Since we brought Sweet P home, most of our dinners have been either tacos, spaghetti, soup or chili. The rotation of recipes had gotten pretty sparse and limited to what I could do quickly and without a special trip to the grocery store. But, since she is eating and sleeping better now I’ve finally started branching out again with really yummy results!

Since we buy the majority of our meat at the Farmer’s Market and ground beef is a lot more affordable than the other cuts, we tend to have a lot of ground beef around and I needed a new recipe that would use it. I found one for Shepherd’s pie, tweaked the recipe to what I had at home and it turned out so delicious we ate over half the casserole dish in one sitting (and that’s just 2 adults and one toddler!). It only took me 30 minutes of total prep time and then 15 minutes in the oven, and it should go even faster the next time I cook it.

shepard's pie

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Ingredients:
  • 1-1.5 pounds ground beef
  • 1 cup chopped onion
  • 1 bag of bite-sized frozen vegetables (like carrots, corn, peas and green beans), thawed
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 4 teaspoons beef bouillon granules
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
  • 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (I used rice flour)
  • 1 (14.5 oz.) can diced or stewed tomatoes
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 1 box of instant mashed potatoes and the ingredients needed on the box

Directions:

1. Brown the ground beef in a large skillet, about 10 minutes or until meat crumbles and is no longer pink. Remove ground beef from skillet. The original recipe called to use 2 tbsp of the drippings to sauté the onion, but our meat didn’t leave much, so I used 2 tbps coconut oil and it turned out great.

2. Sauté onion and garlic in hot drippings (or coconut oil) over medium heat until tender. Stir back in the ground beef, bag of thawed frozen vegetables, along with the boullion, salt, thyme and pepper. Then, sprinkle flour over the meat mixture. Increase heat to medium-high and stir constantly for 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, bay leaf, and vinegar, breaking up large tomato pieces with a spoon. Reduce the heat to medium, and cook, stirring often, 3 minutes or until slightly thickened.

sheperds pie

3. While it’s simmering at medium, make instant mashed potatoes based on the package directions. You could definitely use homemade mashed potatoes, but that would take way too long in my opinion. These are the potatoes I use and I love that they’re already seasoned well.

4. When the potatoes are done remove the bay leaf from the meat mixture. Then, transfer the mixture to a lightly greased 3-qt. baking dish or pan. Cover with the mashed potatoes and spread evenly with a spatula.

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3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

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I had never made Shepherd’s Pie before and had only enjoyed it at restaurants before, but it turned out really flavorful and delicious! I may even make it again later this week!