Lean Cottage Pie

Hi Everyone,

This recipe is one of my favorite dinners.  It’s healthy and easy to make, providing everything you need in one bowl.  Another plus is that it’s made in bulk so will provide dinner/lunch for 2-3 days.  Mind you with Andrew’s appetite I’m lucky to see 2 portions from this, but technically it should provide 5-6 portions. I usually just eat the pie on its own, but you could have a salad or some green vegetable with it.  And those of you who wish to add extra flavour (which can mean extra calories) then a sprinkle of low fat cheddar cheese over the top of this pie is delicious!

Anyway, before I start to crave cheese, I better get on with the recipe.

Ingredients

• 450g extra lean steak mince
• 1 large onion (cubed)
• 1 large carrot (sliced and halved)
• 3 large sweet potatoes (chopped)
• 4 medium white potatoes (chopped)
• few teaspoons of gravy granules to thicken.
• black pepper for seasoning, use salt only if you don’t use gravy granules.
• 50g low fat cheese (grated) NOTE – this is an optional extra.

Method

1. Place all the chopped potatoes in a large pot, cover with water and boil for 20 mins.
2. Meanwhile spray the base of a large frying pan with low calorie cooking spray and heat.
3. Fry onion for a few minutes and then add extra lean steak mince, fry until meat is sealed.
4. Now add the carrot and fry for a further 2-3 minutes, season with pepper.
5. Cover mince, onion and carrot with water, place a lid on the pan, and simmer for 6 mins.
6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees
7. Now use some gravy granules to thicken remaining liquid in the frying pan (use as little as possible).
8. Spoon mixture into medium sized pyrex dish.
9. Drain and mash potatoes.
10. Top the mixture in the pyrex dish with an even layer of potato and smooth out with a fork.
11. If using low fat cheese sprinkle over the pie now.
12. Place pyrex dish into the oven (lid off) and bake for 20-30 min or until top begins to brown.

Now serve and enjoy.  Remember, you should get 5 good portions from this, so don’t be greedy like Andrew

Nutritional Information (per single portion – approx 340g – without cheese)

Please note the large amount of carbs in this portion.  This meal in not advised to be eaten late in the evening ie after 18:00 unless you plan to burn it off.  If you are usually inactive in the evening and you’re trying to lose body fat, I would recommend limiting carb intake to fibrous carbs only.  Eg green leafy or non-starchy vegetables.  Although the calories within the portion are low, carbs are only used for energy, so when no energy is needed, they are stored as fat.  Protein and essential fats are used in other bodily functions before the body will store them.  Please bare this in mind when deciding on your evening meal.

Regards

Marianne