Halloween Recap and Shepherd's Pie

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween weekend and was able to thoroughly enjoy that extra hour of sleep on Sunday!

After class on Friday, I came home and worked on homework for a few hours before realizing that my costume was still a bunch of individual pieces. Linnea has been talking about dressing up as a giraffe since before last Halloween, and she definitely wins the costume contest this year. With the help of the thrift store, and some serious dedication, she came up with this awesome costume. She painted the tights and the shirt herself!

 I was struggling a little in the costume department. I gave the tutu and ears a little test run at a Halloween themed meeting we had earlier in the week and decided to call myself a "party animal." My friend Natalie sent me a text when she saw the pictures and said that my get up totally reminded her of Marty, the zebra from Madagascar. Thus, my new costume was born! You can call me, Marty the Party Animal! #creativity ;)

Recognize those paint samples from a previous post? 

We went to Annie's house for a little while before heading downtown. In Santa Cruz, they close down the main street and everyone parades around in their costumes. We saw awesome group costumes including a Human Beer Pong set up, hoards of Zombies doing the Thriller dance and even some people on stilts. It was pretty crazy, but we wound up back at home before midnight. 

We were all pretty exhausted after an intense week of school 

On Saturday morning I got up bright and early to head to the Second Harvest Food Bank in Watsonville, about 15 miles south of Santa Cruz. Along with a couple other Circle K members and several people from the community, we packed 2,800 bags of non-perishables to be handed out this week. And it only took us a little over 2 hours. It went by way too fast, but it was a great way to start off the day! 

The crates we filled on Saturday morning! 

Sunday was very low key. I slept for nearly 11 hours which I was not expecting to do, but I think my body really needed it.  We went to the grocery store and I picked up some ingredients for Shepherd's Pie along with my usual haul for the week. I glanced at an ingredient list before heading to the store, but when it actually came to preparing the meal, I totally winged it. After an 8 hour stint in the library, I decided I wanted to get to work in the kitchen and I think the recipe turned out really well!

iPhone photos don't do it justice! 

 Shepherd's Pie 
Note: The ingredient amounts are just approximations. I am terrible about following recipes and I tend to just eye ball everything. I need to get better about that, please forgive me!

• 1/2 pound lean ground beef
• 1/2 yellow onion (diced)
• 1 cup Frozen Parisian carrots (TJ's)
• 1 cup Frozen Peas
• 1 cup Frozen Green Beans
• Approximately 30 rounds of Frozen Mashed Potato Medallions (TJ's)
• 1/3 cup of Beef broth 
• 1/2 cup loosely grated Cheddar Cheese
• 2tbs Butter (to be used at various steps in the process) 
• Salt and pepper (to taste) 

1. Melt 1/2 tbs butter in large skillet on medium heat

2. Add onion and ground beef, add salt and pepper to taste

3. When the meat is mostly cooked through, add carrots, peas and beans (you can use pretty much any vegetable medley. Next time I might add some corn)

4. Pour in enough beef broth to cover the bottom of the pan, cover and let simmer until vegetables are fully thawed. 

5. While the "filling" is cooking, line your baking dish with biscuit dough (I used the pre-made crescent roll dough from TJ's). This will serve as the crust.

6. Mashed potatoes: You can make your own, or take the easy way out and use the TJ's potato medallions. I just prepped mine in the microwave and mashed them with a fork (and the rest of the butter) when they were done.

6. Fill your baking dish(es) with the beef mixture and spread the mashed potatoes over the top to cover the mixture. Grate cheddar cheese over the top

7. Place in oven at 350 degrees for approximately 35 minutes (or until cheese is very lightly browned) 

The final product. I promise it tastes better than it looks! Very hearty and it totally hit the spot in terms of comfort food! 

The only baking dishes I had were the brown clay roasting dishes (pictured above) I got in Mexico a few years ago. Portion wise, I would say this recipe allowed 4 very generous helpings, though it will probably look more like 6 for me! You could also bake this recipe in muffin tins if you want individual pies, or in a larger casserole dish. Enjoy!