Shepherd's Pie

You all might already have a good recipe for Shepherd's Pie but I made it last night and it tasted sooo good, I just had to share this easy meal.

Okay, so this is not really a recipe as much as a list of ingredients. Add as much or as little as you like. This makes a 9x9 casserole.

roughly 1/2 lb of ground turkey, browned with onions, salt, and pepper

frozen green beans

frozen peas

frozen corn

any other frozen veg you think would be good

mix all this together with a can of tomato soup and a little salt and pepper. Spread in a casserole dish and top with mashed potatoes. If I have time, I like to make homemade potatoes, but this is good with dry potatoes too. I add a little garlic. Spread the potatoes over the meat and top everything with a little cheese. Cheddar is good and so is parmesan and mozzarella. Bake at 4375 for about 30 minutes. Make sure the cheese on top gets nice and brown.

Alex! did you use cooking wine in your sesame chicken or a substitute?

Cranberry Chop

I've been meaning to post this anyway, but since Alex asked for Thanksgiving recipes, I thought I post it today. I'll come up with some other things later. I could also use some help with veggies!

Cranberry Chop

½ lb fresh cranberries

1 peeled orange

2 small peeled and cored apples

1 cup sugar

Fresh lemon to taste (or substitute lemon juice)

1 c. chopped walnuts

1 can crushed pineapple

Dates

Blend until finely chopped in a blender or food processor.

* Best if made the day before and allowed time to blend together.

This is a great alternative to cranberry sauce. I never use very much sugar, just enough to make it kind of sweet. I have also never tried it with the dates. You really must make this the day before. So good!

I made Alianna's veggy and rice casserole last night. It was really good. We ate it with beans. I've been trying to eat at least a few vegetarian meals a week, to save money on meat. We usually just end up eating plain rice and beans and that gets pretty boring so it was nice to jazz it up a bit. What else do you have for us Alianna? I'm sure you have some really great new meat free recipes.

I think I'm all caught up on the recipes now. I haven't made Heather's cake yet because I know it would get me into trouble and I'm saving it for a special occasion. So what else do you girls have? I need some more dinner ideas. I feel like I cook the same things over and over again. And I need some good vegetable side dishes. And I want to learn to make homemade tortillas and noodles. As you can see I'm a mess.

Also, what are your favorite holiday recipes? What kind of side dishes does your family eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas? And what is a good meal to make on New Year's Eve? Christmas cookies! I'm getting excited to make some holiday padding!

Red and White Chili

This is one of my favorite crockpot meals and since my mom just asked me for it, I thought I would share it here too. Sorry, no pictures since I haven't made it yet this fall.

Red and White Chili

6 cups cubed cooked chicken

2 cans navy beans, drained

1 cup chicken broth

1 large onion, chopped

1 large red bell pepper, finely chopped

1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 t cumin

1 t oregano

1/2 each salt and cayenne pepper

Place all ingredients in the slow cooker; stir gently to mix.

Cook on low for 6-7 hours or High for 3-4 hours until hot and sauce thickens slightly.

If you think this will be too spicy for you, you can leave out the jalapeño. Also, I use dried navy beans that I have soaked which means I usually end up adding more broth throughout.

I like the picture, Alex! I forgot we were going to do our apron pictures! I guess we better get on that!

Sesame Chicken

I made Heather's fried rice for dinner last night and it was delicous, but left me wanting more Chinese food. When I crave Chinese, it doesn't go away until I finally cave in and get some takeout. It could be a day or three weeks later, but eventually the craving wins. So today I played around in the kitchen a little and made some sesame chicken that hit the spot. There were a few ingredients I don't normally have at home that I had to buy, but all together they were cheaper than one meal from a restaurant would be. To me it was worth it. And it's lots heathier than the deep fried stuff you'd get if you ate out.

Ingredients
3 whole boneless chicken breasts

Marinade
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon cooking wine
3 drops sesame oil
2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon oil (just whatever you normally cook with)

Sauce
1/2 cup water
1 cup chicken broth
1/8-1/4 cup white vinegar or rice wine vinegar (depending on how sweet you want the sauce)
1/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes or chili paste
1 minced garlic clove (I just threw a little garlic salt into mine, but that's just how I roll)

Garnish
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

Directions

Cut the chicken into 1-inch cubes. Mix the marinade ingredients (the first 9 ingredients listed) and marinate the chicken for 20 minutes.

To prepare the sauce:. Mix together all of the sauce ingredients in a small pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously. Turn the heat down to low and keep warm while you are frying the chicken.

Heat about 1 T oil in a pan and fry the marinated chicken.
Place the chicken on a platter or bowl and pour the sauce over. Sprinkle with sesame seeds (I didn't this time). Serve the Sesame Chicken with rice (Like Heather's!)

Devan got really excited about this and he doesn't often get excited about anything. Hannah liked it too.

Fried Rice

This is a great way to use up leftover rice, which we always seem to have. Plus, it's really good!

3 cups cooked white rice

1 T AND 1 t soy sauce

2 t sugar

2 t cornstarch

salt and pepper

1 lb thinly cut pork chops (I use shredded chicken or no meat at all)

2 T oil

2 large eggs, beaten

1 bunch green onions or 1 medium onion

10 oz frozen peas (I just put however many look good)

Mix 1 T soy sauce, sugar, cornstarch, salt and pepper in medium bowl. Add meat to soy sauce mixture and stir to combine. Set aside for 20 minutes at room temp or up to 24 hours, covered and refrigerated.

Heat 1 T oil in wok or large skillet until very hot. pour beaten eggs over bottom of pan and cook like a pancake, then break into small pieces. Remove and set aside.

Add remaining 1 T oil; heat until very hot. Add meat and stir-fry. Add onions and cook about 1 minute. Add peas, rice and soy sauce and eggs. Stir fry until heated through.

Pork Enchiladas

You will need:

2 lb pork loin
Brown Sugar
Coke
Garlic Salt
Enchilada Sauce
Small can of diced chilies

Marinate the pork loin overnight in 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1 can (12 oz) Coke. Take out of the marinade and put in the crock-pot with 1 1/2 can Coke, 1/2 cup brown sugar and some garlic salt. Cook on low for 10 hours

Blend together 1 can of Coke, 1 can of sliced chilies, 1 can of enchilada sauce and about a cup of brown sugar. Remove pork from the crock-pot and drain any liquid left in the pot. Shred pork with two forks. Put shredded pork and sauce in crock-pot and cook on low for 3 hours.

You can make these into enchiladas, or put them in burritos or a on salad. My personal favorite is quesadillas. We made them into enchiladas last night and served them with Heather's beans and some rice. (I've made those beans three times so far. I love them so much. Last week I made them and Monday through Thursday I ate rice and beans for lunch and dinner everyday. It was great, but I didn't envy Devan having to sleep next to me.)

I know they sound gross because they're just Coke, sugar, enchilada sauce and chilies, but we love them! And, pork loin is on sale at Smith's this week for a dollar a pound.

Halloween Recipes

Because Heather's mom asked for it, and because I don't want to do my math homework:

Sloppy Boos

1 pound ground turkey
1 medium chopped onions
2 minced garlic cloves
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons yellow mustard
1 teaspoon chili powder
Salt to taste

In a large heavy saucepan brown the ground turkey over medium high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onions. Cook until the onions are almost soft and translucent. Add the garlic and cook for additional minute or two. Add the remaining ingredients and mix well. Bring the mixture to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Serve hot.

I really enjoyed these, and they're pretty healthy. I didn't run the nutrition info, but just looking at it, the only ingredients that really have any calories are the turkey, brown sugar and the bun. This is also really good served over rice.

And in case you've never made your own pumpkin puree before (I hadn't)...

Pumpkin Puree

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut the pumpkin in half and scrape out the seeds and threads. Reserve the seeds for toasting and snacking. Place the halved cut side down on a greased jelly roll pan. Bake the pumpkin until it is very tender and can easily be pierced with a fork. A 3 pound pumpkin takes 1 hour, so vary your time estimates based on that. Set the pumpkin aside to cool. When it is cool enough to handle, cut the skin off with a sharp knife. Chop the flesh into pieces small enough to fit in a food processor and process until pureed. Leftover puree can be refrigerated for up to five days or frozen.

And the Witch's Brew...

2 quarts apple juice
2 quarts pineapple juice
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1 box (6 oz) of jello powder
Orange sherbert (to add before serving)

Stir everything together in the crockpot and cook on low 5 hours or on high 3 hours. Serve with a scoop of orange sherbert. It will cool the brew enough for children to drink right away and it creates a foamy, slimy film. Perfect for Halloween!

Look how happy he is. That could be you!

Stolen Bread

I'm not going to post this recipe since I stole it from another blog, I'll just give you the link: http://staynerrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/08/french-peasant-bread.html

This isn't my picture either. But I really did make it and it really was good.

This was so easy (I could do it). And it turned out so yummy. The only down side is, it takes a long time to rise, so I used instant yeast and it only had to rise for about 20 minutes or so. It took me maybe an hour from start to finish, including rise and bake time. The only other thing I changed was it wasn't quite cooked after 15 minutes on 375, so I turned the next batch down to 350 and cooked it for about 18 minutes. Try this recipe though. So good!

HomeMade Pancakes! YUM!

Nick is the master pancake-maker in our house. I stick to waffles. So these are actually his masterpiece. He likes to add a little cinnamon and Nutmeg to the batter as well- It gives it a little Umpf and kicks it up a notch!

Buttermilk Pancakes/ Waffles

1 egg

1 C buttermilk (1 C milk +1 T vinegar)

1 Tbsp Sugar

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 C flour

Makes about 10 pancakes / 5 waffles

For the strawberry topping I just mix about 3 Tbls Sugar with 1Tbls Cornstarch, pour it over a bowl of Frozen berries (a quart bag or so) and Microwave them until thickened. (about 5-7 minutes, stirring occasionally)

I also do Blueberry topping almost the same way. I just substitute Flour in place or Cornstarch. It seems to thicken the blueberries better.

Hershey's Hot Fudge Pudding Cake

Saturday was just one of those days for me so I made myself a chocolate cake. Well, I guess I made it for Ryan too. This is so yummy and easy to make! You can't see how ooey gooey the fudge is in this picture because it wasn't very hot anymore when I took it. I meant to take a picture of my first piece but it all just happened so fast . . . Remember when Alex asked us whether we would rather give up sex or good food? Well, those of you who answered food obviously have never tasted this cake!

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup Hershey's cocoa, divided

2 t baking powder

1/4 t salt

1/2 cup milk

1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 1/4 cups hot water

whipped topping

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Stir together 3/4 cup granulated sugar, flour, 1/4 cup cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Stir in milk, butter, and vanilla; beat until smooth. Pour batter into ungreased 9-inch square baking pan. Stir together remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar, brown sugar, and remaining 1/4 cup of cocoa; sprinkle mixture evenly over batter. Pour hot water over top. Do not stir.

3. Bake 34-40 minutes or until center is almost set. Let stand 15 minutes; spoon into dessert dishes, spooning sauce from bottom of pan over top. Garnish with whipped topping. This is best served warm.

Makes about 8 servings.

No nutritional information because sometimes it's just better not to know. You can go look it up if you want, just don't tell me about it!

Veggie Rice Casserole

Here is my first post!

Okay, I know this doesn't look like much, but I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with how yummy it is. This is a SODIUM FREE meal so it's completely healthy.

Ingredients:

8oz white mushrooms, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
2 pounds potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup broccoli florets
2 1/2 cups of broth (no sodium added)
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 cup uncooked rice

Instructions:

1. Saute mushrooms and onions in skillet over medium heat until onions are soft and translucent.
2. Stir in broth and heat to boil. Remove from heat.
3. In a large baking dish, spread potatoes, rice and broccoli evenly. Sprinkle black pepper over ingredients.
3. Pour broth mixture evenly over rice, broccoli and potatoes. Cover well with foil.
5. Bake for 1 1/2 hours at 325.

Not only is this a great dish, but it's an easy way to get your carbs and veggies all at once. It's perfect next to fish, chicken or beef. I peronally loved it with some grilled chicken (seasoned with pepper and paprika).

Some variations you could do is substitute sweet potatoes for russet potatoes and cauliflower for broccoli. You could also make it pot roast-like and use carrots for the broccoli and serve it with beef, of course.

Lemon Rosemary Chicken

My mom gave me this recipe, along with fresh rosemary from her garden. You can use dried rosemary too. This is a great recipe if you are trying to hold onto the last moments of summer (although it may be a bit too late for that). Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs to cook with!

Mix into a large Ziploc bag:

1/4 cup lemon juice

3 T olive oil

1-2 T chopped rosemary

salt and pepper

2 t minced garlic, if desired (I didn't)

Put about 2 lbs of chicken tenders into bag.

Marinate 2 hours in the refrigerator OR 15 minutes at room temp.

Grill until cooked through ( just made a little foil pouch and put the chicken and marinade into it, then sealed it and put it in a baking dish in the oven- too cold for grilling!)

Apple strudel Muffins

So I've been looking for a really good Apple Strudel muffin recipe Lately. I've tried a few and this one is pretty good. I think I'm gonna do some tweeking and then I'll post it again. But if you're looking for a quick yummy breakfast, this is Delish!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped apples

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 12 cup muffin pan.

2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

3. In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar and eggs until smooth. Mix in vanilla. Stir in apples, and gradually blend in the flour mixture. Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin pan.

4. In a small bowl, mix brown sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter until mixture is like coarse crumbs. Sprinkle over tops of mixture in muffin pan.

5. Bake 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Allow to sit 5 minutes before removing muffins from pan. Cool on a wire rack.

Lisa's Almost Famous Dinner Rolls

2 ½ C warm water

4tsp yeast

2 tsp salt

¼ C brown sugar

1 stick butter

1 egg

5-6 C flour

*leave dough soft but not sticky.

You can let it raise before molding into rolls or a loaf . Or, if you're in a hurry and make the rolls and then let them raise for about half hour.

Bake @ 350* for about 20 mins or until Golden brown.

You can easily make these whole or Half wheat- Just split your flour.

These are really Yummy and Fast rolls BUT if you want something a bit Yummier and Fancier Use this Crescent roll Recipe! It really is to Die for! (Next time I make them I'll add pics)

Butter Crescents

yield: (12-16 medium crescent rolls)

½ cup milk

1 stick butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

½ tsp. salt

1 package active dry yeast or 2 ½ tsp. yeast

½ cup warm water

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 ½ -4 cups flour

*The trick to this recipe is to be very gentle while kneading and handling dough, and to mix dough at very low speeds.

1. In saucepan, heat milk until bubbles appear around edges of pan. Combine butter, sugar, and salt. Add hot milk, and stir well. Cool to lukewarm.
2. In a small bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Add a bit of sugar as well. Let stand until foamy, 5-10 minutes.
3. Beat yeast mixture and egg into milk mixture at low speed. Beat in 2 cups of flour at low speed until smooth. Continue beating until thick. Mix in enough remaining flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.
4. On a floured surface, knead dough very gently until smooth and elastic, 2-3 minutes. Place in a large, greased bowl, turning to coat. Cover loosely with a damp cloth; let rise in a warm place until doubled; about 1 hour.
5. Punch down dough. On a floured surface, divide dough in half. Cover with a damp cloth; let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Grease 2 baking sheets. Using a floured rolling pin, roll 1 dough half into a 12 inch circle. Cut circle into 6 wedges. Starting at side opposite point, roll up each wedge. Place on a prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
7. Cover loosely with a damp cloth; let rise in warm place until doubled; about ½ hour.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until golden brown, or about 15 minutes.

Italian Sausage Soup

This is a very exciting soup...

Ingredients
1 pound Italian sausage (I used a pound and a half and then doubled the rest of the recipe)
2 clove garlic, minced
3 cups beef broth
1 (14.5 ounce) can Italian-style stewed tomatoes
1 sliced carrot
1 (14.5 ounce) can great Northern beans, undrained
2 small zucchini, cubed
2 cups spinach - packed, rinsed and torn
Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot, brown sausage with garlic. Stir in broth, tomatoes and carrots, and season with salt and pepper. Simmer about 15 minutes

Stir in beans with liquid and zucchini. Simmer another 15 minutes, or until zucchini is tender.

Remove from heat, and add spinach. Cover, allowing the heat from the soup to cook the spinach leaves. Soup is ready to serve after 5 minutes.

I really enjoyed this soup. If you eat it alone, I'd say you'd only get 4 servings out of it. There are 425 calories per serving. There's a lot of fat in it, but you could reduce that if you used turkey Italian sausage. You get lots of yummy vegetables. 1 serving contains almost a third of your vitamin C and iron needs for the day and about half of your folate (a great thing if you're in a "delicate" condition, ahem). And 20 grams of protein per serving!

Delicious! Definitely my favorite soup I've made so far. It's going to be a good week!

Now all we need is Lisa's roll recipe...

Added October 7: This soup doesn't store really great. After a about 3 days the zucchini started getting really mushy and I picked it all out.

Refried Beans

Speaking of beans, we always have dried beans on hand because of WIC so I like to get a bag of pinto beans and make homemade "refried" beans. This is so easy in the crock pot and you can freeze them for a long time. Just add a little water every time you reheat so that they don't get dry. I never add nearly as much salt as this calls for and they are still GOOD! This is a great, high protein, low fat food to have around for snacks or meals.

"Refried" Beans

INGREDIENTS

· 1 onion, peeled and halved

· 3 cups dry pinto beans, rinsed

· 1/2 fresh jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped

· 2 tablespoons minced garlic

· 5 teaspoons salt

· 1 3/4 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper

· 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin, optional

· 9 cups water

Directions

1. Place the onion, rinsed beans, jalapeno, garlic, salt, pepper, and cumin into a slow cooker. Pour in the water and stir to combine. Cook on High for 8 hours, adding more water as needed. Note: if more than 1 cup of water has evaporated during cooking, then the temperature is too high.

2. Once the beans have cooked, strain them, and reserve the liquid. Mash the beans with a potato masher, adding the reserved water as needed to attain desired consistency.

Nutritional Information

Servings Per Recipe: 15

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 139

Total Fat: 0.5g

• Cholesterol: 0mg
• Sodium: 785mg
• Total Carbs: 25.4g
• Dietary Fiber: 6.2g
• Protein: 8.5g

Taco Soup

Disclaimer: No one in my house liked this soup very much at first. It was a little bland all by itself. Then we added tortilla chips, sour cream, and cheese and magically we all loved it. So, if anyone has a taco soup recipe that's good without all the fat, please post it because I'm still on the lookout (and also let me know if you think of other vegetables I could add to it.) But even with the chips and cheese it's within an acceptable calorie limit and it's a super, super filling lunch.

Ingredients:

1 lb. dried pinto beans

20 oz browned ground turkey

3 diced tomatoes

1 can of corn

About 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

1 packet of taco seasoning (I think I will use 2 packets next time)

Salt and pepper to taste

I made this in the crockpot. I usually shy away from dried beans, but I've been trying to use them more lately because they're so much cheaper. And I figured that if I'm making something in the crockpot, I'm obviously in no hurry. So, I rinsed the beans, then put them in the crockpot with water. I covered the crockpot (left it off) and let them soak there for about 8 hours. Then I dumped them back in the strainer, gave them a quick rinse and put them back in the crockpot. Pretty painless.

I threw everything in the crockpot with about 6 cups of water and cooked on low for 7 hours.

Like I said, it wasn't amazing straight out of the pot. We had to add extra salt, which we hardly ever do. But, if you do eat it by itself, it's a very healthy dish.

Per serving you get:

184 calories,

5.1 grams of fat, only 1.3 of those being saturated fat,

20.7 grams carbohydrate

5.6 grams of fiber

14.6 grams of protein.

This made a massive amount. We got 12 bowls out of it, (I'm not sure how many cups per bowl. I'm guessing about 1 and a half) so you may want to half the recipe. I froze half of what I made.

If you want to be good, this is a nice, high protien, low-calorie soup. But, if you want it to be delicous, add a small amount of cheddar (about 1/8 cup), 3 or 4 tortilla chips, and a couple tablespoons of low fat sour cream (I added 4 to mine...I love sour cream). All the extras added a little more than 200 calories to it (yikes!), but for me it was worth it for a delicous 400 calorie lunch that left me absolutely stuffed.

This soup has already had a few bites taken out of it. When I realized it tasted good I yelled at Devan to stop eating.