Italian Cottage Pie

My husband just loves casseroles and I finally got around to converting my Cottage Pie recipe of old to make it acceptable for my low-carb eating program.  And since I love mixing meats in casseroles, I decided to do this tonight with both beef and a little of my homemade Italian Sausage in it:  .   You can use all beef if you prefer, but I think it would be too rich using all Italian Sausage, personally. This super easy dish is delicious and suitable for Atkins Induction, unlike its higher-carb cousin, made with real potatoes.  I decided to save some carbs and calories by not pureeing the cauliflower with butter and cream as I usually do.  I just pressed it with a fork.  Of course, you can mash the cauliflower if you prefer, but be sure to add in the nutritional info for the cream and butter if you do, as I have NOT included that in the nutritional info below.

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INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. lean ground beef

8 oz. Italian sausage, removed from casings  (I use homemade linked above)

1 c. green bell pepper, cut in ½” dice

2 oz. onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1  14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes  (no salt added)

Dash salt

¼ tsp. black pepper

1/4 tsp. oregano, dried leaves (or 1 tsp. fresh, chopped fine)

2 c. steamed cauliflower (about 1/2 medium head)

8 oz. grated Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Steam, boil or microwave the cauliflower until tender.  While that is cooking, in a 10″ skillet over medium-high heat, brown the crumbled ground beef and Italian sausage until no longer pink.  Add onion and green pepper and saute together with meat until onion is translucent.  Add tomatoes, garlic, salt, pepper and oregano.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Simmer meat mixture until the tomatoes are beginning to fall apart and most of the liquid has been absorbed.  All the vegetables will be fully done in the mixture at this point. Now drain any liquid off the cauliflower and lightly mash lightly with a fork (or puree with butter and cream).  Spread cauliflower over the meat mixture.  Top with grated Cheddar and bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until cheese is thoroughly melted.    Serve with your favorite salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 servings, each contains:

468 calories

31.9 g  fat

8.42 g  carbs, 2.18 g  fiber, 6.24 g  NET CARBS

35 g  protein

726 mg sodium