Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe -- Gluten Free, Paleo and Allergy Friendly

Lately, I really am loving easy recipes that end up with a complete dinner in one, and shepherd's pie is one of my favorites. Yes, some shepherd's pie recipes are complex and complicated with many different ingredients and steps, but I find my version to be quite easy, and it ends up delicious, and my entire family loves it. It ends up quite a lot on my dinner table, and in fact, I am making this again tonight.

If you want to keep this recipe even easier, you can use instant mashed potatoes for the top. Since I pressure cook my potatoes and keep them unpeeled I don't find that part hard, but feel free to use this shortcut if you want, just add the flavorings mentioned.

I like to stretch my ground beef with grated zucchini; I find it not only makes it cheaper, but also makes the meat more moist. Sometimes I added canned or frozen peas and carrots to my zucchini stretched meat, but not always (and depends on how picky my kids are being, because some don't want the peas); feel free to add that to yours to keep down the cost further, as long as you aren't trying to make this recipe paleo. Oh, and did I mention that this is allergy friendly, free of the top 8 allergens?

You can keep this even cheaper by making this with ground chicken or ground turkey instead of the beef, but I feel it generally needs more flavor if you do it that way, so don't skip the next step.

Lastly, I generally keep mine simple in terms of flavorings, but if you want to, feel free to add some ketchup or barbecue sauce to the meat mixture layer.

Oh, and by the way, if anyone wants to comment on my usage of a disposable pan, you're invited to either keep your mouth shut or to come over and wash my dishes.

Easy Shepherd's Pie Recipe -- Gluten Free, Paleo and Allergy Friendly

Meat Layer:
2 lbs ground beef

2 medium zucchinis

1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Potato Layer:

10 potatoes or so

3 onions

Oil, as needed

Salt, to taste

1 tablespoon paprika

Black pepper, to taste

Instructions:

1. Grate your zucchini, and mix it thoroughly with the ground beef and garlic powder.

2. Saute on a medium heat, mixing often, breaking it apart into small crumbles as it cooks.

3. Boil your potatoes in salted water. No need to peel them unless you really want to. A pressure cooker makes this step much faster.

4. Chop your onions and saute in oil until lightly browned.

5. Mash your potatoes (I usually do this with the skin on, but if you want to remove your skins feel free, its just more work) and mix with your onion. Add paprika, then add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Put your meat layer on the bottom of a 9x13 pan.

7. Top with your mashed potatoes layer.

8. Bake at 350 uncovered for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on the top.

Enjoy!

What is your favorite quick and easy meal? Are you a fan of shepherd's pie? How do you make it? Does this look like an easy recipe to you or too complex? Does this look like a recipe you'd try?