"Americanized" Shepherd's Pie

One of my favorite things to eat growing up was my mom's Shepherd's Pie. Not only was it delicious, but I felt entirely cooler eating something so European and not an American staple (ex: Shake n' Bake-we ate a whole lot of Shake n' Bake growing up too). I only learned how American my mom's Shepherd's Pie was (I mean it was a Weight Watchers recipe for crying out loud) when my friend's English mother said she was serving Shepherd's Pie for dinner and, when I looked down at my plate, I didn't recognize what I was eating.

The point is, original or "Americanized" Shepherd's Pie is a scrumptious, hearty, easy to whip up meal-in-one. I stumbled upon the recipe for this particular Shepherd's Pie when I was searching for Mini Ramekin recipes, an item I coveted and finally purchased with wedding gift cards and have felt guilty ever since for not using. Ironically enough, I discarded the Mini Ramekins all together when making this dish because it was easier to make in one large Ramekin or Deep Dish Pan. This recipe comes from "Life On the Flip-Flop", which is a blog run by three different women and contains a little bit of everything (it is sort of like the online version of "The View). Clicking on the blog title will bring you to the original link, but to be honest, I only slightly followed the recipe because I found it to be a bit confusing and full of unnecessary butter. Here's the recipe below with my edits:



My Large Ramekin Modified Shepherd's Pie



Their Mini Ramekins. Photo from: www.lifeontheflipflop.com

Mini Shepherd's Pie in Ramekins
(I just used a large Ramekin)

Ingredients :
8 tablespoons cooked ground beef
2 cups mashed potatoes
4 tablespoons corn
4 tablespoons butter
cheese or dairy free cheese

*I ended up using 1lb of beef because I wanted to use it up and it filled up the dish nicely. You would probably want to follow the ingredient amounts closer to a T if you actually used Mini Ramekins.

*Butter overload! I've done the recipe by the books and with my own twist only using the butter allotted in the instructions for the instant mashed potatoes and left out the rest. It tasted the same. So, if you'd like to do this the healthier way, X out the extra butter they tell you to add on top.

*I also added half a red onion, chopped, and two gloves of garlic, minced, that I added while browning the beef. I just love spice and flavor, so this was a welcomed addition to the dish.

Browning the meat with onion and garlic additions

Instant Mashed Potatoes. Tastes just as good with half the time.

Directions :
Place two tablespoons ground beef in bottom of ramekin. Top with butter and 1/2 tablespoon butter. Top this with 1/2 cup mashed potatoes. Spread 1/2 tablespoon butter over top and sprinkle with cheese or dairy free cheese. Bake at 375 degrees until cheese is melted. This is also good with bacon and green onions sprinkled on top!

*Instead of measuring it out per Ramekin, since I just used one large one, I piled it on in that order, leaving out the extra butter, and sprinkled Cheddar Cheese on top. I left out the bacon and green onions because A. I had none in the house and B. I was trying my best to make this as healthy as possible.

First the meat goes in



Then your corn



Dump in those mashed potatoes

Sprinkle on some cheese and pop that bad boy in the oven!

Pros: It tastes fantastic and is an easy home cooked meal that you can make in under a half hour. It is a great way to avoid take-out and have a nice family meal without having to slave over the stove for hours on end. It also tastes great heated up the next day for lunch (or breakfast if you are my very hungry nineteen-year-old brother).

Cons: The only issues I had was with the original recipe. It was confusing and a lot of the additions (like butter) were unnecessary. Once I made some simple revisions though, this has become one of my go to recipes.

Revisions: I stated them within the recipe, but here they are again. I used a large Ramekin instead of the Minis, I added half a red onion chopped and 2 cloves of garlic, minced, to the beef while browning. I also left out all the extra butter except what was called for in the instant mashed potatoes.

Ok, so it isn't quite the original, but like my mother's Weight Watchers Shepherd's Pie, my "Americanized" Shepherd's Pie is an easy, tasty dish that the whole family will love. Just don't forget the ketchup on the side! What is more American than that?!

Ta da! Told you ketchup is a must!

But maybe not that much ketchup...