Beef Picadillo Shepherd's Pie

Lately, I've been cooking our week's dinner on Sunday.  It's been great knowing what's for dinner and being in so much control of what we are eating.  This way, I am able to keep our eating even more clean and healthy.

This week I tried a new clean eating recipe, Beef Picadillo Shepherd's Pie.  So good.  So filling!  

For this Get Fit Friday, I share the recipe.  YUM!  Give it a try.

Beef Picadillo Shepherd's PieIngredients:

• 4 cups small cauliflower florets
• Olive oil cooking spray
• 1 1/4 cups low sodium chicken stock, divided
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 lb extra lean ground beef
• 1 red onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1 tsp ground cumin]1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 cup boxed or jarred unsalted chopped tomatoes
• 1/4 cup small pimento stuffed olives coarsely chopped
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spread cauliflower in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and mist with cooking spray.  Roast for 30 minutes, until soft. Cool slightly; transfer to a food processor.  Add 1/4 cup chicken stock and process on high until smooth.  Transfer to a bowl, season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Meanwhile, mist a large nonstick skillet with cooking spray and heat on medium high.  Add beef and cook, breaking up with a wooden spoon, for 6 minutes, until browned.  Transfer beef to a paper towel lined tray.

To skillet, add onion, garlic and peppers.  Cook, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes, until softened.  Add cumin and paprika and cook stirring constantly, for 1 minute, until fragrant.  Return beef to skillet and stir in remaining 1 cup chicken stock, tomatoes, olives and vinegar.  Cook for 6 minutes, until thickened slightly and reduced by half.  Season with additional salt and pepper and transfer to an 8 inch square nonstick or glass oven-safe baking dish  With a spatula, smooth out mixture.  

Spoon cauliflower puree over beef mixture  Using your fingers, gently spread to cover meat and smooth out.

Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove foil and bake for 10 more minutes until 160 degrees F in center of pan. 

Nutrition:  1 1/4 cups per serving.

calories 141, total fat 4g, sat fat 1g, carbs 9g, fiber 3g, sugars 5g, protein 17.5g sodium 315mg, cholesterol, 40mg

Ideas to note:  I used ground turkey.  My dh LOVED it.  Quite tasty and filling.

Next time: I plan to try it with sweet potatoes instead of cauliflower and I may add more veggies to the meat mixture.  

Recipe excerpted from Clean Eating Magazine.