I make Shepherd's Pie every winter at least once. I love it enormously. It is perfectly filling, lovely, well-rounded. And it's an excuse to go crazy with mushrooms because they are outstanding in this dish!

My starting point is this recipe from Emeril. I love it for the tomato paste and Worcestershire, which add such a depth of flavor. But I use less meat, and go wild with the mushrooms.

Planning!

This is pretty easy. I decided today that I had enough cheese for the week between my amazing crackers and gorgeous enchiladas, so I didn't need to top this shepherd's pie with cheese as directed by the recipe. I looked for ground lamb at the grocery store (sometimes they don't carry it, and I roll with ground beef instead), and they had it! And I bought 10oz of button mushrooms: more than twice as many as the recipe calls for. Mushrooms for life!!

Skipping the cheese topping also meant I could skip the oven step. I wouldn't be browning the cheesy goodness in the oven, so I just assembled the pies in their tupperwares! Filling down, then mashed potatoes! Amazing!

Here's the nutritional breakdown from Fitbit...

Groceries I had on hand...

• butter
• carrots
• onion
• salt
• pepper
• bay leaf
• flour
• tomato paste
• Worcestershire sauce
• milk

Groceries I had to buy...

• ground lamb (.65lb @ $8.35/lb = $5.43)
• mushrooms ($2.00)
• beef broth ($1.29)
• potatoes (1.01lb @ $1.29/lb = $1.30)

Total monies spent for the entire recipe: $10.02

Total monies spent for each of these 4 meals....

$2.50 per meal...

Cooking!

I made the filling first, knowing it would go into the tupperwares directly. Then the potatoes, using (Lactaid) milk rather than cream. The filling is a breeze, just a little slow because it takes a few minutes for each step before the 30 minute covered simmer. Also it looks pretty fatty as it goes, but the payoff is big in the end; it is not a greasy dish, I swear! The potatoes take care of business!

It's cold outside these days. I want this in my belly.