Recipe Thursday {Shepherd's Pie}

One of our go to meals is Shepherd’s Pie. It’s relatively easy, and I can get it all together before I go to work, so all my husband has to do is put it in the oven when it's almost time for dinner.  It's something his parents have made for years too, so it's a family favorite. Nice. :-)

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 Pie crust/shell (see recipe below if you’d like to make your own)
• 2 cans green beans
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 lb ground beef (or other ground meat of your choosing)
• Mashed potatoes (I give some instruction below for making them, but you can also buy them pre-made)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F).

If you're making your own mashed potatoes, get the water boiling. Cut up and peel your potatoes while the water is heating up. I like to cut mine in pretty small pieces, so they don't take too long too boil and are easier to mash. I used 5 small potatoes, but I think we could have used one more.

Start browning your ground beef.

While the potatoes and ground beef are cooking, get your pie crust ready. If you're going to make your crust, see the recipe at the bottom of this post.

If you're making your crust, put it in the oven for about 10 minutes to start it baking. This helps the crust get cooked without the rest of the pie getting burned.

When your ground beef is finished, drain it and then mix together with the green beans and cream of mushroom soup.

Once the pie crust has baked for 10 minutes, scoop the green bean mixture into the pie crust.

Make your mashed potatoes. I use a hand mixer to mash them and add sour cream and butter. Some other things I sometimes add: garlic salt, cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, or milk. It just depends what I have in the kitchen and what I feel like throwing in the mix.

Scoop your mashed potatoes on top of the green bean mixture.

Bake the pie for another 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the pie is heated through. Watch that the potatoes don't get scorched. Serve it up like pieces of pie. :-)


Pie Crust Recipe and Instructions
2 cups flour
½ cup oil (I used Canola)
1 tsp salt
¼ cup + 1 TBSP Milk


Dump all your ingredients in a bowl and mix them together with a fork. They work together really quickly, so you don’t really need to use a mixer. It should look kind of crumbly when it's all mixed.

Push the crust together, so it's all in one piece. Place in between two pieces of wax paper (or one long piece folded in half).


Roll the crust out so that it will fit in your pie pan. 

Take the top layer of wax paper off the crust, and place the pie pan face down on the crust. Get your hand under the other layer of wax paper and flip it all over so that the crust rests in the pie pan. Push the crust down in the pan and remove the wax paper.

Pinch the crust on the edge of the pan to create an edging. Bake according to your recipe.

I'm having a blast at these lovely linking parties.