Shepherd's Pie

Flexitarian

I realized yesterday that I have never made a shepherd's pie before. I also remembered that I'm trying to stop eating red meat. So I looked around and found this recipe. I love Natalie's Killer Cuisine and I figured I could switch this great recipe up and make it flexitarian. I am making the carnivorous version tonight though. Did I mention I am a bad vegetarian?

Here is the recipe with a few of my own tweaks:

Meat (or not) Filling
1/2 lb Ground beef*
1/2 lb Ground Polish sausage*
1/2 tsp Minced dried garlic
1/2 tsp Minced dried onion
1/2 tsp Dried parsley
1/2 tsp Ground cumin
1/4 tsp Dried dill
Salt and pepper to taste
2 Strips bacon (omit for Flex)
1 Carrot- diced
1/2 Onion- diced
2 Cloves garlic- diced
1 Small can mushroom stems and pieces (can use fresh too)
*Substitute with Boca veggie crumbles for Flex

Potatoes
Whatever potatoes you prefer for mashing. I used red potatoes.
Mashed potato flavoring packet
Milk
Shredded cheese- I used fresh Parm


Brown the ground meats (or Boca) with the dried garlic and onion, parsley, cumin, dill, S&P. Remove from pan and set aside.

Fry bacon in pan until crispy and drain on paper towel. Skip the bacon and use olive oil for the veggies and add some vegan bacon salt for Flex.

Cook the diced carrot, onion, and garlic in the bacon grease for 3 minutes. Add the mushroom pieces and cook for another bit, until tender. Meanwhile, chop the bacon. Mix with the meat and add the finished veggies.

Boil potatoes until you can poke through them with a knife very easily then drain and mash. I used a mashed potato garlic and butter flavor seasoning packet, but if you want to do them another way, go for it!

Place the meat mixture in the bottom of a baking dish and cover with potatoes and sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake at 350° for 15 minutes.