Shepherd's Pie

One of the benefits of weekly meal planning is being able to reuse leftovers. An example of this is Shepherd's Pie. Earlier this week we had mashed potatoes with corn with dinner so when I made them I made sure to make extra and save them in order to make Shepherd's Pie. Doing this also cuts down your grocery bill. If you do not have leftovers this can easily be made by making mashed potatoes the night of. 




To start heat up 2 Tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet and add in diced onion, 2 stalks of celery diced, and 2 large carrots that have been peeled and sliced. Saute them until they start to get soft, about 5 minutes or so. Then add in the ground beef. I only used about 3/4 lbs. of ground beef but this can easily be doubled in the same recipe. 

Break up the ground beef as it starts to brown then add in corn and frozen peas. The frozen peas I had on hand were actually peas and carrots so I got some extra carrots added into mine. You could also buy the frozen peas and carrots and leave the sliced carrots out... up to you! I think that's one of my favorite things about Shepherd's Pie is that it is rarely made the same. I just kind of go through my refrigerator and see what veggies I have on hand to throw in there. You can leave out anything you don't really like or add in extras like frozen green beans or even diced tomatoes.

Once the ground beef is completely cooked drain off any excess fat. Return the skillet back to the stove and season the meat and veggie mixture with a little salt and pepper. Now, if you are using leftovers and you have leftover gravy from the mashed potatoes you can add that in. I did not have any gravy so instead I added in 1 Tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce and 1/2 cup of beef broth. Let this simmer for about 3-4 minutes. 

Transfer the meat mixture into a 2-quart baking dish and top with mashed potatoes. I think I had about 1 1/2 - 2 cups of mashed potatoes and I actually could have had a little bit more but this worked. Since I was using leftover mashed potatoes I did heat them up the microwave for about 45 seconds just to soften them up a bit so they would be easier to spread.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the edges just start to turn brown. And that's it! Easy and delicious casserole that's filled with veggies!