Farmer's Pie

Hey there!  Hope you had a great weekend.  I did, but I could use some more sleep.  I really do not like waking up when it is still dark outside.  So I am running about 30mins late this morning . . .

So you may remember that the Husband and I are trying to eat according to the Paleo Diet.  It is going okay.  Actually we are really good during the week, but the weekend is pretty hard.  We're still on the "transition" or "level 1" stage.  We won't ever get past that since it allows us to have 3 cheat meals.  I had sushi last week . . . yum!

But this "diet" has given me a reason to look up new recipes in new places.  I've been learning a lot and seeing a bunch of new stuff.  Lots of stuff doesn't look appetizing to me (beef heart skewers anyone?) and some stuff doesn't turn out so good.  But this recipes for Farmer's Pie came out great, and it is easy to make "Paleo" or "Non-Paleo".  The recipe below is for the Paleo version, but if you eat like a normal person, sub in potatoes for cauliflower!!

Farmer's Pie
Adapted from Paleo Comfort Foods

Ingredients:
1 T olive oil
3-4   cloves fresh garlic, chopped
2  pounds ground turkey (or lean ground beef)
1 C onions chopped
2  cups carrots, peeled and sliced
1  T fresh rosemary, chopped fine
2  tsp dried thyme
1  small can (6 ounces) tomato paste
2  T balsamic vinegar
2  T Worcestershire sauce
4-6 C mashed cauliflower (or mashed potatoes)
  **for mashed cauliflower - cut cauliflower into florets and follow mashed potato recipe or see here

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat a large skillet over medium/medium-high heat. Add the 1 tablespoon of the oil and once hot add in the ground beef.  Add garlic. Cook until the meat is browned.

Remove the meat mixture from the pan, then add the onions, carrots, rosemary, and thyme to the pan. Cook until onions are translucent and carrots softened.

Add the meat mixture back into the pan, and stir in the tomato paste, balsamic, and Worcestershire and bring to a simmer. Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated off (especially if your tomatoes are really juicy).
Pour meat/vegetable mixture into a 9″ x 13″ baking pan, and with a rubber spatula spread a layer of the Mashed Cauliflower over the top, forming a solid layer of the mash.  Bake for 20 minutes or until the mashed cauliflower is slightly browned on top.  (**AFC note: my cauliflower never browned.  Or maybe it did just a little, but I am so used to topping mashed potatoes with cheese on Shepherd's Pie, that I am too used to bubbling browning cheese on top of potatoes to notice a little browned cauliflower . . . yum, cheese!)

P.S. I'm linking up to the blog hop at Serenity Now!