Sweet Potato Shepard’s Pie

For Labor Day weekend, Brian and I had two of our closest friends over for burgers, beer, and catching up. I made turkey burgers for the ladies, while Brian made a more sinful burger for the gents.

I was surprised a couple of days later — bent over, with my head in my fridge, staring at  leftover ground turkey — at how rarely I eat ground turkey. It’s delicious, nutritious, and inexpensive. I’m not sure why it took me so long to get on the ground turkey bandwagon, but I am officially on. This recipe was a result of having ground turkey, a handful of leftover veggies, and a couple sweet potatoes lying around. I hadn’t eaten Shepard’s Pie in years, so I adapted a recipe I found posted on simplyrecipes.com by Elise Bauer. Click here for the original.

Don’t be put off by the photos. Shepard’s Pie is one of those meals that doesn’t look like much, but I promise each bite is like wrapping yourself in a warm blanket. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 lbs ground turkey

1 onion chopped

1-2 cups vegetables – chopped carrots, corn, peas (your choice)

2 large yams

Nonstick no calorie butter spray

1/2 cup water

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/4-1/2 cup soy milk at your discrepancy

Salt, pepper, other seasonings of choice

1/4 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

METHOD

Peel and quarter yams, boil in salted water until fork tender (about 20 minutes).

While the yams are cooking, coat large frying pan with large amount of butter spray.

Sauté onions in butter spray until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas at the end of the cooking of the onions. Add additional cooking spray each time a new vegetable is added.

Add ground turkey, and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add Worcestershire sauce. Add half a cup of water, and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes.

Mash yams in bowl with soy milk. (Truthfully, yams are velvety enough by themselves, that you don’t have to  add milk, but you absolutely can if you’d like.) Season with salt and  pepper to taste.

Place turkey mix in baking dish. Distribute mashed yams on top, and sprinkle with Panko. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely.

Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes). Broil for last few minutes if necessary to brown.

Yield: Serves four