SAS- Casseroles

Happy Thursday Seekers! Today is Thursday and as always, my sister over at Think Tank Momma is hosting her SAS! Today’s theme is casseroles, which happen to be one of my favorite things to make and eat! I think they’re easy and everyone seems to love them. To me, they’re comfort food! I have an array of casseroles in my personal cooking files. I rarely follow a recipe, so it’s difficult for me to share recipes. So bare with me, I’ll try to tell you as close to what I use as possible.


I’ve gone back and forth, mulling over which casserole to share? My cheesy chicken and rice casserole was the first thing I ever cooked for my sweetheart. I made it the first night I had him over, while we were dating. The next day he called me and asked if we could have the left-over casserole for dinner again that night! Unfortunately I had taken all the left-overs to work for lunch to share with my mom! He loved it so much he asked me to make it again that second night! That was my first choice. It’s quick and easy and delicious! But I think most everyone has a similar recipe for this. So I decided to save that one, maybe for a later date.

Instead I decided to go with my take on Sheppard’s Pie, because it is my husband’s and son’s favorite. It’s not my favorite. But I do like it. I sort of got burnt out on this, because I’ve made it so often for William. To this day, if I let him pick what we’re having for dinner, he always asks for my Sheppard’s Pie! It’s not your typical Sheppard’s Pie, but I’m sure you’ll love it!



What you will need for Buffee’s Sheppard’s Pie

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion chopped

1 can cream of chicken soup

1 ½ cups of frozen corn

1 ½ cups of sweet baby peas

1 container of Country Crock Homestyle Mashed Potatoes

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

When browning ground beef, I ALWAYS sauté an onion in olive oil first and then add the ground beef. That’s the way I like it, no matter what I’m making. This is totally optional on your part. I usually don’t need to drain any excess fat, because I use 90/10 ground beef. But if there’s a lot to drain, by all means, drain it. I like to use a slotted spoon to transfer the browned beef into a casserole dish, which omits the draining step all together!

Once you have the drained onion/ground beef mixture transferred into your baking/casserole dish, add both 1 – 1 ½ cups of sweet corn and sweet baby peas. (I like to defrost the corn and peas by placing them in a strainer and running hot water over them). If you like more corn simply add more corn and less peas or vice versa. You can substitute a corn, peas, and carrot melody if you’re trying to add more vegetables in you or your children’s diet. (If the veggies are mixed in with meat and potatoes and topped with cheese, they’ll never notice them)!

Next smooth the cream of chicken soup over the onion/ground beef/veggies mixture.

Spoon the mashed potatoes on top and evenly spread over the soup. You can make your own potatoes if you want, but this saves time. I like to add a heaping tablespoon of sour cream and butter to the pre-made potatoes. This makes them taste just like you made them from scratch without the added work!

Top with shredded cheddar cheese and bake at 350 degrees for 35-45 minutes. Once the cheese is melted and the edges are bubbling it’s ready! Let stand 5-10 minutes, to give the potatoes time to set back up some.

Well there you have it Seekers!  I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my guys do!  I can't wait to read and try some of yours!   

Join me next Wednesday for my regularly scheduled Hillbilly Hump Day for some exciting news!  Sorry I postponed yesterday's episode, hopefully you enjoyed my Kamden post!