Recipe: Shepherd’s Pie and a Run in with a Leprechaun

So the picture above isn’t what you would call a money shot picture by any means but trust me this is really tastety, super easy and if there wasn’t some drama it would have been prettier. This was part of our St. Patrick’s Day dinner last month the prep was going fine and dandy when I heard the naughty nieces pull up. I decided to put some green dye in the potty and in the lemonade and tell the girls that the leprechauns had peed in our toilet and drank some of our lemonade. Fun right? Uh no. I guess I totally approached it wrong and instead of thinking it was silly they were scared and crying and freaking out. Oh my gosh. And that’s when the Shepherd’s pie got a little ummm dark. We finally just showed them how we did it and told them it was all pretend (not real) and even then T (the older one) didn’t want to go near that bathroom and refused to drink the lemonade. Ugg.

Thankfully they did a successful Easter Bunny thing at my in-laws last week and were all happy and cheery. Obviously that presentation went a lot better.

 What You’ll Need

• 1 lb.ground beef
• 1/4-1/2 onion (depending on your taste)
• brown gravy mix
• 1 carton mushrooms
• 2 C milk (divided)
•  1/2 C red wine (optional)
• 3-4 potatoes
• 1 tsp garlic 
• 1 can corn drained
• 1/2-1C shredded cheese
• Salt and Pepper to taste

What To Do
(you may want to get these both going at the same time)

meat layer

1. partially cook the ground beef
2. add onion followed by mushrooms and saute I do this with the meat  (drain any remaining grease)
3. add gravy packet and 1 C milk and stir cooking until thickened
4. add red wine (this is optional but I like the flavor it adds, it makes it special feel free to skip it or use the non-alcoholic stuff they sell in the grocery store)
5. salt and pepper if needed

potato layer

1. feel free to use your own mashed potato recipe
2. cut and boil potatoes drain
3. in pot melt butter, add garlic and milk to heat 
4. add potatoes and mash and stir
5. salt and pepper to taste

When both of those are done

1. Spray casserole dish with spray oil.
2. Pour in meat mixture.
3. Top with corn
4. Top with mashed potatotes by putting equal amount around the top of the dish and gently spread trying not to stir in the corn
5. Sprinkle with cheese
6. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes everything is cooked so you just want it all nice and hot. If the top needs more browning (not blackening like my pic) broil it a little. The browned top is my husband’s favorite part.

6-8 servings if served as a main dish