Warm, Filling Cheesy Goodness

Today's post is all about classic comfort food that fills your tummy and warms you inside.  Since I currently don't have a job, some of my time during the day is spent watching TV.  One of new favorite shows, that is on during the morning here in Oregon, called The Chew.  It is a show that is all about food and basically they cook, eat and talk.  It's hosted by some of my favorite chefs/people...Carla Hall(former contestant of Top Chef), Michael Symon(Iron Chef), Clinton Kelly(from What Not to Wear), Daphne Oz(Dr. Oz's daughter), and Mario Batali(Iron Chef).  It's a really fun show and there's always great food.  I seriously recommend that if you like food at all and are home during the day because of a day off or sickness, check your local listings and find The Chew.

On yesterday's show, Michael Symon made what he called a pork pie.  It was very akin to a shepherd's pie.  His pork pie had ground pork, bacon, kale and some other vegetables topped with mashed potatoes and cheese.  They suggested that you could also make this vegetarian by using squash instead of pork.  If you'd like to see for yourself just how yummy this looked, click here.


As I watched them dish out this cheesy goodness, I thought to myself that I needed to have some shepherd's pie.  So...shepherd's pie is on the menu for dinner tonight.  Technically, a shepherd's pie is made with lamb.  Tonight's dinner was made with ground beef, so it will be a cottage pie.  I didn't exactly follow a recipe and it is far from a "traditional" shepherd's pie, but here are some pics of the step by step process.  I used frozen vegetables because of the easiness of it, but you certainly could use fresh ones.  Also, a "traditional" shepherd's pie wouldn't have any cheese on it, but as far as I'm concerned everything tastes better with cheese.  Here are some pics of the step by step process.

Hope everyone is enjoying the fall and those of you that live in colder climates are staying warm.  This is a great meal to warm you up on a cold fall or winter day.  Pumpkin cheesecake with gingersnap crust coming later this week.

Happy Cooking!!