Paleo Shepherd's Pie

I've been wanting to try this recipe for quite some time. It's a recipe from our friend, Paleo Steve, and it's just wonderful, tasty comfort food! It was a recipe from his September '09 blog post. (I've included his site on my list of links). Comfort was just what I needed after today's "fractured crippler" WOD. This was a killer Monday, and a hearty, comforting shepherd's pie is a great way to kick off a paleo-strong week! Thanks for the recipe, Steve! It's another great one!

Yum! :-)

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs. Ground turkey or ground beef
4 Parsnips - pealed and grated
1 Zucchini - sliced
1/2 C mushrooms - sliced
1/2 C Red Onion, chopped
1/2 C Cilantro, chopped
1 stalk Celery, sliced
1 Slice Bacon
8 egg whites
1 Tbl Olive Oil
1 tsp. Onion powder
1 tsp. Celery Salt or celtic grey salt
1 T Italian Seasoning

Preheat oven to 450F.
Peal and grate the parsnips. Add onion powder, pepper, olive oil and set aside.
Slowly cook the bacon slice, remove bacon strip and leave bacon fat in the pan.
Pan fry the onions, ground turkey, with Italian Seasoning, do not over cook. We're gonna cook it some more.
Add zucchini, mushrooms, and celery and saute in the bacon fat. Combine with meat ingredients and mix thoroughly. Let cool down a couple minutes.

Mix 4 egg whites with the cilantro and mix into the meat & veggies. Take the other 4 egg whites and mix with parsnips.
Spray the bottom of a baking pan with olive oil. Add the meat and veggies, then cover with the parsnip mixture.
(Don't smooth the tops of the parsnips too much, it browns better if you don't).
Bake for 25 minutes or until top start to brown, and dish bubbles. Sprinkle with the chopped bacon.

Steve divided this into 4, 5 block portions... I divided it into 6, 3 block servings. Either way... It's Paleo-zoned well!

Hope you enjoy! It's delish....