Let's give it the good ol' college try: Shepard's Pie

 Cameron hates everything in the meal, except ground beef maybe, but the rest of the household appreciated my hard work! 


Ingredients: 
1 can of corn 
1 can of peas
1 cup of carrots
1 pepper
1 onion
1 garlic
1-2 pounds of lean ground beef
1 tablespoon of steak seasoning
4 potatoes
1/2 jar of pasta sauce
1 small carton of whipping cream 


Directions: 

1. Cook ground beef for about 7-9 minutes, or until browned. 
2. Place potatoes in microwave for 8-9 minutes. 
3. Chop up veggies. When the meat is done, place the meat in a separate bowl. Cook veggies in the grease from the meat. 
4. Mix sauce, meat and veggies together. 
5. Mash the potatoes with the whipping cream. 
6. Place veggie/meat mix in a serving bowl, then place mash potatoes on top. Smooth out the potatoes. Add a pinch salt on top if desired. 

Fun Fact: Shepard's Pie is named so because of the mashed potatoes looking like fluffy sheep.

Taco Twist

Ok, so there's no twist involved, but it is a bit different from the normal everyday taco. It's SO good! There is the recipe to the new sandwich I created last week, featured in the pics of the week. 


Ingredients: 
Italian Herbs pita bread
Ground beef
1/4 of a green pepper
1/4 of a white onion
Shredded Coby and Jack cheese
Sour Cream (optional)
Salsa (optional)
Steak seasoning
Italian Herbs seasoning


Directions: 

1. If you were to have sour cream and salsa, spread on the insides of the pita before adding the beef to it. 
2. Cook the ground beef on a medium setting for 9 minutes. Add steak seasoning to it and place in the pita. 
3. Chop the green peppers and onions while cooking the beef. Add to skillet after ground beef in placed in pita. 
4. Cook the green peppers in the grease and extra seasoning left behind. You may add the Italian Herbs seasoning now. Cook until tender. 
5. Add the peppers and onions to the pita and then top it off with cheese.

Variations: 

We tried this with chicken and spinach artichoke dip, instead of ground beef and sour cream/salsa combo. That was also very lovely sandwich. Dylan suggested adding a Chipolte sauce to the ground beef version, instead of sour cream and salsa, which sounds interesting. This is a really simple recipe that allows you to have fun with it, and get creative. So go ahead and experiment with different combinations. That's what makes cooking fun! 

Breakfast for Dinner, Dinner for Breakfast??

This is real simple to make, and super duper cheap. Dylan considers this a treat basically whenever I get around to making this for him. 

Ingredients: 

1 can of Roll Out Crescents 

4 large eggs

.5 cup chopped onions

.5 cup chopped green peppers

1 large potato

1 package of bacon and chives potato seasoning

Directions: 

1. Bake the potato and crescents following the steps I used for Poor Man's Beef Wellington. 
2. Scramble the eggs while mixing in the onions and peppers. 
3. Brew your coffee. I love Highlander Grogg from this local coffee shop/bookstore. It's quite tasty =P You may also choose whatever breakfast drink you wish, whether it be OJ, Apple Juice, Milk, etc...
4. When crescents are finished, cut them in half 3/4 of the way in order to make them a little pocket sandwich when you put the eggs in them. 
5. Enjoy them with your breakfast potatoes!! 

Ode to More Adventurous Times

This week's new recipe is Beef Wellington. I had it once while I stopped in Lacock* for lunch one day. Beef Wellington is beef, or steak, wrapped up in a pastry like bread, smothered in gravy. My version is called: Poor Man's Beef Wellington (Cost: approx. $.75 per serving).

**Fun fact: parts of HP were filmed in Lacock!**

To add to this little remembrance dinner, Heineken on the side is a must. 

Ingredients: 
1 can of Pillsbury crescents
.5 lb to .75lb of ground beef
1 can of gravy (or make your own using this recipe!)
.5 cup of onions
Roasted Garlic and Herbs seasoning

 Directions:

1.  Set the oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place the ground beef on a skillet and cook on Medium setting. 
3. Unroll the crescents onto a baking sheet, and roll over the triangles to make on big rectangle. 
4. Cut the rectangle into four small rectangles. 
5. Place a couple spoonfuls of ground beef on each rectangle, and fold the dough over the beef. Leave little to no beef showing. 
6. Bake for 11 minutes. 
7. Sautee the onions
8.  Empty the gravy into a microwavable bowl. Microwave for one minute. 
9. Add onions and Roasted Garlic and Herbs seasoning to gravy. 
10. When the pastries are finished, place them on a separate plate and pour the gravy mix onto them and you are finished =]

For a nice side dish:
1 large potato
1 package of Bacon and Chive potato seasoning (May be found in any Wal-mart for 88 cents) 
DON'T FOLLOW THE PACKAGE INSTRUCTIONS!!!  Follow mine:

1. Wash and cut potato into wedges. Place in a medium sized mixing bowl.
2. Add one tablespoon of the seasoning and one tablespoon of vegetable oil to the potatoes. (Package asks for more oil, unnecessary in my opinion.) If you wish, you may add onions or other complementary veggies to the mix as well.
3. Place the potatoes on a baking sheet sprayed with Pam and place in the oven before you place the beef pastries in.
4. When you take out the pastries, turn up the oven's heat to 400 degrees for about 15 minutes (The Package wishes you to back the potatoes at 400 for 30-40 minutes. Again, unnecessary, trust me!You could also place them in the oven for 10 prior to the pastries and then cook for about 5 minutes at 425 instead. If you do that, I would turn the potatoes over after you take out the pastries to avoid burning them.)
5.  Serve with or without gravy and enjoy!

Spicy Turkey Panini

I forgot to take a picture, so this will have to suffice
until I came it again. Sorry!

This weeks recipe will be a twist of the classic turkey sandwich.

"I never thought mixing salsa and turkey would make sense but it has a kick!" -Dylan

Directions:
1. Take two slices of bead. The big thick "fancy" bread works best for this, but any brand is fine. Butter one side of each slice, and put them a pan. Set the stove on low.
[If you have a same panini grill, like me, that works even better!]
2. Lay one to two slices of cheese on one slice of bread. I use Coby Jack. = ] Then place your turkey slices on top of the cheese. My favorite to use is the carve-board turkey; it has an overall better taste with this style of sandwich.
3. Place salsa on the other slice of bread. I use Tostitos's mild chunky salsa.
4. When the bread is nicely toasted, put them together. And you have your Spicy Turkey Panini.

Note: Other recipes add mustard to this as well, for a zesty flavor. Just try it out, and have fun with it.