Adapted from MeatlessMonday.com. Sweet potato shepherd’s pie. Downloaded from the web on Feb. 19, 2011.

My Comment: The Meatless Monday website was a new find for me — and it is proving to be invaluable! Even though we, or at least I, am committed to a vegetarian diet, the idea of making one night a week “meatless” is appealing on many levels.

Shepherd’s Pie is one of Adrien’s childhood favorites — I won’t tell you what rude name WE gave it in my high school — so I humor him from time to time with some variation on it. With 3 grams of fat and 7 grams of fiber, this is a more healthy alternative that even I enjoyed.

Ingredients

1 pound sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon butter
6 small red potatoes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup sliced onion
1 cup fresh shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/2 cups water
1 cup red wine
1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce
5 tablespoons flour
2 portobello mushroom caps, cut into bite-size pieces
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoon dried sage
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 carrot, chopped

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bring two saucepans of water to a boil. Add red potatoes to one and sweet potatoes to the other. Cook until tender, 10-15 minutes. Drain and set aside. Mash the sweet potatoes with butter, adjusting flavor with salt and pepper. Set mashed sweet potatoes aside.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over low heat. Add onion slices and shiitake mushrooms, cover, and let the mushrooms sweat for about 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour in the water, wine and tamari, and bring to a boil. Whisk in flour, stirring until there are no lumps. Allow to simmer.

3. Add portobello pieces, and saute briefly until mushrooms are browned on the outside. Add the carrots, celery and potatoes. Simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with thyme and sage. Pour the mixture into a 9-inch glass pie dish. Cover with mashed sweet potatoes.

4. Bake for 40 minutes in the preheated oven, until potatoes are golden brown.

Servings = 8. Weight Watcher Points = 6.