Slow Cooker Chili Shepard's Pie

First of all everyone needs one of these:

A garlic press!

I've had one, but it was a stupid one that I found at a thrift store and I never used it because it didn't work well. I was inspired to get a new one after watching Buddy, the cake boss guy, on his new cooking show. He used his garlic press a lot. It looked a lot quicker and simpler than having to chop the garlic like I've been doing. I've also noticed that is squeezes the juices too, meaning more flavor! Plus mine has this little tool that pokes all the holes out so it's easy to clean. I probably use twice as much garlic as I used to now that it's so much easier to throw a clove in the press.



This recipe was originally vegetarian, but I decided to add ground beef because we've had quite a few low or no meat meals lately and Kalvin starts to miss the meat. I've actually never made a Shepard's pie until today, I guess it never really appealed to me much. The slow cooker today was awesome though because we could eat dinner at 6:30 on the dot, with no evening preparation. It ended up being a good meal and Kalvin appreciated the beef.

Slow Cooker Chili Shepard's Pie

                                                                                        

A Year of Slow Cooking

1 lb Ground beef, browned and drained

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

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

1 (16-ounce) package frozen corn

1 cup fresh spinach chopped

5-6 leaves fresh basil

1 small onion, diced

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

cayenne

Italian seasoning

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

2 cups mashed potatoes (leftover, fresh, from a box-- your choice!) -I used   "fake " potatoes from a box woo hoo.

1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika - I don't have smoked paprika so I just used regular

The Directions.

Brown the ground beef with onion and garlic. Drain and set aside.

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

Make mashed potatoes. add in some Italian seasoning, cayenne, and chili powder. Also taste to check the salt and pepper levels

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 cheese on top of the beef and bean mixture

At the start of cooking

Done