Meat Pie

1 lb. lean ground beef
2 very large potatoes
1 can French onion soup
1 T. Worcestershire sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 c. grated cheddar cheese

Brown meat and drain.  Add soup, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper.  Simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed.

Meanwhile, boil potatoes until tender; drain and mash.  Put the meat in a casserole dish and cover the meat with potatoes.  Top with cheddar cheese.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

From whence it came:  This recipe was published in a church cookbook by my really good cook of a sister-in-law, Geralene.  I've shared a few of her other yum-e recipes and this one is a winner, too!

Why it's blogable:  This is a kid friendly recipe!  The Spy Who Loves Me likes this as well, but he's just a big kid so that's no surprise.  My kids have always liked this recipe and now that they're cool teenagers they still do.  My teen daughter asked me to make this the other night and I didn't have all the ingredients on hand so I got my act together and made it tonight.  And she was happy.  Until her pesky brother started bugging her at dinner.  Then she wasn't happy.  Then she was ticked off.  And cranky.  So she shot him her very best stink eye, and he just laughed.  And then she was even more ticked off.  Are you folks getting a picture of our dinner atmosphere tonight?  It wasn't a Norman Rockwell moment, that's for sure.  But the good news is that we ate together as a family.  And we narrowly avoided a food fight!  I'm pretty proud of us!

Getting back to the recipe:  Sometimes I double the recipe because this is good leftover.  Also, sometimes I use dry onion soup instead of the canned stuff.  If you use the dry mix, just add it to two pounds of ground beef along with two cups of water, and cook it until most of the water cooks off.  Just let it simmer and the water will magically disappear.  If you're in a hurry you can use instant mashed potatoes.  I've done that sometimes, but it is better if you use real ones.  And speaking of the potatoes, I always add a little bit of evaporated milk and butter to make them creamy and flavorful.  Just add enough to get the consistency you like. When I made this tonight I didn't double the recipe but I used six medium potatoes.  We like lots of potatoes in our pie.  You can do it however you think is best.  There is no right or wrong way to make this recipe.  Try it out and you'll see what I mean.

Hope you enjoy stirring it up!