No Relation Pie

Last week was so warm, it felt more like late September than almost November. Which has made cooking pretty difficult because my internal calendar tells me I should be preparing warm and hearty (or heARRRRGHty, as T puts it) meals that fill you up and make you feel all snuggly inside. And then this weekend was blissfully cold. So the days were still warm enough for a light hoodie or a long sleeved tee, but sundown meant quickly dropping temperatures and a desire for comfort.

Today was the first day I've felt decent enough to cook, and un-busy enough to make it something homemade and not from a box or the freezer. I decided on Shepherd's Pie. You may have noticed that the title to this post says "No Relation Pie." Well, like Jenna in Waitress, I too like creative names for my food. Since I have family with the surname Shepherd, I decided to rename the one dish meal "No Relation Pie."

No Relation Pie
1 lb. ground beef (could be made with ground turkey or pork)
1 can golden mushroom soup
1 can sliced mushrooms (completely optional, but utterly delicious)
1 can corn, peas, and/or carrots (tonight was all three!)
Instant mashed taters (we love them, so I use a lot, but you need enough to cover the top of the dish)
Shredded cheese

Brown the ground meat with at least salt and pepper (I also add garlic and onion, sometimes seasoned salt, liquid smoke and worcestershire sauce). Once nearly browned, stir in golden mushroom soup and mushrooms; warm through. Pour into the bottom of a large casserole dish, smoothing out. Pour on cans of veggies, trying to get an even-ish coating (I quartered the carrots before handling over the dish, just since some get kind of big). Top with enough taters to cover the veggies and meat (or more if you're like me!). Finally, cover with as much or as little shredded cheese as your heart desires. Now, you could be done here, oorrrrrrr....you could pop it into a 350* oven until your cheese starts to brown a little.

Let the dish rest for a few minutes before digging in. Otherwise, the meat and veggies will just ooze out and some servings will be nothing but taters (not that I'm seeing a problem there!).

Serve with some crusty bread and butter and ENJOY!