Luck o' the Irish

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to make a traditional Irish dish called Shepherd's Pie.  One might ask themselves, "How exactly does this fit into my healthy lifestyle changes?"  Like any five year old, I despise veggies, and in order to trick myself into eating them, I attempt to hide them in yummy dishes.  In this dish, I decided to hide little green peas.

Yummy Lean Beef Bites

I love the flavor of onion... however... I do not love the chunks.... I am now an expert dicer! 

The meat layer.... BEFORE the veggies... yum

Finished product... I had to add cheese :)

Black Jasmine Tea... ready to be iced.

Hey look!  More green stuff!  Happy St. Patty's day!

If you don't look too close, you will miss the green peas lurking in the pie!  Mission accomplished!

Dessert made by Taylar the Magnificent :)  

Misson accomplished!  I successfully hid green veggies in an incredible dish!  Here's to making changes I can live with!  Of course we had to finish the night off with a dessert befitting our "old fogey" status!  (we're only in our mid to late 20's mind you...)  

Thanks Taylar for an incredible cookie cake!!

Cheers!

Mrs. Sweets

Recipe:

Shepherds Pie

1 minced onion
1/4 tsp. Texas Pete or whatever hot sauce you prefer
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 lb. Lean Beef bites or Lamb3/4 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

About a cup of frozen veggies (your choice!)1 cup gravy (From the package or homemade pan gravy)

Mashed Potatoes (either handmade recipe below or 4 servings of instant mashed taters!)
Sprinkle of Shredded Cheese for top

Season meat with salt and pepper and brown.  

Remove from pan and drain excess fat.  

If you choose to make pan gravy, now would be the time to do it! (my recipe is below)  Or just buy a package of gravy mix and make that!  

Saute onion until soft. 

Remove from heat; mix in meat, gravy (either a package of gravy or use recipe below for pan gravy), pepper and Worcestershire sauce, and 3/4 teaspoon garlic salt.  

In a 2 1/2 quart dish, place the layer of meat in the bottom and add your veggies at this point.  I used about a cup of frozen peas.  

On the very top you will want to spread your mashed potatoes.  For convenience, I used instant mashed potatoes seasoned with garlic salt.  You can however make real mashed potatoes if you have the time!  I included that recipe at the bottom of the page. 

Bake at 350 for 30 mins.  

Sprinkle cheese on top and put back in oven until cheese has melted.

Enjoy!

Potatoes

6 Boiled potatoes

3/4 tsp. garlic salt

1/4 c. hot milk

4 tbsp. butter

Beat potatoes until fluffy.  Add salt, butter, pepper, and hot milk.

Pan Gravy:

2 Tbl. oil

Enough flour to soak up oil and make a paste

salt and pepper to taste

water

Heat oil in a large frying pan.  (I use the pan I cooked the meat in so I get the flavor of the meat in the gravy)  When oil is hot (sprinkle some flour in the oil and see if it bubbles) add enough flour to make a mixture with the consistency of a paste.  Cook until the paste is a medium brown color.  Add about a cup of water to the paste and stir until dissolved.  If gravy is still too thick, add more water.  If you add too much just let it reduce until gravy coats the back of your spoon.  It's better to add more water and let it reduce then to not add enough!  Add salt and pepper to taste!

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