Turning leftovers into something special

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What can you do with leftover Shepard's pie?

Last night for dinner I made a beautiful Shepard's pie. Well, technically, It was a "cottage pie" because it was made with ground beef as opposed to ground lamb but you get the idea ;) 

I made the mistake of using the whole pound of ground beef, which produced a 4 serving pie. Which is wayyy more than my husband and I could eat. Needless to say, there was a bunch leftover after we were both full and happy. I hate throwing out leftovers so i racked my brain thinking of something  I could make that would be special and delicious. Then it dawned on me- SOUP! My grandma used to make me this soup that she referred to as "hamburger helper soup" she used hamburger helper seasoning, ground beef, a can of tomatoes, frozen vegetables, and noodles and somehow turned it into this incredible soup that I am just NUTS about. So-I am giving the inspiration credit for this soup to her.

Now, I did not use hamburger helper seasoning, but I did start with some things that were in my pantry. I literally used 5 ingredients to turn the pie into a hearty, delicious soup:

3 cups vegetable stock

1 can whole peeled tomatoes

creole seasoning

tomato pasta sauce

and quinoa 

I took out the biggest stock pot I have (I feel like soups come out better in a big stock pot), and dumped the can of whole peeled tomatoes in, juices and all. To make it even juicier, I took a potato masher and mashed the tomatoes until they were in bite sized pieces and smelled heavenly. Next-the shepard's pie. I covered the pie in gorgeous mashed potatoes mixed with butter, sour cream, and milk so they were super creamy, and went perfectly with the beef mixture. I use large wooden spoons for everything, so I took a giant spoonful of the mashed potatoes and the rest of the remaining beef mixture and added it to the stock pot with 3 cups of vegetable stock. I used the potatoes to thicken the soup up a little, and it worked like a charm! I think soups also come out great when they are cooked slowly, so I simmered that mixture for about an hour. When I came back to it, it was lacking a little something, and I have been obsessed with quinoa lately so I soaked some quinoa for about a half hour before adding it to the soup. ALWAYS soak your quinoa before you cook it, unless you buy the pre-soaked. When I lived in Buffalo we had a Wegman's and you can buy literally anything in bulk so I bought a few pounds of quinoa before we moved- I am so glad I did because I have used it a bunch! 

It still was lacking something, and I noticed that it was not tomato-y enough for me. So I thought to myself-pasta sauce! I added probably around a 1/4 cup of sauce and stirred it in. Getting there, but still needing something more. Before my husband left for boot camp he made this incredible creole seasoning that I have used in chicken, shrimp, beef, soups...it kicks anything up a notch. I didn't even measure it out. I think I used about 2 capfuls which would add up to around 2 or 3 tablespoons. Honestly though, I truly feel like you can never have enough spice!! I let it simmer for about another half hour on LOW. Shew, let me tell you-that pasta sauce really gave it a really, delicious tomato flavor. My husband loves the taste of tomato and ground beef together so I knew he would be a happy camper, and guess what? He LOVED it. I don't think I have ever seen him devour a soup so fast. So he's happy, I'm happy, and now I have a new recipe for an awesome soup using leftovers :) 

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