choice (I used Italian herbs, but cumin & garlic is good too)
• cornstarch or flour
• 1/2 bouillon cube
• 1 package Daiya vegan cheese (you may not use the whole package, depends how cheesy you want it)

method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

If using pre-made pie shells, thaw and place into pie dish.  If making from scratch, make the crust while the veggies are cooking and line the pie dish with the bottom layer crust.

Cook chard or spinach in a pot with about 1 cup water.

In another pot, a large one, cook the remaining chopped veggies in about 2 cups water until about half done.

Prepare your pie crust if making from scratch and line pie dish with bottom crust.

When veggies are done strain them over a bowl so that you reserve the liquid.  Strain the chard / spinach separately as it is used as a topping layer at the end, make sure to reserve the broth from the chard / spinach as well.

Transfer veggies to a large bowl, set chard aside.

Pour the reserved broth into one of the used cooking pots, put on low heat and add 1/2 bouillon cube and herbs & spices.  Add cornstarch (about 1 Tbsp) or flour (about 2 - 3 Tbsp) and mix well, until sauce thickens a bit.

Pour sauce over veggies and stir to combine.

Spread a handful or two of Daiya vegan cheese in the bottom of the pie dish.  Pour all the veggies over top and top with cooked chard / spinach.  Add some more Daiya over top, the amount is up to you.

Place the top pie shell over everything and seal up as best you can.  Make a few small holes in the top shell for venting.

Bake 45 minutes, or until crust is slightly browned.

Let cool a bit before serving.  I make pot pies in the afternoon if I have time, then leave them in the warm oven until dinner and they're just the perfect temperature.