I grew up on casseroles. There were 5 kids in my family and a casserole was a one dish wonder that could feed us all. To this day, casseroles are a total comfort food for me and with 4 kids of my own, I love how simple they make it to get dinner on the table.

My mom is from England and one of the casseroles she loved to make was Shepherd’s Pie. We ate it at least once a month and I always looked forward to that crispy layer of cheese on top of homemade mashed potatoes.

Her traditional Shepherd’s Pie was ground lamb mixed with some basic veggies (usually carrots, peas, and corn) topped with mashed potatoes and cheese. Delicious!

I like to get a bit creative when it comes to seeing how many veggies I can fit into a dish though (and how many my kids will eat before they start to wonder what is in it) so I wanted to try and dress up the classic Shepherd’s Pie I grew up with.

My version was packed full of veggies and so filling that my family got two meals out of — that’s saying something if you’ve ever seen the way my boys eat!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 2 celery stalks, diced
• 4 carrots, peeled and diced
• 10-12 mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 cup corn
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 large kale leaves, sliced
• 4-5 large potatoes, diced and cooked
• 2 cups of shredded cheese
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1Tbsp tarragon
• 2 Tbsp tomato paste
• 1 cup beef gravy (homemade or mixed from bouillon)
• 2 Tbsp Country Crock Spread
• 1/2 cup milk
• salt and pepper

Preparation

Start by preparing your potatoes. Peel and dice 4-5 large potatoes and boil in water until they are soft enough to put a form in.

Mix in milk and 2 Tbsp of Country Crock Spread. I’ll admit it’s been a while since I’ve used anything but real butter so I was impressed that Country Crock doesn’t have any trans fat and or partially hydrogenated oils. Mash your potatoes up and add salt and pepper to taste. 

While your potatoes are cooking . . . you might as well multi-task right? Brown your ground beef and set it aside. In the same pan, throw in your onions. Cook these until they are almost caramelized then add in the rest of your veggies and cook until they have softened.

Mix in tomato paste, garlic powder, tarragon, salt, pepper, and beef gravy. Once this is well mixed, pour it in the bottom of a casserole pan.

I LOVE all the colors in this!

Top with mashed potatoes.

Then top with cheese. I won’t tell if you throw on a little extra.

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I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.