Kids in the Kitchen: Shepherd's Pie Scramble

We said good-bye to Winter last week with our last sweet potato Shepherd's pie-turned-easy by making it into a scramble. In other words, instead of layering it like a traditional pie, we just tossed everything in together. It had the same delicious effect in our bowls and bellies and it took much less time!

Our Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie Scramble...
2 carrots, chopped
1 C butternut squash (or 2 parsnips), chopped
2 ribs of celery, chopped
1/2 a medium onion, chopped
1 medium sweet potato, chopped
about 3/4 lb breakfast sausage, crumbled
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 cup apple juice or vegetable broth
1/4 tsp each of nutmeg and cloves
1 tsp fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
salt and pepper to taste

We had left over sausage cooked from breakfast so we started our pot with a bit of saved bacon grease (full of Vitamin D!) garlic, onions, sweet potatoes and squash over medium heat. After several minutes of softening we added our celery, carrots, sausage and spices. We added our broth and continued to cook for about 10-12 minutes, letting the vegetables soften and the flavors marry. The sweet potatoes and squash had just begun to break down enough to hold everything together like they would in a traditional shepherd's pie. It was delicious!

Everett helps with peeling vegetables...

Chopping softer vegetables like the celery....

Grinding pepper, grating nutmeg, measuring and adding spices to the pot...