Shepard’s Pie – A Healthier Version of a Warming Classic!

Tags

ground turkey, low-fat, Mashed potatoes, Shepard's Pie, vegetables

It’s officially fall and getting to be the time of year where we crave warm, comforting food. I was trying to think of something I hadn’t made in a while and Shepard’s Pie came to mind. This is one of those wonderful dishes that provides everything in one dish; meat, potatoes and vegetables. I used low-fat ingredients to make a lighter version and I was very happy with how it turned out! It had all the delicious flavor and hearty textures you would expect of Shepard’s Pie, without being loaded with fat.

You can get creative with the vegetables in this dish. My recipe includes what I had on hand, but you could substitute a variety of things. You could also completely replace the potatoes with sweet potatoes or do a half & half version. Get creative with it!!!!

Shepard’s Pie

5 russet potatoes, peeled and halved

1/2 cup non-fat milk

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed or 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Salt and pepper
2 carrots, peeled and diced

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1/2 cup mushrooms, diced

1 pound extra lean ground turkey

2 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1 cup fat free chicken broth

1/2 tsp dried thyme

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tbsp Worchestershire sauce

1/2 cup frozen corn

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup reduced fat shredded cheese (optional)

Mashed potato topping: Boil potatoes in salted water until soft. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Mash potatoes. Add milk, sour cream, garlic and salt & pepper to taste. Mix well until smooth.

Make your pie filling while potatoes are cooking. I used an oven safe deep frying pan, so I could use it for my final product and not dirty another pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pie filling: Spray frying pan with canola oil spray. Over medium high heat, saute carrots and onion until tender. Add garlic and mushrooms and saute another couple of minutes. Add turkey and cook until browned. Add the flour, salt and pepper and stir well. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until sauce thickens.

Remove filling from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes or so. Spoon mashed potatoes over filling in frying pan and spread to cover evenly. Bake uncovered in oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese, if you wish and bake for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes. 

Serve and enjoy!!!

Spicy Sausage and Peppers – Some Delicious Italian Comfort Food!!!

Tags

Giada de Laurentiis, Mashed potatoes, onions, recipe, Sausage and Peppers, spicy

Yesterday I got some spicy Italian turkey sausage on sale at the grocery store. I knew I had some orange bell peppers, so Sausage and Peppers came to mind. I didn’t have any sandwich rolls and we hadn’t had mashed potatoes in a while, so I decided to serve it with the potatoes. This was a great combo! The sausage and peppers had tons of flavor and the sauce was great with the mashed potatoes. My husband said the dish reminded him of Shepard’s Pie with an Italian spin on it. This would be a great, hearty winter comfort food!!!

I thought the spicy sausage gave it just the right amount of spice without being overwhelming. If you really don’t like spicy foods you could substitute with sweet sausage and the dish would be just as good.

I can’t completely take credit for this recipe. I started by looking at one of Giada de Laurentiis recipe on the Food Network site, but I altered it based on what I had (or didn’t have) on hand.

Spicy Sausage and Peppers

1 pound spicy Italian turkey sausage

3 tbsp olive oil

2 medium bell peppers, sliced – I prefer red, orange or yellow over the green.

1/2 white onion, sliced

Salt and pepper

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced or pressed

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 – 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes, undrained

1/2 cup red wine – I used Ménage A Trois Midnight (It’s nothing fancy, but it’s a good, affordable table wine). Giada used Marsala wine in her recipe. I’m curious to try this. It would completely change the flavor of the dish as Marsala wine has a very distinctive flavor.

Add olive oil to frying pan and brown whole sausages over medium heat. When browned and almost cooked through, remove sausage to a cutting board and allow to cool a bit. Meanwhile, brown your peppers and onion in the frying pan for about 5 minutes. Then add your basil, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper and cook for 2 more minutes. Slice your sausage into 1″ slices. Add tomato paste, tomatoes and wine to frying pan and stir until mixed well. Add sausage back to the pan. Cook another 5-7 minutes until sausage is cooked through and sauce is thick and bubbly.

This was great served with the mashed potatoes. It would also be good over pasta or served on sandwich rolls.

Mangia bene!

Thanksgiving Tip #8 – The Joy of Mashed Potatoes

Tags

Cooking, Food, garlic, healthy, low-fat, Mashed potatoes, recipe, recipes, sour cream, Thanksgiving, Tips, vegetarian

  
What’s a Thanksgiving dinner without mashed potatoes? What’s dinner period without mashed potatoes??? I kind of like mashed potatoes! Can you tell?

The great things about mashed potatoes are they’re easy to make, most people love them, and you can get creative with them. You can even keep them pretty healthy and low-fat.

As I mentioned in one of my first Thanksgiving tip posts, I like that you can peel the potatoes the day before and get them soaking in water, so you don’t have much to do on Thanksgiving Day. You can even take it a step further and completely make your mashed potatoes and then warm them up in your slow cooker the day of the holiday.

My Basic Mashed Potato Recipe

4-5 russet potatoes, peeled, washed and cut in half

1 cup fat free sour cream

¾ cup fat free milk

2 garlic cloves, pressed or chopped (or you can substitute garlic powder)

Salt and pepper to taste

In a size appropriate pot, cover potatoes with water and add about a teaspoon or two of salt. Bring to a boil and boil for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are soft. Turn burner down to medium low. Drain the potatoes and return to the pot. Add sour cream, milk, garlic, salt and pepper and stir. Enjoy!

Options – Here’s where you get to play:

• Instead of all Russet potatoes, use half or more of sweet potatoes.

• In addition to your potatoes, boil, mash and mix some carrots with your potatoes. These turn your potatoes a beautiful orange color that is very Thanksgiving appropriate. It sneaks some veggies in too!

• Sliced chives or green onions can be a nice addition that add both flavor and color.

• Of course, you can add butter! It’s delicious, but it does bump up your fat and calories. I choose to make butter available at the table and let people make their own choice about that.

What are your creative mashed potato innovations?

Coming Soon to a Blog Near You – Thanksgiving Tips!

Tags

Cooking, Food, Holidays, Mashed potatoes, recipes, Stress-free, Stuffing, Sweet potatoes, Techniques, Thanksgiving, Tips, Turkey

  
Just a teaser here! I’ve been anxiously awaiting this month! Thanksgiving is my jam and I can’t wait to share my cooking tips, tricks, and techniques with all of my food blog friends! So if you haven’t followed my blog yet and you want to learn some skills that will make your Thanksgiving delicious and stress free, follow my blog now! I’m going to have a series of Thanksgiving related blog posts! 

MMMMMMM! Turkey! Stuffing! Mashed potatoes! Sweet Potatoes! Salads! Veggies! Desserts! The list goes on and on! Come join the glutenous fun!!!!