Amy's Kitchen Shepherd's Pie

By: Tanya Taylor, PhD | Aug 15, 2005

Ahh, what would a bachelor do without a microwave, and something nice to stick in it? Well, go HUNGRY. And I was exactly that when I tried out the Amy's Kitchen version of the traditional classic, Sheperd's Pie. For anyone not familiar with this simple but amazing meal, I've always made it by taking left over beef stew, putting a big hunko cheese on top, laying on a good layer of mashed potatoes on top and then cramming the dish in the oven broiler to toast the taters to a golden, dreamy crispy delight. Enter the age of bachelordom, microwaves, and vegetarianism, and my recipe for shepherd's pie is pretty much a thing of the past. So when I saw that Amy's had a shepherd's pie, I became quite excited (and instantly hungry!). The instructions were quite easy to follow, a must for the average single male. A quick glance at the nutrition facts (you DO read those, guys, don't you??) revealed that it was not high in fat, (only 4 grams, NO sat-fat, and no cholesterol), only 160 calories, and even has 5 grams of fiber, 20% of the recommended daily allowance. Bonus!

Of course Amy's Kitchen products are made of "the good stuff" - organic veggies, soy proteins, no GMO's or weird bioengineered ingredients. Even nicer, all the ingredients in this were things I could pronounce: potatoes, tomatoes, beans, celery, etc. No tetra-hyrdoxy-falooble something or other that some chemist made in a lab in this stuff! Personally, I really appreciate the effort it takes in this modern world to make something in this way, and am willing to pay a little extra for it if it tastes good and is healthy. And it was more pricey than you would get in the 'Critter For Dinner' aisle, but not enough to make me not want to buy it again.

The portion size was adequate for a big guy like me for an afternoon snack, or as a main entree if you added some additional veggies on the side. Of course the mashed potatoes on the top didn't brown, but since I'm a microwave junkie, but I expected that. And they were a little bland in flavor when eaten by themselves, but the filling was really quite flavorful. I would have liked a little more juice, but that's a personal preference on my part; I like things in the juicy-to-squishy range. I had a second one of these that I melted a little soy-cheese on the top, and had it with salsa (condiment of the Gods), and it made the already-good even better!

Overall, this is a good thing. Sure, I wouldn't mind it being bigger, so there would be less steps for dinner, but I would definitely buy this one again.

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