Shepherd's Pie...Made Skinny

For years, the sound of Shepherd's Pie did not even appeal to me at all. I wouldn't even try it. A couple years ago I was over at my mom's house, she was making Shepherd's Pie for dinner and even though I turned my nose up at it I couldn't help but think it smelled so good! I tried it and was incredibly surprised, it was great! I asked my  mom how she made it, she told me and I made it myself, knowing that my husband would love it, what could be better as far as he is concerned meat & potatoes. Tonight I made a lower calorie version of this classic and it was out of this world! I topped it with my Partially Fake-Out Mashed Potatoes and it taste just like the real thing. Obviously any kind of mashed potatoes would be fine, I just like mine. My mom uses frozen steam and mash, there are also sevearl varieties now in the deli sections of the grocery stores.

Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef (93% lean)
1 small onion, diced
3 t garlic, minced
1/2 cup carrots, diced small
1/2 green peas, frozen
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2-3/4 cup beef stock
2 t cornstarch mixed
2 t warm water
3 t Worcestershire sauce
1 t ketchup
3-4 shakes of hot sauce (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 cups of Partially Fake-Out Mashed Potatoes

Optional toppings:
1-2 slices of cooked bacon
1/4 cup shredded cheese
chopped scallions

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brown ground beef, drain any fat if you used meat with a higher fat content. Add onion, carrots, garlic, mushroom and cook for another 3-5 minutes.

Add beef stock and cook for about a minute, mix cornstarch with warm water, whisk together then add to the beef mixture, stir to combine. Add Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and peas and hot sauce if you choose. Continue to stir, if it seems dry you may need to add a little more stock. Should look like this...

At this point you want to taste the beef mixture and decide if you need to add salt. Pour beef mixture into a pie/baking dish.

Top with mashed potatoes...

Place in the oven and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and add cheese place back in the oven for 5 more minutes to melt cheese. Top with bacon and scallions.

I'm not sure this looks nearly as good as it tastes! Let it cool for 15 minutes before cutting into 6 servings.

 Both of my kids acted like they did not want to eat this, I was concerned they would balk at it since it was covered in mashed potatoes but we have a rule at our house that you have to try everything, you don't have to eat it if you don't like it but you have to try it. They loved it! They even ate the mashed potatoes!

 Weight Watcher Friends: This dish has six servings and each has 6 points a each. If you use different mashed potatoes than I did, you will have to adjust the points.