Sheperd's Pie

Comfort food is just the thing I need when I have a long hard day.  Sheperd's pie is warm and full of flavor!!! 

• 1- 1.5 lb of ground low fat beef
• 3 baking potatoes
• about 2 cups of frozen mixed veggies.
• 3-4 Tbls of flour
• one medium onion-diced
• one clove of garlic-minced
• 2.5 cups of beef broth
• thyme, rosemary, paprika, garlic powder, salt and pepper to flavor the beef
• 1 tbls of butter
• milk, butter and sour cream for mashed pototoes
• 1/2-1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1. Peel and cube potatoes and boil in salty water for about 20 minutes to make mashed potatoes.
2. In a pan, cook beef with the onion and garlic.  Season with a dash of thyme, rosemary, paprika, garlic powder and salt and pepper.
3. With a slotted spoon transfer the beef into a large baking dish, spread it out and cover the bottom of the dish, leaving the excess beef fat in the pan.
4. Spread frozen veggies atop the beef.
5. In pan, there should be a very little bit of fat left from the "low" fat beef.  Add the butter and melt, then pour in 2 cups of the beef broth, simmer and reduce for about 3 minutes, you might want to add some more seasoning.
6. In the meantime, in a cup, add flour and about half a cup of broth.  Stir until smooth... it should be thinner than pancake batter, but still thick.
7.  Turn off the heat to the simmering, beef broth and slowly wisk in the flour mixure.  You are making gravy... you WILL NOT need all the flour mixture.  You just want the sauce to thicken into a gravy.
8.  Pour your gravy over the beef and veggies.
9.  Drain potatoes and mash with milk, butter, sour cream... season as desired.
10. Spread mashed potatoes on top and sprinkle with cheese. 
11. Bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes or until it is heated all the way through.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

Thanks Chrissy for always sharing your recipes!


1 onion, chopped
1 (16 ounce) can kidney beans
1 (15 ounce) can black beans
1 (15 ounce) can whole kernel corn, drained
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 (12 fluid ounce) can or bottle beer
2 (10 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
1 (1.25 ounce) package taco seasoning
3 whole skinless, boneless chicken breasts

shredded Cheddar cheese
sour cream
crushed tortilla chips

Place the onion, kidney beans, black beans, corn, tomato sauce, beer, and diced tomatoes in a slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, and stir to blend. Lay chicken breasts on top of the mixture, pressing down slightly until just covered by the other ingredients. Set slow cooker for low heat, cover, and cook for 5 hours.

Remove chicken breasts from the soup, and allow to cool long enough to be handled. Stir the shredded chicken back into the soup, and continue cooking for 2 hours. Serve topped with shredded Cheddar cheese, a dollop of sour cream, and crushed tortilla chips, if desired


Enjoy!

Corn and Crab Chowder

Another great recipe from Chrissy....

CORN CRAB CHOWDER


2 TBSP butter
3 cups Half & Half
2-3 Slices bacon
2 cups chicken broth
1 medium onion,
chopped 1 cup frozen home fries (cubed potatoes)
1/2 red bell pepper,
chopped 6 ounces lump crab meat
2 tsp Tabasco
1 cup frozen corn kernels
2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
 2 ribs celery chopped
2 TBSP flour
4 sprigs fresh thyme (optional)

Melt butter. Add bacon, onions, bell pepper, celery and thyme. Season with salt, pepper, hot sauce and Old Bay. Stir in flour and cook a minute or two. Whisk in half and half, then add broth. Bring soup to a simmer and then stir in potatoes. Simmer until potatoes are cooked and soup has thickened slightly--should coat the back of a spoon, about 15 minutes. Add crabmeat and corn. Cook until meat and corn is hot.

Fish in dill dijon sauce

I'm not a big fish eater, but I do try to eat it for health reasons.  I like white, flaky fish like cod and flounder.  I usually bread it and pan saute it with lemon.  However, here is a recipe to bake it.

• 2 fish filets (I used cod)
• For the sauce, mix the follow ingredients together
• 2 shallots finely chopped
• 1/4 cup of sour cream
• 1 tbls of milk
• 1tbls of dijon mustard
• 1/2 tbls of dried dill
• 1/2 tbls of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Pour the sauce over the fish and bake for about 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked through.

German Potato and Sauerkraut Pie

Today I'm going to an Oktoberfest party and I am making a very authentic dish... It's almost like making a quiche, but with a German twist!

• 8 oz of sauerkraut, drain and use a towel to squeeze it dry.
• 2 baking pototoes peeled and shredded
• 8 slices of bacon sliced and crumbled
• 2 teaspoons of caraways seeds
• salt/peepr
• 3-4 eggs depending on size and amount of potato
• A dash of dry mustard powder
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 9" pie shell

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Combine eggs and cream, whisk together.
In a mixing bowl combine pototoes, kraut, bacon, caraway seeds, and salt and pepper.  Mix in the eggs and cream and pour it all into the pie shell.  Bake for about 35 minutes.   Serve with a cold beer!!

Split Pea Soup

This is for you Diana, I hope you enjoy!

1- 1lb bag of grean split peas
1- med. onion diced
4-5 cloves of garlic minced
about 1 cup of shredded carrots
2-3 ribs of celery (leaves and all)-diced
1 bay leaf
Fresh parsley chopped
Salt and peepr
1.5 quarts of water
1/2 lb of diced ham

Rinse the peas, then toss all the ingredients into a pot and bring it to a boil.  Simmer until the peas are soft and it's soup.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  You can eat it either thick and chunky or you can puree it using a hand blender.
Enjoy!

Roasted Bellpepper Bruschetta

This is a beautiful and very health side dish or a great appetizer.  You can use the big or the small bellpeppers depending on the look you are trying to accomplish.

• Red, Yellow, and Orange bellpeppers
• Tomotoes-diced
• Red onions-diced
• Garlic-minced
• Fresh Basil-chopped
• Buffulo Mozzerella-sliced
• Salt and pepper
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Cut the bellpeppers down the center from top to bottom and remove the seeds to make little bowls.
In mixing bowl combine tomatoes, onions, garlic, basil, salt and pepper.  Add the bruschetta to the bellpepper bowls and drizzle olive oil on the top.  Bake in the oven at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.  Then take them out and top them with the mozzerella and return to the oven for about 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.  Remove from the oven and serve with Fresh bread or toasted crustinis with melted parmesan cheese (Yum!).

Thanksgiving Meatloaf

I love Thanksgiving.  I love the smells, the colors, the crisp, cool air, and of course, the flavors.  I wanted to make a meal that incorporated all the flavors of the season, but was easy enough to make all year round.

• 1- 1.5 lb of ground turkey
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1-2 cups of seasoned stuffing (I used Stove Top Stuffing, chicken flavored)
• 1 14.5 oz can of whole cranberries in sauce
• 1 small onion chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic diced
• 2 stalks of celery very finally diced
• 1 tsp of dried yellow mustard
• Fresh thyme, rosemary, and parsley
• Salt and pepper

In a large bowl combine all the ingredients mentioned above and 2tbl of the cranberry sauce.  Work the ingredients together and then form the loaf.  Take another couple tablespoons of the cranberry sauce on the top of the loaf and then place it into the oven at 350 degrees for about 1 hour and ten minutes or until cooked through.  Allow to stand for about 10-15 minutes before cutting it and serving. 

Serve it with the rest of the cranberry sauce and some turkey gravy.  I also served it with brussel sprouts and mashed potatoes... it was like a slice of Thanksgiving in October!! Yum!

Pasta Carbonara

I mentioned that I wanted to post my next great culinary masterpieces and also the disasters!  Well this is both!  I was making carbonara from memory when I made a major mistake, and my pasta all the sudden was full of scrambled eggs!  Yuck, I hate eggs!  So I had to pour out the pasta and make more...  Needless to say, once I started over, it did turn out to be great!  So here is the "great" version!

• 1 lb of pasta (I used angel hair)
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• 2 shallots
• 1 onion
• a dash of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup of white wine
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese
• fresh parsley
• Salt and pepper
• about 8 slices of bacon, chopped and cooked

1. Start to boil the water for pasta.  Add the pasta when ready.   Cook until the pasta is al dente.
2. Chop and cook bacon.
3. Chop onion, shallots, and garlic.
4. Take out cooked bacon, and place it on paper towels to drain.
5. Pour out bacon grease and drizzle olive oil into bacon pan and add onions, garlic and shallots.  Saute until browning.
6. Add the white wine and red pepper flakes and reduce the liquid by half.
7. Beat egg yolks and add about 3/4 a cup of pasta water to eggs and whisk rigorously!
8. Add drianed pasta to onion mixture pan.  Also add in the bacon, cheese, egg mixture, parsley, salt and pepper. 
9. Toss the pasta until the liquid is absorbed.
10. Enjoy

(I've added peas to this too and it was great!)

Rub some flavor on me!!! (chicken rub)

So this is a really good chicken rub... when I made it, I didn't measure anything; however, I did about equal parts of everything other than the cayenne pepper of course...

• Salt and pepper
• Ground Coriander
• Yellow mustard powder
• Paprika
• Garlic Powder
• Dried thyme
• Dried parsley
• Fresh lemon zest, about 1/4 - 1/2 of a lemon.
• Cayenne pepper--- careful this is very spicy!

Rub it on the chicken then put it on the grill on medium to high heat, until the chicken is cooked through!  It's finger lickin' good!

Bon Appetit!