Hello Everyone!!!  I hope you are all keeping warm in this cold weather that just seems to keep sticking around… Hopefully spring will come soon… Today I am going to write about a comforting recipe that will warm you right up on these cold evenings.  Shepherd’s Pie!

This is a traditional Irish dish that I thought would was appropriate seeing as St. Patrick’s Day is this Sunday.  So it took me awhile to think of a recipe that I wanted to feature for St. Patrick’s Day.  I noticed that a lot of blogs were doing various desserts using Irish Cream, or corned beef, but I just wasn’t too excited about featuring either of those things.  I mentioned this to my Dad and he suggested Shepherd’s Pie, which I thought was a great idea!  So here is my swag at Shepherd’s Pie… which I lightened up a little to make it a low points meal!

Shepherd’s Pie

Ingredients:

• 1.5lbs uncooked lean stew beef
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 cloves of garlic, whole
• 1 cup of chopped onions
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 1 large head of cauliflower, cut into pieces
• 1 package of frozen mixed vegetables (I used a mixture of peas, carrots, Lima beans, green beans, and corn)
• 1 tsp of oregano
• 1 tsp of thyme
• A couple of bay leaves
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 2 cups of fresh mushrooms
• 2 Tbsp regular butter
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 2 cups of Beef Stock
• 2 tbsp of Corn Starch
• Freshly grated Romano Cheese (Or whatever hard cheese you like)

Instructions:

It is important to cook stew meat for a long time, so the first think you want to do is saute the garlic and onions in a large pot, and then add the meat.  You just want to brown the meat at this point.  Be sure to pat your meat dry before adding to the pot.  This actually makes a big difference when browning meat.  When the meat is browned, add the beef broth to the pot and simmer this mixture for about an hour.

While the meat is cooking you can begin to work on the mashed “potatoes”.  To lighten this up, I mixed cauliflower in with the potatoes.  This helps to reduce the carbs in this dish.  You can boil the potatoes, cauliflower, and two whole cloves of garlic together in the same pot of water.  Do this for about 20 minutes.  The potatoes and cauliflower should be fork tender.  Drain the water and mash these all together.  Add the butter, milk, salt, and some ground black pepper to this mixture and continue mashing until you have mashed “potatoes”.  Set this mixture aside.  Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

Now we will work on the filling again.  Once your meat is fully cooked and tender add the oregano, thyme, and bay leaves to the mixture.  You can also add some more black pepper if you would like as well.  Add the mushrooms and bag of frozen vegetables and cook over medium heat for 5 more minutes.  Add the cornstarch into this mixture and simmer for another couple minutes.  This should thicken the sauce.

Add your veggie meat mixture to a baking dish.  Cover this with your mashed “potato” mixture on top.  Grate just a light dusting of Romano cheese over the top of this and stick in the oven for 30-35 minutes.  When you are done let this dish rest for 5 minutes, and then enjoy!!!  Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Serves 8, WWPP 7 per serving  (This is a very filling serving!)