This recipe is fast and easy to prepare, especially if you use leftovers from your holiday dinners. Shepherd’s Pie is often made using ground beef, but it is an especially delicious way to use up leftover roast. You can also use leftover vegetables and top it with leftover mashed potatoes if you have them on hand.

If you don’t have leftover mashed potatoes, make mashed potatoes using 4 potatoes and your favorite recipe. I used my Garlic Mashed Potatoes Recipe ^[5] on top of the Shepherd’s Pie.

Using leftover gravy adds a special depth to this recipe. If you don’t have leftover gravy, you can make a fast and easy cheater gravy and use it instead.

Cheater Beef Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon sage
• 1/4 teaspoon thyme

Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a small pot.
2. Whisk while cooking over a medium-high flame until the gravy becomes thick and smooth.

You can use leftover vegetables if you have them available, if not use a one pound bag of mixed vegetables. I like corn, peas, carrots and green beans in my Shepherd’s Pie, but it is good with any number of vegetable combinations.

After you spread the mashed potatoes over the top, you can sprinkle cheddar cheese over the top. I chose to sprinkle parsley over the top instead so that my pie would be dairy-free.