I don’t normally make things up. I don’t think outside of the lines most of the time, and I’m NOT creative at all when it comes to cooking! I also don’t plan well, or don’t follow through on plans I did make. That said, when 5pm rolled around and I still didn’t know what I was making for dinner, I had to give it some thought.
At that same time, Daddy came home, and a friend (an HVAC installer) came to work on our heat pump. Whew! A little reprieve, anyway. So what to make for dinner? I knew I have tons of frozen hamburger out in the garage freezer. Okay, not TONS but I think I still have nearly 50# from the quarter-side of beef we bought a while back. 
What can I make in a pinch with frozen hamburger?
Well, the first thing that came to mind is Shepherd’s Pie. The trouble is that I’ve never MADE it, never HAD it, and never even SEEN it! I have seen recipes for it: LOTS of them! Seems to be popping up everywhere. The recipe itself, as I recalled, didn’t sound all that awesome, but everyone comments that it’s wonderful. Okay, I can do wonderful…. can’t I? HAHA Maybe with the RECIPE in front of me! Since the one computer we have up right now was occupied by two teens and an RPG game, I was out of luck there too. I decided to try to remember it as best I could. Here’s what I came up with (and I still haven’t checked a recipe to see if I even came close!):
Momma’s Farmhouse Pie
2# hamburger, browned with onion & garlic, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup celery
1 can green beans, drained
2 cans fat free cream of mushroom soup
1 cup milk w/ 3 tsp Beef Base (soft boullion) dissolved in it
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/4 tsp. poultry seasoning
1 tube of lowfat croissant rolls
Mix the milk with the soup. Add that and all the other ingredients except croissants to the hamburger and mix to combine. Take care with the soup mixture: I did NOT use all of it (remember I was playing with a made up recipe). I used about 2/3 of it. Just eyeball the mix so that you don’t make it soupy! Spread in a 9×13 baking dish and unroll the croissants to cover the top of it. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.
Makes 12 helpings.
NOTE: The amounts for the pepper and poultry seasoning were approximate! I just shook them into the soup mixture. 
This turned out SO GOOD that my kids and my husband all had seconds (and a couple had thirds and one hungry teenage boy had FOUR servings!) Everyone loved it and it was really easy to make! I’ll definitely be making this version again.
LOL! Well, the biggest difference is that Shepherd’s Pie is topped with mashed potatoes, not a dough-crust. And it typically has a beef stock & tomato based sauce, not cream soup.
It’s actually an English dish that’s made with lamb. (They call our American version, with the ground beef, “cottage pie”.) I’ve been told the really “authentic” English version, served in pubs, also has beer in it, but I’ve never confirmed that!
Here’s a recipe:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1727,134184-248192,00.html
Still, yours sounds like a winner, too.
With the exception of the veggies in the pie your version sounds great – my kids and I don’t care for our veggies to be mixed in like that.
As Jenni said; “Well, the biggest difference is that Shepherd’s Pie is topped with mashed potatoes, not a dough-crust. And it typically has a beef stock & tomato based sauce, not cream soup.”, that is the only difference between yours and the one I’ve had most often.
I have never made a Shepherds Pie before either I’ve just eaten it at church dinners.
Yep, I found that out! Dunno which recipe I had it confused with, but the one I was trying for is the one with biscuits on top. Anyway, it was DeeeLish!