Dec 8, 2010

American Shepherd's Pie - just .65 per serving! Budget Buster Recipe

This revamped Shepherd's Pie recipe has been with me for more than 30 years. I say revamped because my mom used to make this meal, but her recipe included tomatoes and green beans. My recipe is very quick, very simple, and very budget-friendly, and hardly resembles the original recipe so well-loved in Great Britain. Maybe I should call this "Mock Shepherd's Pie" or "Faux Shepherd's Pie"...

Faux Shepherd's Pie


FAUX SHEPHERD'S PIE

1 lb. ground beef
1/4 medium onion, diced
6 servings mashed potatoes (fresh, instant, leftover - whatever you have)
1 can (15 oz) beef or turkey gravy*
1 can corn or 1 cup frozen corn
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
Salt, pepper, thyme

Heat oven to 350. Pam-Spray a 1 1/2 qt casserole dish.

Brown ground beef with onion in fry pan. Use spoon to break up large chunks. Add 1/2 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp black pepper and salt to taste. Cook until all pink in meat is gone. Drain off fat. Mix can of gravy in with meat.

Place meat/gravy mixture in casserole dish. Drain corn and layer on top of meat. (You do not have to pre-cook frozen corn! Just layer it on, frozen.) Next spoon mashed potatoes over meat/corn mixture evenly. Sprinkle with grated cheddar cheese.

Bake in oven, covered, until hot and bubbly - about 20 to 30 minutes.

*For some reason, I prefer to use Franco American Turkey Gravy - probably the cheapest gravy you can find at your grocery store! I have used beef gravy, leftover gravy and pork gravy, but the turkey gravy just adds something the others don't have!

This serves 4 to 6, which is two meals and two lunches for us. I usually serve this with a side salad and biscuits or corn bread.

You get 6 servings from this at just .65 per serving!

You can substitute any vegetable for the corn -- frozen peas and carrots or canned drained green beans also work well. Some recipes call for Worcestershire Sauce added to the meat, but I prefer it without.

6 comments:

Dinetonite said...

What a great perfect its look delicious i will make them soon. Thank you very much.

Anonymous said...

Oh, this is good!! My mom raised us on Shepard's Pie. She never added the corn to the pie, but we did have it on the side. One of my favoite comfort foods.

blessings,
jilly

Anonymous said...

This has to be extremely unhealthy! Just the gravy must have 850 mg of Sodium! Instant mashed potatoes are poison! Loaded with sodium. If you make this, better to use fresh potatoes, sea saqlt for taste, and low sodium gravy (if there is any such thing).

Joan J said...

Actually, I do indeed make this with fresh mashed potatoes with no salt added and don't add salt to the meat. The gravy I use has 350 mg sodium per serving, but I get 6 servings instead of 2 per can, so that's less than 120 mg per serving. I'm actually very sodium conscious,and try to keep my sodium well under 1000 mg per day (1200 to 1500 is recommended). Thanks for the comment though!

Joan J said...

Oops, I also add that I use frozen corn instead of canned corn - again, very little sodium involved. This recipe can, indeed, be done on a low sodium basis. Now, low fat would be another issue entirely.

Momma Bear said...

I've never used the gravy in it. My family loves it but I use two cans corn and one can creamed corn. This is what we have for Christmas dinner instead of turkey or ham.