Mashed Cauliflower Sheppard’s Pie

Big news!  My husband and I moved from Texas to Indianapolis about 4 weeks ago.  That’s right…. We moved!  This move was obviously a HUGE life event for us.  We made the decision to move so that we could set our future up for success.  Our quality of life has already significantly improved!  Prior to our move, we decided to renovate the house we were moving into, which of course included the kitchen.  And if you’ve ever renovated a house, you know it takes longer than the contractors estimate for the renovations to be completed.  So, when we moved into our house the first week of August we didn’t have a functional kitchen for FOUR WEEKS.  Not cooking for that long made me really sad y’all.  But I’m happy to report that as of last week I have a completed, amazing, better than I could have dreamed kitchen.  The first meal I made in my new kitchen is Mashed Cauliflower Sheppard’s Pie.  This meal is comforting, guilt-free and hearty.  This is a Weight Watcher friendly recipe and only 6 SmartPoints per serving!!

Sheppard’s Pie is something that I didn’t grow up eating but discovered recently in my cooking journey.  It’s funny because I grew up eating these flavors, but not actually mixed together.  When I had Sheppard’s Pie for the first time, I couldn’t believe I had never had it before.  Savory, spiced meat and veggies topped with mashed potatoes…. Genius! 

There are a million different versions of this meat and potato pie; all have the basic fundamentals- meat, veggies, and potatoes.  I wanted to take this recipe a step towards the guilt-free side by swamping ground beef or lamp for ground turkey.  Jennie-O’s has a 99% fat free ground turkey so using this I was able to reduce the fat and calories for this recipe significantly.  To save time, I used frozen veggies.  You could totally use fresh veggies, but sometimes it’s good to use short cuts!  I also added in fresh baby bella mushrooms.  I can just hear my mom say “Mushrooms?!  Ehh”.  Well, I love mushrooms so I added them in, but you can totally omit!!  Lastly, to take it even further, I swamped mashed potatoes for my Garlic Mashed Cauliflower.  Perfection!!

My Garlic Mashed Cauliflower seriously tastes just like mashed potatoes.  I know some of you might be saying “Cauliflower?!”  I know… But cauliflower is so underrated!  Seriously, it tastes just like mashed potatoes and it’s SO MUCH BETTER FOR YOU!  Cauliflower helps with weight loss, improves digestion, and so much more!  There are tons of ways to swamp in cauliflower into recipes.

For the Mashed Cauliflower Sheppard’s Pie recipe, I doubled the Garlic Mashed Cauliflower recipe to make sure I had enough to cover the pie.  The great thing about this recipe is you can make all of the main ingredients way ahead of time!  So, it was a hard decision to make on “what will be the first recipe I make in my new kitchen”.  I decided to make this meal because I really needed something that was comforting and tastes like home.  My Mashed Cauliflower Sheppard’s Pie was a success!  My husband LOVED it and it will go down in history for sure!

I hope you enjoy these *meaty* bites of flavor!

 
For Mashed Cauliflower Sheppard’s Pie, here are my “go-to” kitchen essentials:

 
 

Serves 6

Mashed Cauliflower Sheppard’s Pie

6 SMARTPOINTS per serving

30 minPrep Time

20 minCook Time

50 minTotal Time

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Ingredients

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower:
• **Double recipe**
• 2 Head Cauliflower
• 2 Tablespoon Light Butter
• 2 Tablespoon Light Sour Cream
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 1 Tablespoon Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Tablespoon Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
Turkey & Veggie Filling:
• 1 Pound Lean Ground Turkey (I used Jennie-0 99% Fat Free Ground Turkey)
• 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
• ½ Yellow Onion
• 2 Celery Stalks
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 8 oz Sliced Bella Mushrooms (Omit if you do not like mushrooms!)
• 8 oz Frozen Vegetable Mix (Carrots, Peas, Corn, Green Beans)
• 2 Tablespoons Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 Cup Water
• 2 Tablespoon Tomato Paste
• 1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 Teaspoon Paprika
• 1 Tablespoon Salt
• 1 Tablespoon Pepper

Instructions

Garlic Mashed Cauliflower:
1. Clean cauliflower and cut the center bottom to remove the stem and leaf parts.
2. Dice cauliflower into florets and put into a large pot. Fill pot with water to cover the cauliflower.
3. Season with a pinch of kosher salt and fresh cracked pepper.
4. Cover pot with lid and boil cauliflower for about 25 minutes until fork tender.
5. Drain cauliflower in a colander.
6. Add half of the cauliflower to a food processor (or blender).
7. Add light butter, light sour cream, garlic, salt and pepper to a food processor.
8. Mix until all ingredients are combined and cauliflower is a creamy texture.
9. Add the rest of the cauliflower to the food process and mix until cauliflower is a creamy, mashed potato consistency.
10. Set aside.
Turkey & Veggie Filling:
11. Preheat oven to 400 Degrees.
12. Chop onion and celery into small pieces and set aside.
13. Chop garlic and set aside.
14. Chop mushrooms into small pieces and set aside.
15. Brown ground turkey in a large pot and season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Once meat is cooked, pour into a bowl and set aside.
16. In the same skillet, add olive oil and heat on medium heat for 1 minute.
17. Add onion and celery and sauté for 15 minutes.
18. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes.
19. Add flour, salt and pepper and mix well to coat the veggies.
20. Add frozen vegetables, water, Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, and ground turkey.
21. Mix well, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
For Sheppard’s Pie:
22. Spray casserole dish with non-fat cooking spray.
23. Pour turkey and veggie mixture to dish. Spread to make even.
24. Pour mashed cauliflower over turkey mixture and spread to make even.
25. Top with Parmesan cheese and sprinkle paprika.
26. Bake for 20 minutes.

Notes

To speed up the process, make the Garlic Mashed Cauliflower ahead of time, or while the turkey & veggie mixture is simmering.

6.6.15

http://bitesofflavor.com/mashed-cauliflower-sheppards-pie/