Today is the first day of Spring but it’s cold and yesterday our area was host to 16.1 inches of snow so I’m in the mood for warming, comfort food; I decided on shepherd’s pie.

In my desire to keep foods healthy I made it with organic ground turkey breast. You can make it with any ground meat or non-meat of your choice. I love meatless meals so in place of meat in recipes I often use beans, but other great choices are, firm tofu, tempeh, seitan, various brands of vegan/vegetarian crumbles and meaty mushrooms like portabella. The best advice I have is keep it simple, don’t stress over it-choose and get cooking!

Initiate Wellness’ Healthy Shepherd’s Pie

1 pound ground turkey breast or lean ground meat or vegetarian product of choice

1 large onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, chopped

2 medium-large carrots chopped

2 stalks celery, sliced thin

1/2 cup white wine, water or broth

handful green beans, cut into 1-2″ slices

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen corn

4 medium-large potatoes scrubbed and quartered

extra virgin olive oil-roughly 4 tablespoons

1/4-1/2 cup almond milk, soy milk, or cow’s milk – I prefer almond milk

Pink Himalayan salt, freshly ground pepper, celery seed, parsley & basil. I never measure, I use freedoms with amounts as I desire for taste. Also, I use different spices each time depending on my taste bud’s choice 😉

Boil potatoes in water until a knife goes through easily, about 20 minutes or so.

Brown meat or meat substitute for 5-8  minutes, add onion-cook 5 minutes, add garlic, carrots and celery, lower heat and simmer about 15 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and simmer on low 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, drain potatoes, add milk, a pinch of pink salt and olive oil and mash with a potato masher.

Transfer meat mixture into a casserole dish and top it with the mashed potatoes smoothing it to the edges.

Bake in a 375° oven for 35 minutes until top is slightly browning.

Let stand 5 minutes before scooping into it ~ then enjoy!

* for a quicker preparation use frozen peas, carrots and corn

** I add dulse flakes when I transfer it to the casserole for extra benefits especially iodine. Be creative and add any type of seaweed, make sure it’s at least bite sized before you add it. Also, you might omit the salt in the recipe if you use a salty seaweed, dulse flakes aren’t salty and they are tiny.