{"id":5263,"date":"2011-02-24T06:47:16","date_gmt":"2011-02-24T14:47:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/burgersdogspizza.com\/?p=5263"},"modified":"2011-02-24T06:47:16","modified_gmt":"2011-02-24T14:47:16","slug":"home-cookin-trader-joes-sheperds-pie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/?p=5263","title":{"rendered":"Home Cookin’ – Trader Joe’s Shepherd’s Pie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ok, it wasn’t “cooking”, but rather,”heating.”\u00a0\u00a0 We picked up a frozen Shepherd’s Pie at Trader Joe’s <\/a>last week, and Mrs. BurgerDogBoy had a hankering for it last night.\u00a0 It seemed like the perfect comfort food choice for a snowy night in Portland.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having lived in London, I’ve consumed my share of shepherd’s pie, good, bad, and indifferent.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to Wikipedia, the shepherd’s pie first came to light in the late 1700s, but known then as “cottage pie,” and was basically any leftover meat baked in a dish lined and covered with mashed potatoes.\u00a0 The first reference to the name “Shepherd’s” seems to have occurred about 100 years later, as a distinction from “cottage” containing any type of meat, but “Shepherd’s” being made with lamb.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The classic recipe calls for a layer of mixed vegetables in a casserole dish, topped with meat, and covered with the mash.\u00a0 The dish is baked first, then set under the broiler to crisp up the potatoes.\u00a0 On occasion, a pan gravy is mixed in with the vegetables and meat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trader Joe’s version is described on the box as “seasoned beef with gravy and vegetables, topped with creamy mashed potatoes.”\u00a0\u00a0 It can be heated in the microwave for 8-10 minutes, or conventional oven at 425 for 25-30 minutes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I chose the latter prep method, as I usually do, but after the required time, the dish was still frozen in the middle, so I finished it in the microwave.\u00a0 Taking the opposite tack might have been a better idea.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Like most eat and eat products, you should let this one rest for a few minutes after\u00a0 it is pulled from the oven.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dish was flavorful, and fairly ample for two servings with 170 calories per serving and 22 g carbs, 1.5 g saturated fat.\u00a0 That’s not really that unhealthy, if you watch what else you serve it with (we had more mixed vegetables).<\/strong><\/p>\n

We both liked it, and will have it again, I am sure.\u00a0 On those few occasions when I have made it from scratch at home, I have used ground beef, but using rough cuts of beef was a better idea.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do not have a photo of the finished product, straight from the oven.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Er,ah, camera trouble?\u00a0\u00a0 Nah,actually, I dropped it.\u00a0 It wasn’t pretty!\u00a0 7 second rule applied.<\/strong><\/p>\n

It would appear from the USDA plant number of the package, this product is made for Trader Joe’s by Huxtables of Vernon, CA<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Trader<\/a>
Trader Joe's Shepherd's Pie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ok, it wasn’t “cooking”, but rather,”heating.”\u00a0\u00a0 We picked up a frozen Shepherd’s Pie at Trader Joe’s last week, and Mrs. BurgerDogBoy had a hankering for it last night.\u00a0 It seemed like the perfect comfort food choice for a snowy night in Portland. Having lived in London, I’ve consumed my share of shepherd’s pie, good, bad,… Continue reading Home Cookin’ – Trader Joe’s Shepherd’s Pie<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,34,35],"tags":[770,1726,1759,2369,2966,3543,3549],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5263"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5263\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.peterstromquist.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}