Comfort food

I was in the mood for comfort food last night and with limited options due to my poorly stocked cabinets, I decided for the first time to make a shepherd's pie. Well, we enjoyed it so much, I decided to share my recipe with you. It is based on the recipe from The Good Housekeeping Cook Book and revised by me :)

Shepherd's Pie

1 1/2 lbs Yukon gold potatoes*
1/2 cup milk
3 Tbsp butter
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Black pepper to taste
1 large onion
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 parsnip, peeled and chopped**
1 bunch swiss chard or spinach***
1 lb ground turkey or beef
2 Tbsp ketchup
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup white wine
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 cup frozen peas

Oven temp: 425 degrees

Boil potatoes until soft and add milk and 2 Tbsp butter and parmesan cheese, salt & pepper to taste. Meanwhile, brown meat and add veggies (except frozen peas) and cook until tender. Add ketchup and wine and cook til evaporated. Mix flour with some broth and add remaining ingredients--broth, thyme, pepper, peas until mixture is a stew type consistency, not runny.

Transfer meat mixture to a baking dish (something smaller than 9 x 13) and top with potatoes. Sprinkle lightly with parmesan. Bake about 20 minutes until slightly browned. May bubble over, so put a cookie sheet underneath.

* Obviously you can use any type of potato, but I find gold and red are more creamy than russet. I also recommend organic since potato crops have lots of pesticides.
Also, russet tend to be more genetically modified and "all colorful potatoes provide carotenoids (and some also provide flavonoids) that white potatoes do not. Carotenoids and flavonoids are pigments, and according to nutritional research, they provide us with many health benefits, including cancer protection."

**Why parsnips? Parsnips look like a white carrot and I think it really brings out a nice flavor in this dish. They have a pretty strong flavor, so I put just one in.

***Why swiss chard or spinach? Because it is so good for you and easy to hide in this recipe :) I have to do that a lot with my husband and him eating spinach, haha.

Oh, and since this blog is supposed to be about Blake, I will let you know that Blake loved this!! There were no complaints from him or food throwing :)

And lastly, no good blogger would give a recipe without a picture, so here is a picture of our cold leftovers, hahaha! :)