St. Patrick's Day shepherd pie

If you can't tell from my complexion and my hair, I am Irish. Oh sure, there are a few other strange things thrown in there, like Czech and maybe some German but there are quite a few Irish good-for-nothings in my ancestoral line.

I love the story my grandma tells about my great-great grandmother who came over to the United States from Tipperary on a boat. Her name was Alice Ryan and it sounds like she was a feisty one. She divorced a husband in the late 1800's when it just wasn't really cool to do that and not only did she divorce him, she hit him on the head with a cast iron skillet. I don't know if he had brain damage afterward. She must have really been mad at that man, and I am sure all the women out there can sympathize at some point or another. I went through a stage when I was married to my ex-husband where I threw dishes at him on a regular basis. But then I went to dish-thowers anonymous and broke the family cycle and Kevin has only had one dish thrown at him in the six years we have been together. Yes, I had a little set-back that day. Because I love that story and because I identify with that crazy great-great-grandmother, I begged my grandma to let me have the trunk Crazy Alice brought over from Ireland. It now sits proudly in our downstairs bedroom and is so large I could easily stuff a body in there. When my mom and I moved it, we thought it was funny when the neighbors were outside to hit the trunk several times and tell the "person" in there to "shut-up!" The apple probably doesn't fall far from the tree when it comes to crazy.

Yeah, yeah, I am getting to the food part! I made an easy shepherd's pie and irish soda bread in honor of Crazy Alice and St. Patrick's day. Here is a really simple way to make shepherd's pie. Start with a layer of vegetables in a pie pan or casserole dish.Brown hamburgers and onions in a skillet and that is your next layer. Pour a couple of cups of brown gravy on top of your hamburger.The next layer is a couple of cups of garlic mashed potatos. The last layer is cheese.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes. Have a Guiness or six while you are waiting.

Kevin and Miss Chocoholic really liked this dish, although I saw Miss Chocoholic picking through her vegetables and sliding some of them in the garbage can. It was really good microwaved the next day, too.

I'll leave you tonight with an Irish blessing:

"May those who love us, love us; and those who don't love us, may God turn their hearts; and if He doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping."

Happy St. Patrick's day!