Turkey Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie

Rachel Ray is a genius!  This was absolutely delicious!  It's the perfect way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers but not taste like Thanksgiving leftovers.  I saw this on her 30 minute meals show the week before Thanksgiving - I am glad I caught the episode since I haven't watched regularly in quite some time.  Anyway....we had plenty of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, not sweet potatoes but that's okay because we love sweet potatoes here.  This recipe made enough to fill us full tonight and probably again for lunch.  It's filling and satisfying and awesome!

2 tbsp. olive oil
2 lbs. ground turkey or chopped leftover turkey
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tsp. poultry seasoning
2 1/2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and grated
4 ribs celery, chopped
4 tbsp. butter, divided
2 tbsp. flour
2 c. turkey or chicken stock
worcestershire sauce
1 (10 oz) box frozen peas
1 very ripe banana
hot sauce
2 c. cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat oven to 425F.  In a deep skillet or a dutch oven heat 2 tablespoons oil over high heat.  Add meat and bread up with a wooden spoon, season with salt, pepper and poultry seasoning.  Place sweet potatoes in a pot, cover with water, cover pot, bring to a boil, add salt and cook 15 minutes until tender.  Add onions, carrots and celery to turkey.  Stir and cook for 5 minutes.  While vegetables are cooking, heat 2 tablespoons butter in a small pot over medium heat.  Add flour to melted butter and whisk 1 minutes.  Whisk in stock and season with salt, pepper and worcestershire.  Cook a few minutes to thicken and add to meat mixture.  Stir peas into meat and turn off heat.  Drain potatoes and return pot to heat.  Add remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and melt over medium heat.  Peel and dice banana and add potatoes to the pot.  Season the potatoes with salt and pepper and a few dashes of hot sauce.  Mash potatoes and banana to combine, adjust seasoning.  Top the meat mixture with potatoes.  Cover potatoes with cheese and place in the oven to melt cheese, about 5 minutes.

**Note:  I didn't use any salt, pepper or poultry seasoning - on purpose, the flavor was great!  I also didn't use the banana because we didn't have any.  Dustin and I decided that white cheddar cheese would be a good cheese to top with because of the color contrast and flavor.  Yellow cheddar cheese is pretty dang good though.