A Recipe for Christmas

As I mentioned in a post earlier in the week (or last week? I can't remember...), Kate and I had our Christmas with Ashley. We do this every year. Just before or just after Christmas, we meet for dinner or coffee and exchange our presents. It's fun and definitely a tradition. It's crazy to think we've been friends for 14 years (WOAH). Well, technically I've friends with Kate for 28 years (double WOAH). And I love them.

Anyhow. This year we did Christmas at our house. We had a lovely Christmas centerpiece on the kitchen table, red (Cinnamon scent) and green (Evergreen scent) candles lit, the tree lit up, Christmas tunes on, the spotlight on our wreath on the front door, and our lone-tree-in-the-front-yard lit up. Since I was first home from work, I cooked! (And completely forgot to wear my Christmas apron which was incredibly upsetting because how often can you actually wear it?) We had wine and Shepherd's Pie and a green salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. It was dee-lish. I'm legit bummed out that I don't have pictures so you can see how pretty and mouth-watering it was too.

I've never actually had Shepherd's Pie, but I know Kate likes it and Casey likes (he was home too), and Ash was up for it as well. To be completely straightforward, when I think of Shepherd's Pie, it makes me think of a school cafeteria or summer camp or something. I'm honestly not sure why. So as I was cooking, I decided to go all gourmet, ya'll. I added a few spontaneous twists, and it was fabulous. Healthy AND gourmet. What more could you really want? You could not find this dish in the cafeteria line. Promise.

Here's the recipe (I'll give a little * to the items I added or changed so you can see how creative I am, yes?).

Shepherd's Pie

1 pound ground beef (*lean ground turkey)

1 (14.5 oz) can green beans, drained (*french cut)

1 (10.5 oz) can cream of mushroom soup (*98% reduced fat)

1 small sweet onion, diced

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

2 cups mashed potatoes

* 2 cloves garlic

* rosemary (dusting)

* oregano (sprinkle)

* thyme (pinch)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cook and stir ground turkey in a skillet over medium-high heat until turkey is browned, about 10 minutes. Drain fat. Remove from pan.

3. In the same pan, saute diced onions in just a bit of olive oil until tender and translucent. (*The recipe said to mix in raw onion, but I wanted a more elegant dish with enhanced flavor so I sauteed them first.)

4. In a medium size bowl, mix green beans, cream of mushroom, cooked turkey, onion, rosemary, oregano, and thyme. (There are no measurements cause when I'm inspired in the kitchen, I don't measure. I just add till it looks and smells just right. The herbs and spices were a spontaneous addition to fancy it up.)

5. Make mashed potatoes. I'm going to confess, I used instant mashed potatoes (Betty Crocker Red Skin Mashed Potatoes or something), but step 6 is what makes them gourmet. When you have some cloves of garlic sitting around and get crazy, this is what happens.

6. Put two cloves garlic on a small pan and drizzle with olive oil (I used Herbs de Provence olive oil from The Art of Oil in Boone, NC. AWESOME store. But you can use the reg stuff). Put in the oven for a few minutes or until lightly browned. Mince garlic and add to mashed potatoes.

7. Pour turkey mixture into a 2 quart casserole dish (All I had was 1.5 or 2.5 quart, and I used the 2.5 because I didn't want it to be super thick, and it was perfect. If you don't have 2 quart, err on the larger size.) Top with cheddar cheese. Spread mashed potatoes on top.

8. Bake in preheated over until the pie is hot, and the mashed potatoes are golden brown, about 35 minutes.

9. Enjoy!

You can even click on the highlighted words here to visit The Art of Oil from your home!!

P.S. How appropriate is this meal for Christmas! I just made the connection...Shepherd's Pie. Noodle on that for a few. You'll get it.