Ever since I saw Rachel Ray's Thanksgiving leftovers show, I've been meaning to try the Thanksgiving Shepard's Pie. So, I finally did last night.

Here's the original recipe (i tweaked it slightly):

Turkey Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie Recipe courtesy Rachael Ray, 2007
Show: Food Network Specials
Episode: All-Star Thanksgiving Recipes


2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 pounds ground turkey or chopped leftover turkey
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
2 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, cut into 1-inch dice
2 carrots, peeled and grated
4 ribs celery, chopped
4 tablespoons butter, divided
2 tablespoons flour
2 cups turkey or chicken stock (recommended: Kitchen Basics brand)
A few dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 (10-ounce) box frozen peas
1 very ripe banana
A few dashes hot sauce
2 cups shredded sharp yellow Cheddar

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
In a deep skillet or a Dutch oven heat 2 tablespoons oil over high heat. Add meat and break up with a wooden spoon, season with salt and pepper and poultry seasoning.

Place sweet potatoes in a pot, cover with water, cover pot, bring to a boil, salt and cook 15 minutes until tender.

Grate onions and carrots into the turkey. Add the celery and stir, cook 5 minutes. While vegetables are cooking, heat 2 tablespoons butter in a small pot over medium heat. Add flour to melted butter and whisk 1 minute then whisk in stock and season with salt, pepper and Worcestershire. Thicken a few minutes.

Stir peas into meat and turn heat off.

Drain potatoes and return pot to heat. Add remaining butter and melt over medium heat. Peel and slice banana and add potatoes to the pot. Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and a few dashes hot sauce. Mash potatoes and banana to combine, adjust seasoning. Top the meat with the potatoes. Cover potatoes with cheese and set in oven. Bake to melt cheese, 5 minutes.


My "make it healthier" changes and others that just worked better for me:

- Only used a dash of EVOO (probabaly about a tsp.) to cook the ground turkey (I would've used spray, but I'm out and keep forgetting to buy it- in retrospect, I probably didn't need the EVOO at all)
- Used "I can't believe its not butter Lite" in place of real butter in the potatoes
-Didn't add the banana- a majority of the reviews said it was too overpowering, instead I added a drop of FF Half and Half and a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg
-used frozen peas and corn mix
-diced the carrots instead of grating.
-Totally omitted the cheese just stuck the whole pan under the broiler for about 7 minutes.
-Didn't have poultry seasoning so I used a tsp each of marjoram, thyme, and sage and salt and pepper to taste.

It was delicious- and even better for lunch today!

One thing they forget to mention is that you need to pour the pan gravy over the turkey/vegetable mixture before putting the potatoes on top. I used real butter for the pan gravy (and chicken broth b/c stop and shop was out of stock) because I wasn't sure fake butter would work.

Try it out- great comfort food thats fairly healthy if you reduce the amount of butter and oil used.

ETA: I didn't grate the onions either...just chopped to bite size pieces.
Also, I put the meat/veg mix into a 9x13" baking pan and covered it with the potatoes before I put it under the broiler since I don't have a dutch oven.