Name: Recipe for Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 6
Ingredients: 1.5 lbs . ground beef (or chopped lean beef steak ( I used steak)); 2 cloves garlic (finely chopped); 1 small shallot (finely chopped); 1 tbsp . or so olive oil; 1 oz can tomato sauce (8 .); 2 Tbsp . ketchup; 2 Tbsp . worchestershire sauce; cup about 1/2 frozen chopped spinach (or more if you like); cup about 1 frozen peas; 1 medium - large sweet potato/yam; enough leftover mashed potatoes to spread on top -( I used 3 medium potatoes to get the amount shown (and it was kind of a lot)); cheese to sprinkle on top; salt and pepper to taste

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Today for the Halloween countdown, I'll share the recipe for what we had for dinner last night! It was the perfect meal to have on a cold and stormy October night - cheesy, creamy, savory and filling!

I was playing around with some sweet potatoes (yams, really) to come up with some Halloween foods the other day, and this is what I created. I love coming up with recipes for fun holiday foods that aren't sugary - especially for Halloween. Kids and adults both get way too much candy on Halloween as it is, so recipes for things like cupcakes don't really appeal to me much. But this comforting casserole would be the perfect thing to serve for dinner before going out trick-or-treating, and you know your kids would be full of protein, healthy carbs, and a lot of vegetables!

This recipe is more of a guideline... you can put in all kinds of veggies and seasonings according to what you like and what you have around the kitchen. Here's how I made it:

Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

1.5 lbs. ground beef, or chopped lean beef steak ( I used steak)

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 small shallot, finely chopped

1 tbsp. or so olive oil

1 can tomato sauce, 8 oz.

2 Tbsp. ketchup

2 Tbsp. worchestershire sauce

about ½ cup frozen chopped spinach, or more if you like

about 1 cup frozen peas

1 medium - large sweet potato/yam

enough leftover mashed potatoes to spread on top -( I used 3 medium potatoes to get the amount shown, and it was kind of a lot)

cheese to sprinkle on top

salt and pepper to taste

Brown the beef along with the garlic and shallot in the olive oil. Add in the tomato sauce, ketchup, worchestershire, and spinach. Bring to a simmer, cover, and let it cook while you prepare the sweet potato.

Slice the sweet potato into THIN slices. That's one thing I'll change next time I make this ( which will be on Halloween night) It's easier to eat if the sweet potatoes are sliced really thin!

Next, microwave the slices for a minute or two until they are just a little softened. I think the best way to do this is to use Ziploc Zip n Steam bags. Here's what they look like:

Now that they're softened a little, you can use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the sweet potatoes into pumpkins:

Remember to save your scraps! You will be chopping them up and putting them in the meat mixture. Sometimes I have people ask me what I do with all my scraps from cutting out cheese and veggies into cute shapes for bento lunches - putting them in casseroles is one of my tricks 😉

Now get out some tiny little cutters to make the jack-o-lantern faces. If you are already a bento enthusiast, you probably have a bunch of those around that would be perfect for jack-o-lanterns. But if not... here is a great place to buy the set I used in my recipe - All Things For Sale, and you can't beat the price tag - only $4.99! You could use aspic cutters, or tiny cutters that you can find in the clay crafting section of stores as well.

It's a lot of fun to design the faces, and kids would have a ball doing this task!

Here are all the jack-o-lanterns ready to top the casserole! This recipe serves 6, so make that many jack-o-lanterns so everyone can have one 🙂

Toss the sweet potato scraps and the frozen peas into the skillet with the meat mixture and simmer until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Spoon in the meat mixture. Top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with the amount of cheese you desire and salt and pepper to taste. Lay the jack-o-lanterns on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the cheese melts. Remove the foil for about 5 minutes more to allow browning.

Everyone in my family loved this dinner! If you try it, leave me a comment 🙂

some things I used to make this recipe and where you can buy them ( click on the picture for more info)

The set I used to cut the jack-o-lantern faces
I use these Zip n Steam bags every single day - and the best part is you can rinse them out and reuse them many times before they wear out!

Recipe for Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Print Recipe

This comforting casserole would be the perfect thing to serve for dinner before going out trick-or-treating, and you know your kids would be full of protein, healthy carbs, and a lot of vegetables!

Author: beneficial bento
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 6 1x
Category: main dish

Ingredients

Scale

1.5 lbs . ground beef (or chopped lean beef steak ( I used steak))
2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 small shallot (finely chopped)
1 tbsp . or so olive oil
1 oz can tomato sauce (8 .)
2 Tbsp . ketchup
2 Tbsp . worchestershire sauce
cup about ½ frozen chopped spinach (or more if you like)
cup about 1 frozen peas
1 medium - large sweet potato/yam
enough leftover mashed potatoes to spread on top -( I used 3 medium potatoes to get the amount shown (and it was kind of a lot))
cheese to sprinkle on top
salt and pepper to taste

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Instructions

Brown the beef along with the garlic and shallot in the olive oil. Add in the tomato sauce, ketchup, worchestershire, and spinach. Bring to a simmer, cover, and let it cook while you prepare the sweet potato.
Slice the sweet potato into THIN slices. It's easier to eat if the sweet potatoes are sliced really thin!
Next, microwave the slices for a minute or two until they are just a little softened.
Now that they're softened a little, you can use a pumpkin cookie cutter to cut the sweet potatoes into pumpkins.
Remember to save your scraps! You will be chopping them up and putting them in the meat mixture. Sometimes I have people ask me what I do with all my scraps from cutting out cheese and veggies into cute shapes for bento lunches - putting them in casseroles is one of my tricks 😉
Now get out some tiny little cutters to make the jack-o-lantern faces. This recipe serves 6, so make that many jack-o-lanterns so everyone can have one 🙂
Toss the sweet potato scraps and the frozen peas into the skillet with the meat mixture and simmer until heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Spray a casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray. Spoon in the meat mixture. Top with mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with the amount of cheese you desire and salt and pepper to taste. Lay the jack-o-lanterns on top. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes, or until the cheese melts. Remove the foil for about 5 minutes more to allow browning.