Meals for Monday - Recipe: Shepherds' Pie

Most of the time my cooking is rooted in using what I (we) have. Sure there are times where I go to the grocery store specifically to buy something for a recipe I want to make, but that's atypical (I'll save details about this story for another post). Anyways, my husband and I were having company, and I was planning on making Shepherds' Pie using the supplies we had on hand: vegetable orzo soup (instead of vegetable beef), ground goat burger (instead of ground beef/hamburger), homemade canned vegetables (instead of frozen veggies), and flavored instant potatoes (instead of homemade/real mashed potatoes). So, here's the directions for what I put together and our company has since requested (of course you can make the reverse substitutions that I mentioned above).
 
Shepherds' Pie

• 1 lb ground burger
• 1/2 onion, yellow, diced
• 1 can (10.75 oz) vegetable orzo soup
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• If I had vegetable beef soup, I would not have used this
• 1 tsp beef bouillon 
• 1 pint (or ~12-16oz) canned green beans, drained
• 1 pint (or ~12-16oz) canned carrots, drained
• 1 pint (or ~12-16oz) canned corn, drained
• 6 cups prepared mashed potatoes
• I used 2 pkgs, ~4oz/pkg, of flavored instant potatoes (I would have used 3 if I had them)
• I used less butter than what it called for since there is plenty of salt and fat in the meat-vegetable mixture and the cheese.
• Make homemade if that is what you prefer.
•  2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded

1. Fry burger in a large fry pan, and drain grease.
• I don't use any oil/fat to fry the burger. Sometimes I add water to make the burger cook faster.
2. Add onions
• If you want the onions to soften, add some water to the burger-onion mixture, cover, and steam for ~3 minutes.
3. Add soup, tomato paste, and bouillon, and stir.
• Again, if using vegetable beef soup, that latter two can be omitted.
4. Add vegetables and cook until the desired consistency is reached, adding water as needed.
5. While the meat-vegetable mixture is cooking, prepare mashed potatoes.
6. Divide meat-vegetable mixture in half, placing each half into a 2 qt casserole dish (or place all of it into a 9x13" glass dish).
7. Top each dish with prepared mashed potatoes
8. Cover each dish with cheese
9. Microwave covered on "hi" for 10 minutes
• Or bake in conventional/normal oven at 350F for 10 minutes, or until heated through
• Can also broil to make top crisp
• Or bake in a nuwave oven for 10 minutes on 60% Power, or until heated through
• NOTE: Uncovering the dish in oven or nuwave oven will result in a crispier top. You can uncover the dish in the microwave, but the top won't achieve the same crispiness as the other cooking options (and it's more prone to make a mess in your microwave).

Mmmm...I like Shepherds' Pie because it is super easy, nutritious, and delicious (unless you're one of those people who prefers not to have their food mixed).