Beef & Mushrooms and Shephard's Pie

This was another wonderful meal that served for two dinners.  Last Sunday we made a delicious crock pot beef & mushroom dish, which we served with brown rice, and we repurposed the leftovers last evening for a delicious Shephard's pie.  The picture may not look overly beautiful, but the result was highly tasty.

Below are the two recipes for our two delicious (and pretty easy!) dinners.

Crock Pot Beef & Mushrooms

We served this with brown rice and roasted asparagus.  The rice and veg helped to really differentiate this from stew, which is often how any beef crock pot dish ends up tasting.  This definitely did not taste like stew.  It did, however, taste beefy and comforting and delish!

• 1 1/2 lbs. stewing beef
  
• 1 small pkg. white mushrooms (the recipe called for canned, but we like to use the fresh mushrooms)
  
• 1 tsp. minced garlic (we use the store-bought paste you can get in the produce section)
  
• 1 small onion, diced
  
• 1-2 stalks celery (the recipe didn't call for this, but we used it sense we had it on hand)
  
• 1 tbsp. butter
  
• 1 jar of beef gravy
  
• 8 oz. can tomato sauce
  
• 2 tsp. sugar
  
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  
• 1 tsp. dried basil
  
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
  
• 1/8 tsp. pepper
  

1. Brown meat, mushrooms, garlic, onions, celery in butter in skillet.
2. Mix gravy with meat mixture.  Add the rest of the ingredients to the mix.  Pour into slow cooker.
3. Cover, cook on low for 8-9 hours.
4. Serve over cooked noodles or rice.
   

Leftover Shephard's Pie

This is an easy favorite of ours, the original of which is derived from Bob's mom's recipe.  We simplified it even more by using microwave mashed potatoes and, obviously, the leftover beef & mushroom crock pot recipe.  I thawed the frozen corn and peas and then microwaved the leftover beef & mushrooms (on 2 minutes at power level 8), so everything was pretty warm when we put it into the oven.  Because of that, it only need between 20-30 minutes.

• Leftover crock pot beef & mushroom
  
• 1 cup frozen corn, thawed (eyeball it)
  
• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed (eyeball it)
  
• 1 pkg. microwave mashed potatoes (I kind of wish we had used 2 packages)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. Prepare mashed potatoes according to package directions.
   
3. Mix meat mixture with thawed corn and peas.
   
4. Top with mashed potatoes.
   
5. Bake in oven for between 20-30 minutes.  Pie should be boiling/bubbling.  Let bubbles for at least 5-10 minutes, if not longer.  
   
6. Also, be sure to let pie sit for awhile to cool a bit.
   
7. Serve with biscuits, if desired.
   

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