Tweaked Shepherd's Pie, Low Amylose Style

I make this recipe a lot, and I made it during the snowstorm yesterday for E before his grad school final. It was his last one of the semester! Hurray! I get my husband back!  "Just" doing his 40 hour work week until the end of January will feel like nothing compared to that plus taking 12 credits.

I also happen to call my dad for help with this recipe every. single. time. He's sort of my go-to cooking expert. The man loves the Food Network. Seriously, every time we visit my parents either the Food Network or ESPN/NESN is on 24/7. He must legit think I'm an idiot, because I've called to ask him about how he makes Shepherd's Pie at least 3x in the past 2 months.

I like this recipe, which I'd tweaked to make Low Amylose friendly, because it's easy and packs a lot of punch. It's filling, it's got protein and two types of vegetables. I know, right? I use frozen veggies but if you're less inept than I am, you can spend the time and use fresh ones.

Ingredients:
1 pack frozen Bird's Eye Winter Squash
Enough frozen peas to cover the meat in your pan
Ground Beef
Onions (Ideally.)
Garlic salt
Onion powder (If you're onion-less)
Pepper

If you have onions on hand, go you. I always, always, always forget about the onions until I call my dad and ask "Should I use oil in the frying pan for the meat?" And he's like "Only if you're sauteing the onions first... then use a little bit" and I'm like "D'OH!!!! ONIONS!" The truth is, we have a bunch of caramelized onions in the freezer that I made after last Passover. We had so many onions leftover that I spend a whole day cutting them up and caramelizing them in our crock pot. But They're frozen in a solid block because I didn't think far enough in advance to split them up into meal-sized portions, so only E knows/is able to break chunks off. #winning

So, yeah, if you have onions, go ahead and saute them in your skillet. 

When they're delicious looking/smelling, add in your ground beef, or "Hamburger meat" as my dad calls it. Also add some garlic salt, pepper, and onion powder to taste.

While you're stirring that around, throw your unwrapped, frozen winter squash into a small pot and follow the directions on the box (this method involves 1/2 c of water). We don't have a microwave but if you do, I think there are also directions for how to cook it in there. I throw in some of the same spices I added to the meat while I'm at it. 

When the meat is cooked, spread it out on the bottom of your pan (I used a round one w/ parchment paper on the bottom for easier cleanup).

Cover it with frozen peas.

Cover that with the cooked Winter Squash.

Stick it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes. You just want the top to get browned a little (and the peas to not be frozen anymore. Duh.

And serve!

E was super excited about this when he woke up for class (yep you read that right. Welcome to life with a night-shifter) and had two helpings. If you make it, let me know how it turns out and what further tweaks you thought up!