Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pieadapted from Taste of Home Everyday Light Meals
6 medium potatoes
1lb carrots, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1 1/2lblean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
1 jar (12oz) fat-free beef gravy
1 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp rubbed sage
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 cup fat-free milk
1 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp shredded Parmesan cheese

Directions:  Peel and cube the potatoes; place in a large saucepan and cover with water.  Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cover and cook for 20 minutes or until tender.  Add 1inch of water to another saucepan; add carrots.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and simmer until crisp-tender, about 7-9 minutes.  Drain.
 In a large nonstick skillet, cook beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.  Stir in the carrots, gravy, 1/2 tsp salt, sage, thyme, rosemary and pepper.  Transfer to a shallow 3qut baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray.
 Drain the potatoes; mash with milk, butter and remaining salt.  Spread over meat mixture.  Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.  Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until heated through. 

Nutrition Facts:
Cal 390
Fat 13g (6g sat fat)
Choles 53mg
Sodium 859mg
Carb 43g
Fiber 6g
Protein 30g

Diabetic Exchange:  3 lean meat, 2 starch, 2 vegetable, 1/2 fat

Modifications:
-I used ground chicken instead of ground beef.
-I added a can of Italian styled diced tomatoes.
-I used a packaged gravy instead of a jar.
-I did not sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Here's what you'll need:

Peel and cube the potatoes.

Slice up the carrots.

Dice up the onion.

Put the carrots in water to boil and soften.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Brown the ground chicken.

Cook the potatoes, drain and add the butter.

Add the onion to the ground chicken.

Once the chicken is cooked through, add the carrots.

I decided to use a can of Italian-style diced tomatoes.

Add the tomatoes and the herbs.

Make the gravy.  If using jarred gravy, skip this step.

Add the gravy to the pot and let simmer for 5-6 minutes.

Pour into a greased baking dish.

Spread the mashed potatoes over the top.

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:
We love shepherd's pie around this house and this one is no different.  The addition of the brown gravy in with the mixture of onions and tomatoes really gave an extra depth.  Scott said it was one of his favorite meals that I have made in a long time and he had 3 helpings! 

This is a perfect comfort food dish!

Hope you enjoy!
April

Spicy Shepherd's Pie

Still horribly sick around here and I doubt I will be cooking, once again.  Here is my post from last Sunday's Our Krazy Kitchen.

This recipe is participating in

Spicy Shepherd's Pie adapted from Greetings from Guatemala
1 pound ground beef

1/2 onion, chopped
1 can black beans, drained
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can corn, drained
1 packet taco seasoning
1 tsp chili powder
4 cups mashed potatoes
1 cup grated cheddar cheese

Directions:  Brown ground beef with onion; add all ingredients except potatoes and cheese. Simmer 2-3 minutes. Pour into 9x13" pan. Top with 1/2 cup cheese. Spread mashed potatoes over the cheese and meat mixture. Top with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for about 25-30 min.

-serves 8

Modifications:  I did not add the chili powder because of my 1 year old.

Here's what you'll need:

Peel, cut up, and boil the potatoes.  

While the potatoes cook, brown the ground beef.

Drain and rinse one can of corn and one can of black beans.

Preheat the to 350 degrees.

Once the ground beef is brown, add the corn, black beans, diced tomatoes and taco seasoning.

Add the tomatoes.

Add the taco seasoning.

When the potatoes are done, mash them up.  If you need a good mashed potato recipe, I think my mom's is the best.

Pour the meat mixture into a 9x13 baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Spread half of the cheese over the mixture.

Spoon and spread the mashed potatoes over the mixture.  I left a little portion with no potatoes for me (not necessarily Weight Watchers friendly-LOL)

Put into the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes.

Here's what you'll end up with:

Our Thoughts:
If you are running short on time, you could probably use instant mashed potatoes.  Did we like this?  Kanin (my oldest son) told me that this was "awesome" and wants to take it to school for lunch tomorrow.  I'd say that's a pretty good endorsement!

Hope you enjoy!
April

Shepherd's Pie

I ran across a recipe last week for a Shepherd's Pie on a blog called Dawn's Daily Life. It might be hard to believe but I have never had shepherd's pie before. With St. Patrick's Day fastly approaching, I thought I might as well give it a try.

Pay careful attention because I forgot to take a picture of the potatoes.

Shepherd’s Pie Recipe from Dawn’s Daily Life
9 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (15 ounce) can green beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons milk

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and cook over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat; drain fat. Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce to taste, salt, pepper, green beans and corn. In a separate bowl, mix flour with the 3 tablespoons water and stir into beef mixture. Pour this mixture into a casserole dish. Stir all together well. Drain the potatoes, mash and spread over the beef mixture. Place 2 to 3 vent holes through the mashed potatoes.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Brush the milk over the potatoes for the last 5 minutes of baking.

Modifications:

-I added 2 cloves of garlic, 1 onion and 1 green pepper to this recipe.

Here's what I started with:



Here's how I did it:

#1 Preheated the oven to 350 degrees.


#2 I peeled and cut up about 10 potatoes and put them on to boil
#3 I cut a green pepper into long slices.



#4 I then cut up an onion and coarsley chopped 2 garlic cloves.





#5 I browned about 1.25lbs of lean ground beef.



#6 Then threw in the garlic, onion and green pepper.

#7 I added 1 small can of tomato sauce.

#8 Then I drained a can of corn and a can of green beans and added it to the mixture.

#9 I added 7 or 8 good shakes of worcestershire.

#10 While that was cooking, I measured out 2T of all-purpose flour and 3T of water. I mixed it together and then mixed it into the pan.

#11 I then greased a 9x13 baking dish and put the mixture in it.

#12 I drained the potatoes and then added a tad of butter so that I could mash them up into chunks.

#13 Once they were mashed up, I scooped the potatoes over the meat mixture and poked 4 holes in it.

#14 Popped it into the oven for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.

#15 With a few minutes left to go, I measured out 3T of milk and started to brush it on the potatoes. That was too much of a pain so I just drizzled it all over the top.

The Finished Product:

Review:

This recipe was SOOOO good! As I said earlier, I had never had shepherd's pie before. I knew that it sounded like I would like it because of the ingredients so I wasn't really worried about myself but sometimes Scott and Kanin have this "I don't want to mix my food" issue so I wasn't sure that they would want the potatoes on top. I almost just made the mashed potatoes on the side and served it that way but I really wanted to try to stay as close to the recipe as possible. I'm glad I did!

I added the garlic, onion and green peppers and it did add a lot of flavor. In hindsight, though, I think I should have left out the green peppers. The texture was pretty close to that of the green beans and while it wasn't bad, it just didn't add a lot to it.

If you aren't going to be all critical about the authenticity of what you put in the dish, I think you could really add anything you wanted--mushrooms, ground turkey, beans, etc.

I'd say to definitely give this recipe a try. It was easy and tasty!

Hope you enjoy!

April