It’s World Tour Wednesday, and we rearranged our countries a bit to do Ireland since today is March 17th!
This food doesn’t photograph the prettiest, but it was Gus’s favorite meal so far! We had Shepherd’s Pie and Irish Apple Cake with vanilla ice cream. I used to make Shepherd’s Pie more often, but we honestly haven’t had it in a few years (not sure why), so this was fun to have again. Gus is a meat and potatoes guy, and apple pie is his favorite, so this meal was pretty perfect to him.
We ate it on his Nanny’s china in her honor tonight. I know that would make her happy. Her name was Patricia Catherine Branagan…just about the prettiest Irish 
name I think you could have! Her grandfather, Patrick Branagan, is the one who immigrated to the US from Dublin, Ireland 
. We hope that one day we can go to see exactly where they lived.
This meal was a fun way to celebrate St Patrick’s Day as we discussed the history of his life and how that side of Gus’s family made it to America. Overall, we gave it a:
9/10
For my Shepherd’s Pie, I kind of use my own recipe. I start with some ground beef (about 1.5 pounds), chopped onions, garlic, salt, and pepper in a pan. Cook until it’s done and then drain the grease. I then add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce and about a cup of beef broth and stir well.
Next, I sprinkle 2 packets of brown gravy mix on the top and stir. As it cooks in the oven, it will make a nice brown gravy.
Layer your beef mixture in the bottom of a 9×13 pan. Then put a bag of frozen mixed veggies on top of that. Next, sprinkle a thin layer of cheddar cheese on top. Finally, add your layer of mashed potatoes to the very top. Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes or until potatoes are a little brown.
For dessert, we had a delicious Irish Apple Cake! This was very easy and delicious. It is full of apples and not a huge amount of flour in it, so I felt that this particular recipe was a little healthier than most apple cakes that are heavier on the cake portion. I used the recipe at food.com seen here:
https://www.food.com/recipe/ultimate-irish-apple-cake-138983
Have a great week!
The Gephardts 
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