Shepard's Eyes Pie

During the month of October I try to give my dinner selections a decidedly spooky twist. Last year was infamous for the roast ghosts and mummy's meatloaves. This year I am keeping all the old favorites and trying to add a few new ones. Most of the time all it takes to make a ghoulishly great dinner is to rename a regular entrée. For instance Oven roasted bat brains are really just brussels sprouts tossed in olive oil, salt and chopped garlic then roasted in the oven for about 25 minutes. Tonight I made Shepard's Eyes pie. It is similar to shepards pie but i prefer to use lean ground turkey instead of beef and whipped acorn squash in lieu of mashed potatos.

Ingredients

1 acorn squash

1 package lean ground turkey

12 mushrooms

1 yellow onion

1 large carrot

2-3 stalks of celery

1 clove garlic

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp olive oil

1/3 package low fat cream cheese (optional)

1/2 c. shredded parmesan (cheddar works too)

Halve the squash and scoop out seeds. wrap each half tightly in plastic wrap and microwave for 6-10 min of until soft enough to mash. set aside to cool. after squash is finished cooling mash with softened cream cheese, salt and pepper.

chop onion, celery  and carrot and cook in pan over medium heat until Onions are translucent. Remove from pan and add to baking dish. Halved mushrooms and olive oil and cook until mushrooms are browned. remove mushrooms from pan and add to the already cooked veggies. add ground turkey and chopped garlic and cumin to pan and brown. add to veggie mix when finished browning. toss mixture together. spread mashed squash over the top and sprinkle on cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 400 degrees until top is browned and bubbly.

all dished up

You can also add garam masala or curry to give the recipe an indian twist.

the halved mushrooms are in the recipe to look like eyeballs but for everyday meals you would want to slice the mushrooms before cooking. I do not like peas in my shepards pie but if you want them feel free to add them.

Maybe even try it with a little apple crisp for dessert

the boys enjoy their dessert after gobbling up all their dinner

I'll have a second peace please!