Thursday, April 4, 2013

Sweet Potato-Topped Shepherd's Pie

So as I previously posted, St. Patrick's Day was really fun for my family, and dinner was no exception!  Our oldest son isn't the biggest fan of potatoes but we can all certainly agree that we LOVE sweet potatoes.  So when I saw that there was a St. Patrick's Day dinner recipe that included sweet potatoes, I jumped on it!!  I got the recipe from Betty Crocker (seems to be one of my consistent places to go to for recipes!) and only changed a little to suit our youngest son's dairy allergy needs!
So first thing's first: I preheated my oven to 375 degrees, and then sprayed a casserole dish with cooking spray.  While the oven was preheating, I cooked 1 1/2 pounds of extra-lean ground beef, 1 cup of onion (chopped), 1 cup of carrots (chopped) and 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped) in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until the beef was cooked, about 6 minutes.  Then I drained the beef mixture and added 1 can of reduced sodium beef broth, 1/4 cup tomato paste, 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce,  3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 thyme, heating to a boil and then reducing the heat, allowing it to simmer for 10 minutes covered.  While that was simmering, I mixed 4 1/2 teaspoons of flour and 4 1/2 teaspoons of water in a small bowl and then stirring it into the beef mixture once it had simmered.  Then I allowed that cook for another two minutes, stirring constantly until thickened.  Then I added 1/2 cup of thawed spinach.  While that continued to simmer, I added 3 cups (each) of cubed Yukon Gold and sweet potatoes to a saucepan, covering it with water and allowing it to simmer for about 12 minutes (until it was tender).  In my mixer, once the potatoes were done, I added them along with 1/3 cup almond milk, 2 tablespoons margarine and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and mixed until it was smooth.
I put the meat mixture into the casserole dish and topped it with the potato mixture and baked it, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 30 minutes and VOILA!!  St. Patrick's Day dinner was served!!  This meal was so yummy!  It made 8 servings with only 250 calories per serving!  No kidding!  Needless to say, the family went back for seconds.  :)  It was also only $1.40/serving!  Yay!
Here's the recipe!!

1 1/2 pounds extra-lean ground beef
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped carrots
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 can (14 ounces) reduced-sodium fat-free beef broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon thyme
4 1/2 teaspoons flour
4 1/2 teaspoons water
1/2 cup frozen (thawed) chopped spinach, squeezed to drain
3 cups cubed, peeled Yukon Gold potatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
3 cups cubed, peeled sweet potatoes
1/3 cup almond milk (the original recipe called for low fat 1% milk)
2 tablespoons margarine (the original recipe called for light stick butter)

Happy cooking everyone!!!

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