Life in Random Bits: Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie {recipe}

I love shepherd's pie. My favorite is the one that I burn my mouth on at the Green Briar in Brighton MA. I haven't had that one in ages, but I did find this gem for the crockpot. I've made that once and it was quite delicious. I wanted to make it again last week, but wanted to make it vegetarian. I really try to get our meat at the farmer's market and my favorite beef isn't available due to the Texas drought. Plus, we really do eat vegetarian fairly often.

Turns out, you can make a very tasty vegetarian version of shepherd's pie using kidney beans in place of the meat. I'm sure I could have also just use more veggies and skipped the beans, but I wanted something a little heartier and less mushy than just the veggies.

It was delicious! It didn't taste like beans. It actually tasted just like I expected my shepherd's pie to taste. Another benefit- it wasn't greasy since there wasn't any ground beef.

Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie (based on this one)
Ingredients

3 large potatoes
1 can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 cups frozen veggies (I used corn, green beans, peas, broccoli & cauliflower)
1/2 onion chopped
1/2 t rosemary
1/2 t parsley
1/2 t garlic salt
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 t paprika (plus a little extra for garnish)
1/2 cup water

Directions

Make your mashed potatoes however you like them.
Saute the chopped onion. (You could skip this step and just throw the onion in with the veggies.)
Dump the kidney beans, onion, veggies and seasoning into the crockpot and stir.
Add 1/2-3/4 cup water.
Put the mashed potatoes on top of the veggie mixture and smooth them out. Sprinkle a little paprika on top for garnish.
Cook on high for 3 hours or on low for 6. For the last 30 minutes you'll want to vent the lid and let the extra moisture cook off.

This was so tasty. It's a great way to clean frozen veggies out of the freezer. It's a pretty cheap recipe, too. I'm really glad I gave it a try and I'm quite looking forward to eating the leftovers all week.