Tastefully Tuesday - Shepherd's Slumgullion Stew

One night last week it was my turn to cook. However, I really didn't feel like trying to extinguish flames. Not to mention, Auntie is hovering like a lost spirit waiting to make an official appearance. Shepherd's pie seemed like a great choice since the oven hates me much, much less than the stove top.

The fireman offered to boil the potatoes, an act for which I was extremely grateful. Except I let them go too long, didn't drain them well enough, and then added too much butter and milk. Being slightly PMSy I let my creative side take over.

Back when the Fireman and I were first married, one of our firefighter friends invited us over for dinner. He was cooking something my dad used to make called Slumgullion. Basically, it's a kind of meat and noodle stew with whatever you have in the freezer or pantry to add in as a filler.

I took stock of what was on hand and then, pulling ingredients from the freezer and pantry, Auntie and I created a dish that I'm confident will make a repeat appearance, most of them coinciding with the days preceding her official unwanted visits. Without further ado, here's today's Tastefully Tuesday recipe.

Shepherd's Slumgullion Stew

If this picture is still here, it means I didn't replace it with the actual picture of what we actually cooked.
This is a bowl of turkey leftover stew that looks disturbingly similar.

Ingredients:

• enough potatoes cut and diced to fill a medium'ish-sized saucepan
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 2 cups of milk
• 2 cans of veggies (low sodium!)
• 1 pound of steak, pre-cooked and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 entire container of Philadelphia Cream Cheese for Cooking, original flavor
• About half of a 16 ounce bag of store-brand cheddar cheese

Those last two items may sound pricey but if you live within reasonable distance to a Sharp Shopper grocery store, you can find a 1 pound package of TGIFriday's pre-cooked steak bites for $1.49, and the cream cheese for cooking in an entire array of flavors at 2 for $1.

Directions:

• Cook the potatoes about 20 minutes too long.
• Drain 3/4 of the water from the potatoes and mash about halfway.
• Add in the butter and milk, and finish mashing.
• Stir in the cream cheese.
• Add in the veggies, steak, cheese, and continue stirring until well-blended.

And that's it! The dish actually turns out more like potato soup loaded with vegetables, steak, and cheddar - which isn't a bad thing at all. I'd love to hear your cooking adventures in the comments section. Thanks for stopping by!