Happy St. Patrick's Day (With Recipes)

We love St. Patrick's Day: Ireland (our mom is Irish), green outfits, beer (our parents not us of course), Springtime green (in theory as its snowing now) 

and of course tasty Irish food.  This year mom made Cottage Pies to celebrate, Cottage Pie is really just Shepherds Pie with beef instead of lamb and its damn tasty.   

Cottage Pie for Humans (from Tea and Sympathy) 

Beef Filling

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon butter
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1 ¼ cups beef stock
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons oregano
3 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
4 medium carrots, peeled, chopped, and cooked in boiling water for five minutes or until tender
 1 package Cascadian Farm's  frozen peas
Mashed potatoes

3 lbs. potatoes, peeled and chopped in big chunks
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Whole milk
Salt and pepper to taste.
Grated sharp Cheddar cheese, about 2-3 oz

Small bunch watercress, washed and trimmed (optional)

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• Sauté the onion in the oil and butter until it is soft.
• Increase heat to high, add the ground beef, and cook until completely browned, separating the meat as it is cooking to avoid winding up with big chunks of meat in the pie.
• Add tomatoes, stock, Worcestershire, oregano and bay leaves, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until the meat is tender.
• Add salt and pepper to taste, and add a little more Worcestershire sauce if needed.
• Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof baking dish and mix in the cooked carrots and frozen peas.
• Top with an even layer of mashed potatoes and a little grated cheese
•  Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
• Serve garnished with watercress, if you like.

For the Potatoes

• Boil the peeled and chopped in chunks potatoes in lightly salted water for 20-25 minutes, until soft.
• Drain them well and then mash them, stir in the butter and add the milk little by little until you reach your desired consistency.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.

Cottage Pie for Pups

1 1lb ground beef

1 package Cascadian Farm frozen peas

1 package chopped frozen spinach, thawed

3 large carrots peeled and chopped

1 15 oz can tomato sauce (or if your dog is sensitive to tomatoes 1 1/2 cups beef broth)

3 large sweet potatoes (mom only used two and it was not enough.

Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and microwave on high for 20 minutes.  Set the potatoes aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350

Cook the beef over medium high heat in a large pot until browned.  Add the spinach and peas as stir.  Add the tomato sauce or beef stock and carrots and stir.  Simmer 20 minutes.   Pour the filling into an ovenproof baking dish or casserole.  Spread the sweet potatoes over (you can see from the above photo that mom did not have nearly enough sweet potatoes.)   Bake for 25 minutes.  Cool.  Serve as a healthy and festive kibble topper.