my own shepherd's pie

sometimes someone can mention a food, and then i crave it. and my craving isn't satisfied until i have it. do you ever get like that?

well, last week my friend mentioned that she was making shepherd's pie, and i thought, "hm.. shepherd's pie? i haven't made that before.

so i did a search for shepherd's pie. okay, there's like over 100 recipes for shepherd's pie. some easy, some hard. some easy, some complicated. some with cream of mushroom, some with ketchup! i didn't know what to choose so i just did my own thing. and yes, i made my own mashed potatoes. so this recipe isn't exact but i'm estimating:

4 potatoes - peeled and cubed
1 cup of milk
3 Tbsp of butter
1 1/2 cups of frozen vegetables (peas and carrots)
1 pound of ground beef
1 small onion chopped
4 Tbsp of tomato paste
3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
salt
pepper

Boil the potatoes until tender.
Drain and place in mixing bowl.
Add butter and slowly add milk and mash together. if you want creamier, add more milk.
Add salt to taste.

preheat oven to 425.
then brown ground beef in a pan. drain any oil. flavor with a bit of salt and pepper.
add onions to beef.
while browning beef, boil the frozen vegetables for 5 minutes.
drain vegetables, and then add to the beef when done.
add tomato paste.
mix well.

layer the beef at the bottom of a casserole dish.
then add the mashed potatoes.
cover the top with shredded cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and browned.

i like to enjoy my shepherd's pie with some sriracha hot sauce and a nice cold beer.