Comfort food can be healthy as well as delicious! I’ve found that over the years of trying to eat more healthily, I’ve actually started craving vegetables…yes really! I often adapt recipes to fit more vegetables in, as quite often meat-based dishes have too much protein and not enough plant matter. For example, many recipes for a Shepherd’s pie are primarily mince based with perhaps some onion or carrot. I like to switch the ratios and generally reduce the amount of meat and increase veggies. This ensures you’re getting a healthy hit of protein (we only need a palm sized portion per meal) and a good amount of fibre, vitamins and antioxidants from the vegetables.
Here’s my Shepherd’s pie, which is wonderfully comforting and packed full of fibre, vitamins and minerals (=healthy!). I make with beef mince, but it’s also equally amazing with lentils.
Serves 4-6 hungry adults or 8 with a side of veggies (yes, more veggies!)
Ingredients:
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- Olive oil
- Herbs – large pinch of oregano, sage, thyme (or whatever you fancy)
- 500g beef mince / French lentils
- Veggies – as many as you can fit in your pot! I love carrots, mushrooms, celery, zucchini, cabbage
- 1 can tomatoes
- 500-750ml stock
- Gnarly mash (recipe here)
- Pumpkin seeds (optional)
Directions:
- Finely chop onion and garlic and saute in a little olive oil for a few mins until soft
- Sprinkle in your herbs of choice and stir for another minute until fragrant
- Add mince if using and cook until brown, stirring often
- Add lentils (if using), chopped veggies, can of tomatoes and stock. You just need enough liquid to cover the veggies
- Bring to boil and simmer for 45 mins-1 hr (or longer – it just gets better the longer you can simmer it for!)
- Meanwhile, make your gnarly mash (recipe link above)
- Assemble into a large casserole dish and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds
- Bake or grill to brown the top