Shepard’s Pie is one of my favorite meals to make. It has everything you need pretty much in just one bite… the potatoes, meat and vegetables. I make it in a quick, simple way. With three little kids, I can’t slave in the kitchen for too long. The most time-consuming part is peeling all the potatoes. I usually mix a couple sweet potatoes with the white potatoes so it’s even more sweet and delicious. When making the mashed potatoes, I use a lot of butter and some milk. Those are the only two ingredients that I add other than the potatoes. I do not add salt. There is enough in the butter.  As for the actual meat, this is what you’ll need:

1 lb of ground meat
frozen vegetables
1 packet of brown gravy
1/2 onion or onion powder

As you can see, there are not that many ingredients needed for the meat portion. I brown the meat. You can add 1/2 chopped onion, if you have the time. Usually, I just throw in some onion powder so I get the taste because it’s hard for me to find the time to chop and peel so much. While the meat is browning, I make the gravy. I use a packet as listed above. Another time saver, I make it in the microwave as the directions say on the package. Once it’s made, I pour it on the meat in the pan. I let the flavor soak in a bit and then I add some mixed frozen vegetables. Add however much you would like. I usually add a carrot, pea, onion pearl and celery mix. However, if I don’t have a bag, I just use whatever bag of mixed veges I have. In the picture above, I added extra peas on the side to mimic the Irish flag! After the vegetables are warm, I pour it into a casserole dish. I top it off with the mashed potatoes. I put the lid on and bake for just about 10 minutes. There it is! It’s done! More often than not, I make this while my youngest is napping. This is a great dish to prepare in advance. I simply put the entire casserole dish in the refrigerator until it’s dinner time. Enjoy!

Photo credit: Ma