Vegetables!

Lately I've been in a rut with dinner ideas so I decided to buy some lamb with this month's Co-Op order.
The Oklahoma Food Co-Op is all online and once a month we place orders with farmers from all over the state and then pick it all up on the 3rd Thursday of the month at a local church. Only buying meat once a month took some getting used to but the difference in quality is amazing and now we don't buy supermarket meat because it doesn't taste nearly as good.
Anyway. The lamb. I had some leftover potatoes and did a search on All Recipes for "ground lamb" and "potatoes" and Shepherd's Pie came up. But parsnips and rutabaga were in the recipe. Who the hell eats those?!  What the hey, I went for it.  Wal-Mart had parsnips & rutabaga so apparently lots of people enjoy those odd vegetables. After peeling, dicing, & steaming them turns out they're incredibly tasty. Dinner was amazing! I want more recipes for parsnips & rutabaga! 
Here it is. You should try it out. 

I skipped the cheese. And used a 9x12 baking dish. 

And doubled the sage/thyme/salt/pepper/garlic.

Shepherd's Pie

1 stalk celery, chopped 3 carrots, peeled and chopped 1 parsnip, peeled and diced 1 small rutabaga, chopped 1/4 cup frozen green peas 1 pound ground lamb 1 onion, chopped 1 clove garlic, chopped

1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 1 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme 1/4 teaspoon dried sage 1/2 cup milk, or as needed 3 cups prepared mashed potatoes 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2.Place the celery, carrots, parsnip, rutabaga, and peas into a large saucepan and fill with 1 inch of water. Bring to a boil, cover, and steam for 15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

3.Meanwhile, crumble the ground lamb into a large skillet set over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; cook and stir until lamb is no longer pink. Drain off any grease. Stir in the steamed vegetables and tomato sauce. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and sage. Transfer everything to a greased 7x11 inch baking dish.

4.Mix enough milk into the mashed potatoes to make them spreadable. Spread them over the top of the casserole and garnish with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.

5.Bake for 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is browned and the casserole is heated through.

Obligatory pictures. 

Hank was very sad because I wasn't holding him. 

We didn't realize Chopsley was trying to soothe him. 

I think it's very sweet. 

They like each other.

Here's a happy Hank.

He loves the junk drawer & dinosaur pajamas.