Slow Cooker Vegetarian Chili Shepherd's Pie

 

I got an email yesterday from Donna who asked if I had a recipe that used leftover chili and it dawned on me that I hadn't ever posted the vegetarian chili shepherd's pie I included in the second book.

This recipe first has you make some chili, but if you made 3 crockpots-worth of chili for Father's Day weekend, definitely feel free to use that as the filling!

The Ingredients.

serves 6

 

1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed

don't want to use canned beans? Here's how to cook dried beans.

 

1 (16-ounce) package frozen corn

1 small onion, diced

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups mashed potatoes (leftover, fresh, from a box-- your choice!)

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

The Directions.

Use a 4-quart slow cooker. Drain and rinse the beans, and add to the crockpot. Add corn and diced onion. Pour in the tomato sauce, and add cumin, salt, pepper. Stir well to combine. Sprinkle the shredded cheese evenly over the top.

Squish the 2 cups of mashed potatoes down on your chili with the back of a wooden spoon. Now dust with the smoked paprika.

Cover and cook on low for 5-6 hours, or on high for 3-4. Uncover the slow cooker near serving time and let cook uncovered on high for 20-30 minutes to cook away any collected condensation. The potatoes will brown on top a tiny bit and begin to pull from the sides.

The Verdict.

This is a fantastic was to either use up already-made chili, or clean out your pantry! The touch of smoked paprika at the end is my favorite part, it gives a bit of something special to the mashed potatoes. If you'd like a traditional shepherd's pie (well, sort of traditional. you'd need to use ground lamb to make it really truly traditional), here's a recipe for you.

I'm getting an awful lot of questions about the sponsored posts. No, I will not do only sponsored posts from now on. The timing with the Coca-Cola event and the Philadelphia cream cheese posts was/is unfortunate--and I can see how it would look that way. I spend a lot of time on the internet, and need to compensate myself for the time spent. 

I also need to sell books, or the publishers will not continue to allow me to write for them. It's just how it all works. I'm immensely fortunate I have the opportunity to work from home while being full-time with my children. But I can't ignore the bills or the mortgage, and it isn't fair to me to work for free.

I've put the recap post for Coca-Cola over on the Totally Together website because I needed to put up a cream cheese post here yesterday (only one more of those to go!)--- the most valuable information I learned at the Coke event was that women need to help women.

I’m in the midst of a new site redesign (nothing will change, but it will all be different. don’t freak out.) and would like to start an everyone-is-included blog/website roll. If you have a site that you’d like included and you’re a REAL person and not some spam monster, please email me at contact@stephanieodea.com (I’m the contact!) with the subject line: blogroll and I’ll get you on the list. This roll will constantly be updated—it’s time we reach out and support one another.

Thank you for being so wonderful. Have a fantastic day.