Shepherd's Pie

1 lb ground beef
1 large onion diced
about 1-1 1/2 lb frozen mixed veg.
about 1 cup beef broth
1 tbs flour
mashed potatoes
parsley
cayenne pepper
1. Make mashed potatoes, enough to fill a 9in X 9in pan 1in deep
2. Brown ground beef and onion in skillet
3. Add flour and brown it
4. Beef broth and stir until thickened
5. Place veg mix in evenly bottom of 9X9 glass casserole dish
6. Place the meat gravy mixture on top of the veg mix
7. Cover veg/gravy with the mashed potatoes, filling the pan so that it is nearly level
8. Top with cayenne pepper if wanted
9. Place in oven at 400 for 30 min

Shepherd's Pie

1 lb ground beef

1 large onion diced

about 1-1 1/2 lb frozen mixed veg.

about 1 cup beef broth

1 tbs flour

mashed potatoes

parsley

cayenne pepper

1.  Make mashed potatoes, enough  to fill a 9in X 9in pan 1in deep

2.  Brown ground beef and onion in skillet

3.  Add flour and brown it

4.  Beef broth and stir until thickened

5.  Place veg mix in evenly bottom of 9X9 glass casserole dish

6.  Place the meat gravy mixture on top of the veg mix

7.  Cover veg/gravy with the mashed potatoes, filling the pan so that it is nearly level

8. Top with cayenne pepper if wanted

9.  Place in oven at 400 for 30 min

Shepherd's Pie

1 lb ground beef

1 large onion diced

about 1-1 1/2 lb frozen mixed veg.

about 1 cup beef broth

1 tbs flour

mashed potatoes

parsley

cayenne pepper

1.  Make mashed potatoes, enough  to fill a 9in X 9in pan 1in deep

2.  Brown ground beef and onion in skillet

3.  Add flour and brown it

4.  Beef broth and stir until thickened

5.  Place veg mix in evenly bottom of 9X9 glass casserole dish

6.  Place the meat gravy mixture on top of the veg mix

7.  Cover veg/gravy with the mashed potatoes, filling the pan so that it is nearly level

8. Top with cayenne pepper if wanted

9.  Place in oven at 400 for 30 min

Shepherd's Pie
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion diced
about 1-1 1/2 lb frozen mixed veg.
about 1 cup beef broth
1 tbs flour
mashed potatoes
parsley
cayenne pepper

 

 
1. Make mashed potatoes, enough to fill a 9in X 9in pan 1in deep
2. Brown ground beef and onion in skillet
3. Add flour and brown it
4. Beef broth and stir until thickened
5. Place veg mix in evenly bottom of 9X9 glass casserole dish
6. Place the meat gravy mixture on top of the veg mix
7. Cover veg/gravy with the mashed potatoes, filling the pan so that it is nearly level
8. Top with cayenne pepper if wanted
9. Place in oven at 400 for 30 min

Shepherd's Pie
1 lb ground beef
1 large onion diced
about 1-1 1/2 lb frozen mixed veg.
about 1 cup beef broth
1 tbs flour
mashed potatoes
parsley
cayenne pepper
1. Make mashed potatoes, enough to fill a 9in X 9in pan 1in deep
2. Brown ground beef and onion in skillet
3. Add flour and brown it
4. Beef broth and stir until thickened
5. Place veg mix in evenly bottom of 9X9 glass casserole dish
6. Place the meat gravy mixture on top of the veg mix
7. Cover veg/gravy with the mashed potatoes, filling the pan so that it is nearly level
8. Top with cayenne pepper and parsley if desired.
9. Place in oven at 400 for 30 min

Stuffed Zucchini

I know I said I would do a few reviews tonight (implied that they are the crockpot recipes) but then I made a new fabulous dinner tonight, and I have to write it down before I forget.

I was inspired by Food Network's Mario Batali's recipe, found here. But since I didn't follow that recipe, I will not call it a review. How could I? What I made was different.

First off it took my a little over an hour and half with prep and baking, so this is not a quick fix dinner.

• 2 medium to large zucchini's--mine were straight from my garden. One was a bit large, since we hadn't seen it. The other was a bit small, but only about a day before we would normally pick, but a bunny had found it, so it was a trim and use today one. 
• 4 links sausage--It's cheaper here to buy it in links than loose. Go figure. It equals around a pound of meat.
• Olive Oil
• Parsley
• Onion--I used a medium sized yellow
• Garlic
• 2 eggs
• 2 cans (14 oz each) diced tomatoes, drained
• bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Yes I know that seemed really high to me too.
2. Wash your zucchinis, trim ends, and slice lengthwise in half. Making 4 long pieces, that in a way almost remind me of garlic bread. Yes I am weird, why do you ask?
3. Using a spoon, scoop out the center of the zucchinis. Go for getting all the seed area out, and then a bit more, until it becomes more difficult. Do not scoop to the very edges. I scooped it into a bowl, keep it, you'll need it. 
4. Brown your sausage in a frying pan. When nicely brown, but before it hits caramelizing, remove from pan, onto a paper towel/napkin covered plate (to get rid of some of the grease. What is caramelizing? When you cook something in an oil or fat, and it starts to be that lovely brown, crispy, yummy tasting.
5. While sausage is cooking, dice your onion, and garlic or be lazy and by diced garlic in a jar, it's almost as good, and much less work when you have kids under foot, and get your zucchini centers from bowl into small pieces. You can chop them, or honestly mine were nice and fresh and I just pulled it apart by hand. 
6. Using same frying pan, is there is enough oil from sausage left in it great, if not add a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Heat oil then add onion, garlic, and parsley. My house kills plants, so I rarely have fresh on hand, so I used dried, and put in about a small handful of it. 
7. Cook for about 2 minutes. Then add in zucchini. Cook till tender, and some of the water has boiled off, about 10 minutes on medium heat. Lastly add the sausage back in and let cook another 2 minutes. 
8. In a large bowl put in the drained tomatoes. Then add in the sausage mix. Stir, and then come back an read the directions for a minute, to give it a chance to cool slightly. 
9.  Add your 2 eggs, salt, and pepper and stir in. The mixture can still be warm, but not so hot that the eggs cook on contact. 
10. Put your zucchini halves (or boats as my daughter called them) in a greased baking pan. Make sure the sides are taller then your zucchini. Salt and pepper your halves. Yes, that is doing salt and pepper twice. This is not a mistake or a repeat.
11. Fill with the egg/sausage mixture. Will be heaping full. Top with bread crumbs. We don't buy bread crumbs, since we bake bread we know that sometimes it doesn't cook right, or we end up with more than we need, or we forget to cover the leftovers over night and it hardens. For this we just cut up, dry in the oven or toaster oven. And then pulverize in our blender. Put in gallon bag in freezer. Voila, bread crumbs when you need it.
12. Cook for 30 minutes then check, if not crisping on top yet, put back in. Mine took about 40-45 minutes. 

Serve warm. We had this plain, with no side dish. I honestly have no idea what you would serve with it, since it is a fabulous meal all on its own. Though we are having pineapple-peach dump cake for dessert, which should be coming out of the oven right...about...now!

Baked Acorn Squash

First off, may I just say that if you find a recipe you think you might like on the NY Times, make sure to send a copy to your email, because it is almost impossible to find it again.
I did this last year for Thanksgiving. It was wonderful, so doing it again!

Baked Acorn Squash with Maple Syrup and Walnut Oil
 * This recipe is written per squash. Multiply by number of squash you have. For 4 adults and 2 children I did 3, not sure it's enough because it is fabulous as leftovers. John and I eat a half each for leftovers.

• 1 Acorn Squash
• 1 T Maple Syrup, the real stuff, do not substitute the fake stuff
• 1 T Walnut Oil, in a pinch you can substitute veg. oil, but it won't taste as good
• Nutmeg
• 2 tsp. Ground Walnuts 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the squash on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until soft enough to easily cut in half. Cut in half, and scoop out the seeds and membranes.
2. Cover a baking sheet with foil. Stir the maple syrup and walnut oil together in a bowl, then brush over the cut surfaces of the squash. Sprinkle with a very small amount of ground nutmeg. Place in the oven and bake one hour, brushing every 10 minutes with more oil and maple syrup. When the squash is tender, brush once more, then spoon a teaspoon of finely chopped walnuts into each cavity and return to the oven for five to 10 minutes, until the walnuts are toasty. Remove from the heat. Serve hot or warm.

Enjoy!!
 

Burned Butternut Squash Soup

So last week I overcooked/slightly burned my butternut squash soup. In the crockpot! Yes, I am talented. So I basically had butternut puree that isn't as sweet anymore, since I hadn't had the (soy) creame cheese.

But what was I going to do?! You can't throw out 2 squashes worth of soup just because it doesn't taste good. Right?


So here is what I've done.

• Rolls. I used a potato bread recipe. This was okay, but I think I used too much flour.
• Spaghetti Sauce. Good. It makes a sweeter sauce then I am used too, but hey, more veggies.
• Waffles. That's right tonight I am making waffles. If I like them I'll post the recipe.

Ham and Pesto Pasta

Estimated Times

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 15 mins

Servings: 10 servings

Ingredients

1 box (12 oz.) dry tri-color rotini or spiral shaped pasta (about 3 1/2 cups)

1 bag (16 oz.) frozen broccoli, cauliflower and carrot medley

1 1/2 cup (12 fl. oz.) Evaporated Milk (3 cups soy milk reduced to 1 1/2 cups)

1/4-1/2 cup Roux (margarine and flour cooked together)

3 tablespoons jarred or refrigerated pesto with basil
**Found a vegan one at Wegmans, remember to purchase pine nuts as well**

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 cups (8 oz.) cooked ham, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

Directions

COOK pasta according to package directions, adding frozen vegetables to boiling pasta water for last 2 minutes of cooking time; drain. Return pasta and vegetables to cooking pot.

MEANWHILE, COMBINE evaporated milk, roux, pesto and black pepper in medium saucepan. Cook over medium low heat, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened. Remove from heat.

POUR sauce over pasta and vegetables. Add ham; stir until combined.

Notes: Was a little bland (probably better with homemade pesto), but was grate when we added a bit of salt and cayenne powder.