Mushroom Beef Pie

I will leave out how many recipes I looked at tonight to try and make something different. how I was missing some 'key' ingredient or how I knew someone would complain or just how I was like, "What were they thinking?" What do I do when I come to that point in the road? I make up a recipe!

The other day we went to Aldi's and I scored a container of white mushrooms and a container of baby portabella mushrooms. I thought I'd use them in a soup I wanted to make. Well, I decided to use them to make the following recipe. Everybody loved it. Every kid cleaned their plate. Very rarely does every body in this house like the same meal enough to finish it all. For that alone, this is a total keeper. It is easy, usually have items on hand, and easy to change-up a but with new flavors. It was even awesome leftover for lunch today!

Ingredients

• 1 to 1.5 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 (8 ounce) container white mushrooms, sliced
• 1 (8 ounce) container baby portabella mushrooms, sliced 
• 2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup 
• salt and pepper to taste
• 6-7 servings of instant mashed potatoes*

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In a large skillet, cook ground beef until brown over medium-high heat. 
3. Stir in mushrooms, mushroom soup, and salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat until bubbly and mushrooms are tender. Stir to prevent sticking.
4. While meat mixture is cooking, prepare instant potatoes.
5. Pour meat & mushroom mixture into prepared baking dish and cover with mashed potatoes.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until potatoes are golden and beef mixture is hot and bubbly.
7. Optional: in last few minutes, top with cheese. We used Provolone slices.

* I used Potato Buds and followed directions for 6-7 servings. You can make any brand and make it anyway you want/like. You can also make fresh mashed but I just didnt have the time today.