menu plan: shepherd's pie

i've been having the urge to learn how to cook some of the dishes of my childhood (and record them in my holiday mini-album).  shepherd's pie is one of them.  sadly, my mom doesn't even remember making it!  what?!  i googled it and went with the simplest recipe i could find.  it was even a bit too complicated as my dad is a notoriously picky eater.  seriously, the only condiments/spices he will allow to touch his food are butter, salt, and pepper.  i'm not even exaggerating.  it's actually the butter that i remember most.  i remember there being pockets of butter in the (instant?) mashed potatoes on top when it came out of the oven and even butter leaking into the meat below.  mmmmmmm.  butter. 

i pretty much followed the recipe, except for nixing the onion, boiling the carrots with the potatoes before dicing them and adding them to the meat mix (no crunchy carrots!), and no beef broth because i didn't have any (boo).  plus i added a little parsley flake to the top for color (dad would not approve).  g has actually requested it again.  this is a shocker as he used to not care for potatoes overly much.  i'm going to try it again this week using a cheaper grade of ground beef, no worcestershire (it was good, but didn't taste like the one my mom made for my dad), and making sure i have beef broth this time.    i think it will be just exactly right then.

i love that i baked it in the cast iron skillet just like mom uses and dished it up on my brother's old lassie plate.

this week's menu plan:
sunday - dinner out
monday - bacon and eggs
tuesday - chicken noodle soup
wednesday - dinner at church
thursday - shepherd's pie
friday - tammy's? poppyseed chicken?
saturday - fried ham, crash hot potatoes, green beans