Thursdays Are For Cooking….!

This is good any time of year, but now that Autumn has officially started, with the New Moon on Tuesday night, it’s time for a good hearty dish that I find both rewarding and filling, and a major kind of comfort food on a cold, rainy night.

It’s been around a long, long time, too, and has many minor variations. The seasonings in this recipe are very minimal, so you can add your own take on that. I do like a dash of Worcestershire in this mix, as well as just a hint of red wine and some chopped onion included. I would also use tomato paste and/or pureed tomatoes, both of which have much more flavor than tomato soup.

Consider this to be only a basic recipe, which can be varied considerably.

Also, because Aysel is looking for the slow cooker stuff, this particular recipe is a slow cooker version. Nothing like coming indoors from raking leaves over the lawn to distribute the benefits of their stored nitrogen sinking into the soil, and catching the scent of this in the air.

Shepherd’s Pie in the Crockpot:

Ingredients:

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1 can (10.75 oz) condensed tomato soup

1 teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

NOTE: You can substitute your choice of Mrs. Dash seasonings for salt and pepper here, if you’re on a low-salt diet.

1 bag (11 oz) frozen vegetables (peas and carrots and chopped onion are good here!)

4 cups of water

6 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine

1 ½ cups milk

2 pouches (4.7 oz each) Betty Crocker™ Homestyle creamy butter mashed potatoes

Chopped fresh herbs, if desired

Sprinkle a little paprika on the mashed taters to give it some color, too.

Directions:

1 – In a 10-inch skillet, cook beef over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned; drain. Stir in soup, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Spread mixture evenly in bottom of 6-quart slow cooker. Top evenly with frozen vegetables. (I usually just mix them together with the beef.)

2 – In a 2-quart saucepan, heat water and butter to a rapid boil. Remove from heat; stir in milk and dry potatoes until just combined. Let stand 1 minute, then stir again. Spread evenly over the top of vegetables in the slow cooker. (Just follow the package directions, and season it according to your taste, if you like.)

3 – Cover and cook on LOW heat setting 4 to 5 hours or until warm and vegetables are cooked through.

4 – Serve warm sprinkled with herbs (add some paprika for color).  Add some good crusty bread, a side dish of cut-up veggies, and your preferred beverage, and tuck in! And remember – dessert is one of the major food groups required to make you a Happy Camper, so have that at the ready, also!

Bon Appetit!

Category: Economy