Turkey Shepard's Pie

Shepard's pie is really simple to make, and doesn't take too much time. It's a great dish to make for when you have guests, or if you want to cook once and have left overs. Since there are just the two of us, and our little one, we usually have left overs for a few days. This recipe has a lot of flavor. It is made with red wine, but you can omit that if you'd like. This is a great one dish meal, or you can serve it with a side salad like I do. And the great part about this is, you can add in other veggies...some people like it with peas and carrots.

I made this particular recipe with Charles Shaw wine because it is super cheap and still tasty...so that makes it great to cook with. You can use any red wine...I used the Shiraz, Cabernet is also a good one to cook with. The best part about cooking with wine...you can drink the rest! Or...you can do what I did and make some wine sauce for later recipes... here is my wine sauce recipe sweet red wine sauce


Ingredients For the Filling:

• 1 (or 1.3 pound package) ground turkey
• 1 sweet onion, diced
• 1 small can corn, drained
• 1 cup red wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
•  Worcestershire sauce
• 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon butter
• Black pepper, season salt, and Mrs. Dash Original to taste

Ingredients for Potato Topping:

• 2 large brown potatoes (the ones for baking are best)
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons sour cream
• 1/2 cup milk (depending on the size of your potatoes you may need more or less)
• Garlic powder, season salt, Mrs. Dash, and black pepper
• 2 oz shredded cheese (I used the Kraft triple cheese mix with cheddar)

Start off by getting the potatoes going. Boil water in a sauce pan and sprinkle in some garlic powder, season salt, and Mrs. Dash. The potatoes will absorb the spices and taste better. Peel, wash, and cut up the potatoes. I do smaller pieces so they cook faster, but not too small. Allow them to boil while you prepare the filling.

In a large skillet, melt butter. Add onion and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. Add turkey and cut it up into small pieces as you stir. Add a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce, sprinkle in pepper, season salt, and Mrs. Dash. Cook meat, stirring frequently until browned and cooked through. Stir in tomato paste and corn. Add wine and cook until most of the wine has evaporated. Add in chicken broth and continue to cook until most has evaporated. You should have just a little sauciness to it. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

While the liquid is evaporating from the meat, mash the potatoes. Make sure to test them with a fork to ensure they are tender enough to mash. Drain the potatoes and place them in a mix bowl. Add butter, sour cream, milk, and spices then mash with a mixer until they are smooth. Add more milk if the potatoes are too dry. I also like to taste test them in case I need to add more spices or butter. Fold in cheese.

Put meat in a baking dish, then top with potatoes. Bake for about 20 minutes or until potatoes are slightly golden.

Cheers!
CC

Stuffed Bell Peppers with Turkey

I found this lower calorie recipe on Pinterest after Nick requested I make stuffed peppers. I did make a few changes because I felt like the original might have lacked taste, and I was really pleased that I did. They came out great! The original recipe says to use reduced fat cheese and chicken broth...however...I do no do this. If you do a little research, you will learn that reduced fat options are usually worse for your body than the regular version (thank you high school chemistry teacher for that one).

Here is the original post Turkey Stuffed Peppers on Skinnytaste.com.

Ingredients:

• 1 package ground turkey...the recipe says 1 pound, but the packages are usually 1.3 pounds
• 1 clove minced garlic
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 1 tablespoon cilantro
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• season salt, black pepper, and Mrs. Dash original to taste
• Couple splashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 3 large sweet red bell peppers, washed, cut in half and seeds removed
• 1 cup chicken broth, divided
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice (white or brown)
• Olive oil
• 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I used a three cheese cheddar blend)

Preheat oven to 400.  Place bell pepper halves in a 13x9 inch baking dish and pour 1/2 cup of chicken broth in the bottom of the dish.

In a large skillet, spray or drip a little olive oil and set burner to medium high. Add onion, minced garlic, and cilantro and saute for about 2 minutes. Add ground turkey and break it up. Sprinkle on season salt, cumin, garlic powder, Mrs. Dash, black pepper and splash on Worcestershire sauce. Brown the meat until cooked completely. Add in 1/2 cup of chicken broth and tomato sauce, mix and simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes. Add in rice and remove from heat.

Spoon meat and rice mixture into the pepper halves. Cover with foil and bake 35 minutes. Sprinkle cheese on top and serve.

Cheers!
CC