I have nothing but good things to say about this recipe. This is the best way I've prepared ground beef in a long time; it could very well be the best ever! As suggested in the other reviews I added some corn, carrots, and frozen peas, then created a cheddar-topped sheppard's pie. My brother and I were in heaven; he even got up the next morning and ate the leftovers before I could, and this is a guy who won't ever touch leftover ANYTHING! So if you've just found this recipe and are reading this review, here's my advice: TRY IT TRY IT TRY IT!!! You'll be amazed! :)

I've been using AllRecipes.com for years, but this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a review. We LOVED this recipe! Kat's description planted the idea of shepherd's pie in my mind, so that's what I used the stew as a base for. I did take some other reviewers' suggestion and reduced the black pepper by 1/3, but that is the only change I made. I didn't simmer quite as long as the recipe calls for the second time. I made the stew in a large cast-iron skillet. When it was nearly done, I added a layer of sliced carrots to the top, then a thick layer of mashed potatoes to which I mad mixed in a little milk, butter, garlic powder, salt, and coarse pepper over that. I baked this, in the skillet, in the oven at 375 degrees for 30 minutes or so then added some shredded sharp cheddar to the top and baked another 15 minutes. The gravy baked up through the potatoes, which were a nice golden brown...it was SOOOO good! My husband hates leftovers, but the next day I warmed it up and made some homemade sweet cornbread to go with it, and he was very happy. I'm going to make up a big batch to freeze in smaller portions for easy quick dinners after work. I would like to see more family recipes from Kat!

I made a Sheppard's Pie out of this recipe. I tweaked it by adding some frozen peas and chopped carrots - then covering the meat mixture with garlic smashed potatoes. I adjusted the seasonings and only added 12 tspn of pepper and curry. The result was amazing. Mmm...

This is absolutely DELICIOUS!!!! I've mixed in noodles or topped with mashed potatoes or served it in bread bowls - absolutely delicious! Friends take one bite and IMMEDIATELY ask for the recipe. (The only thing I've changed is less black pepper - even 1 Tbs of it still gives it a nice kick.)

This is a really flavorful stew. It is very much like spicy sloppy joes or a sweet chili. My family enjoyed it, but we had to eat it with lots of bread or crackers to tame the pepper down! Next time, we'll use just 1 Tbsp of pepper, and keep everything else the same. Many of the recipes I find published are pretty shy about using spices, and I almost always need to add some more oomph -- it's kind of refreshing to find one where I need to back off some!

Real tasty, I think the ketchup is the key BUT does it need to be cooked for so long? Who knows? I cooked it for about half an hour, mixed some broccoli sprigs with curly pasta as the pasta was almost cooked and was eating and ENJOYING 45 mins from the start. Luvly grub. :o)

Made this for my honorary kiwi and we both loved it! After reading the reviews, I used less pepper and after accidentally mis-reading the recipe, I used a tablespoon of garlic powder (!) and it was still great. I substituted tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes for the ketchup, as well. This is a very flavorful soup/stew that was reminicent of a beanless chili, maybe. Delicious. Next time I'll double the recipe! Thanks for posting, Kat!

This is an excellent recipe and can be used many different ways. I did reduce the amount of pepper, 2 tsps.and added a small amount of cayenne since so many had suggested using less, and 3 T. seemed way to much for the average taste and it was still very spicy. I also used 1/2 T. curry and only one ex-large onion. I didn't have teriyaki so used worchestershire which worked and fixed it as a shepards pie by topping with mashed potatoes and shredded cheddar, excellent. Will make many more times and I found it to still be quite spicy even with these changes.

Thank you for such an awesome recipe. When I make it I double it and freeze half. Had no teriyaki sauce so put in Worchestire (sp?) instead. Followed the comments from others and used it for sheperd's pie, added some veggies and had it on pasta, just plain on toasted garlic bread. I freeze it in large ziplock bags and throw it in the cooler for camping. Very adaptable!

The recipe was good and I followed a few suggestions like putting veges in and making it into a shepards pie, but I think the ketchup was too much flavour for me. Next time I think I'll put in half tomato sauce and half ketchup.