Healthy Shepherd's Pie
Comfort food. Ahh, one of my favourite pleasures in life. A fun fact many of you might not know about me is that my favourite food is meatloaf. Yes, meatloaf…with a side of mashed potatoes and steamed veggies.
Though I have yet to make my own paleo meatloaf, I decided to make a similar comforting dish this weekend. You know, trying to branch out over here.
So naturally, I thought of pie. Shepherd’s pie. But fit for a caveman.
After finding a few random recipes online, I gathered some tips, some ingredients and went to town in the kitchen to create this bad boy. I think one thing my shepherd’s pie has that other recipes might not is BACON. I’m 100% confident that the bacon really added a unique flavor to the entire dish. Please don’t omit it and for the love of everything good in the world, don’t use turkey bacon. Cause that stuff ain’t real. And I’m all about being real, you see.
Ingredients:
1.5 lbs ground beef
2 strips bacon
3 medium carrots, finely chopped
1 cup onion, finely chopped
1 cup English peas (omit for completely paleo and use celery or green beans instead)
1 clove garlic
1 T barbecue sauce (I use this one)
1/2 cup beef broth
Coconut oil
S&P
Directions:
Set oven to 400 degrees. In a medium sauce pan, sauté carrots, onions and peas with a tablespoon of coconut oil until onions are translucent. In another pan, brown the beef on medium heat with the garlic and however much salt/pepper you want. Once beef is cooked, add beef broth and barbecue sauce. Set temperature to low and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Once the veggie mixture is cooked, add it to the beef pan, stir well and then place inside of an 8×8 Pyrex dish. Take your peeled sweet potato and slice into round, thin pieces, like chips. Soften in the microwave for 2 minutes and then layer on top of the beef mixture. Add additional salt/pepper and then place in the oven for 30 minutes. In one of your sauce pans, place 2 strips of bacon and cook until crispy. When pie is done, crumble the bacon on top and set back in oven and broil for 5 additional minutes. Enjoy!