Cooking Marathon

One of my favorite things to do is cook a bunch of meals in a day and freeze them for later. If you have a place like this nearby it's quite convenient and extra fun to do with a friend. I've also done it at home and have found that it costs about the same. Doing it at home makes for a long day and a lot of clean up, but on a day like today when I can reap the benefits, it makes it all worth it. Here's what the hubby and I had tonight:

Shepherd's Pie

Yield: 4 servings
Ingredients:
1 Tbs olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 lbs. ground meat
1 cup sliced mushrooms
2/3 cup hummus
3 Tbs butter
1 squash, julienne
1 zucchini, julienne
2 sweet potatoes

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place sweet potatoes in oven and cook for 35 minutes. Saute' onion in olive oil for 2-3 minutes over medium heat. Add meat and mushrooms, cooking until done. Stir in hummus and set aside. Saute' squash and zucchini in 1 tablespoon of butter until just tender. Take sweet potatoes, peel away skin, and mash with 2 tablespoons butter. Grease a 9 x 9-inch casserole dish with butter. Spread the meat mixture evenly in pan. Cover with vegetable mix. Spread mashed sweet potatoes over top. Cover and freeze. When ready to eat defrost and cook in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Uncover and let cook for 5 minutes.

It's not your typical Shepherd's Pie, so if it's usually not your thing, you just may like this dish after all. I got this recipe from Jordan Rubin. And when it's all said and done, whether it's your big day of cooking, or cleaning up after any meal, I like to use this to do one of my not so favorite things: the dishes.