This is a real favourite with my 22 month old DD, so I thought I'd share it with you all.
For the Topping
1 med Butternut Squash
Equivalent weight/amount of 'old' potatoes
Knob of butter (heart of gold - arf arf)
Splash of milk
For the Filling
500g of lean beef / lamb mince
1 med onion, diced.
2 lge carrots, peeled and diced
1/2 pint of stock (stock cube and water is fine)
1/2 cup of frozen peas
1/2 cup of frozen sweetcorn
Enough sunflower oil to fry mince (1 tablespoon, ish)
Method...
Peel and chop the potatoes and butternut squash (remove the seeds from the squash) into 1 - 2 in cubes. Boil in a saucepan with water until soft (around 20 mins). Once cooked, drain and mash the spuds and squash together with the butter and the milk, until smooth. You can season if preferred, I don't because I'm a bit anal about the salt content what with the stock and all, it's really tasty without seasoning anyway.
Whilst the spuds & squash are cooking, peel and dice the onion and carrots. Fry the onions in a smidge of oil until soft and transparent (but not brown), stirring to avoid too much colour. Add the mince and cook until browned. Then add the carrot and stock and cook until the majority of the liquid has disappeared.
My DD doesn't like the texture of mince so I pop the meat mixture plus half of the peas and sweetcorn into my food processor/blender thingy and blend to a chunky paste to make it smoother for her. I then add the rest of the peas and sweetcorn for a bit of chunky interest to the blended mixture. But this is purely a personal taste issue. If you don't want to blend it up then just add all of the peas and sweetcorn to the meat mixture when you put it into the casserole dish / ramekins.
Put the meat mixture into a casserole dish or medium ramekins for individual portions. Level off the surface and top with the mash, spread to cover. Cook in preheated oven for 180c or 350f (Gas mark 4) for 20 - 30 mins or until golden on top. Leave to cool and freeze.
It freezes and reheats really well (I just nuke it in the micro and it's fine), plus it's a great way of 'smuggling' veggies into toddlers !