Southwestern Sheppard's Pie

One of the best reasons to cook a somewhat large meal is the opportunity for leftovers. Instead of heating up the same dish in the microwave and eat it again, get creative. Think of ways to incorporate that with other ingredients and mix it up a bit. You will get more bang for your buck, no waste involved and it also spices up your regular routine. Sometimes it will be successful, sometimes it won't be. That's the risk you take when you create anything. With this Southwestern Sheppard's Pie, I used leftover ingredients (the meat & veggie filling) from my Simple Summer Enchiladas.

Now, not to pat myself on the back too much or anything...but this meal was pretty effing delicious. Like, so good that I had to leave the house to prevent myself from eating the whole thing. Is that a self control issue? Probs! But having a delicious homemade meal in front of you doesn't help it, that's for sure.

So do yourself a favor and make this. You'll thank me, I think. Or you'll tell me to go to hell because you will find yourself eating an exorbitant amount of comfort food all at once. Sorry in advance, y'all.

What You Will Need:

-Lean ground beef

-Sweet corn

-Black beans (drained)

-Chopped baby spinach

-Cumin

-2 cloves of garlic chopped

(Follow the ingredients from here)

-Mashed potatoes (about 4 1/2 cups)*

-2 1/2 tbsp of butter

-1 cup of shredded cheese (I used a mix of good quality mozzarella & parmesan)

-Salt & Pepper

*= For the mashed potatoes, you can use instant or make your own from scratch. If you don't know how to make your own, here is a straight forward recipe to use (although I'd probably leave out the cream cheese.)

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

2. Get a medium sized baking dish & 'grease' it up (I just used PAM cooking spray and that was enough.)

3. Spread out your veggie & beef filling evenly on the dish.

4. Evenly cover the filling with mashed potatoes so it forms somewhat of a cake/pie look. Everything must be mixed together so it bakes in a balanced way.

5. Once everything is evenly distributed, sprinkle the cheese over it equally covering up the entire dish.

6. Cut up your butter into tiny cubes so you can place them all over the dish in every crevice and corner so all of it gets that buttery-crust without using too much butter. So use the 2 1/2 tbsp wisely.

7. Salt & Pepper it up! And put it in the oven for 20 minutes, or until it is golden & crispy.

8. Once it's ready, let it sit and then use a spatula to 'slice' it for serving.

Enjoy!