What to do with Leftover Mashed Potatos....Idea #1

This past weekend my 'Big' Little brother came home for a visit. Because he is single he likes to have Momma and I cook all his favorites in the short amount of time that he is here. One meal that he always asks for is Chicken Fried Steaks and mashed potatoes! He loves it when we make lots of extra steak so that he can snack on it on the way home...as a result the leftover steak gets eaten but none of the veggies. I happened to have a margarine tub of mashed potatoes leftover along with a container of whole kernel corn. It is perfectly good food....just needs to be remade a bit!

I am gonna warn you folks....I have a tendency to read half a dozen recipes for the same dish and combine them all to make my own unique dish that may or may not resemble the original idea or recipe! What I made today is Shepherd's Pie.....with what I had leftover in the refrigerator and what was in my pantry.

Shepard's Pie Mama D Style

1 margarine tub of leftover mashed potatoes (I probably used about 4 cups)
1 container of leftover whole kernel corn/creamed corn (equivalent of 1 can)
1/2 chopped onion
1/2 chopped green bell pepper
1 can English Peas - drained
1 can Carrots - drained
Grated Cheese
1 lb. ground beef

1 or 2 cloves of minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. Beef Base (this is kinda like adding a beef boullion cube or a little beef broth....feel free to subsitute a little chicken stock just flavor or omit it!)
Worcestershire Sauce - to taste

1. Brown you ground beef with your chopped onion and bell peppers.
2. Drain meat and add you flavor trio....garlic, beef base and Worcestershire sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.

Now this is a rather large skillet of ground meat...so I only used about half of this. I allowed the mixture to cool and popped it in the fridge for another meal tomorrow...or I could have put it in the freezer.

3. Mix your meat mixture with your drained veggies. Place in a 9X13 casserole dish or depending on the amount of veggies you have a smaller dish.

4. Spread you mashed potatoes over the veggie mixture and sprinkle with cheese.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

I served mine with a slice of homemade bread. You could serve it with a nice salad but I figured you have you meat, starches and veggies all in one pan...why complicate things with salad! This is one of those versatile recipes that you can customize to your hearts content. Change up the veggies, change the meat, change the flavorings, add herbs. My family has really simple tastes and really doesn't like it when I have too many flavors going to so I tend to season with salt and pepper and call it good. Make it your own!