Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Shepherd's Pie

Today I made a Shepherd's Pie for myself and Audrey (Bryan won't eat this!). I've actually never eaten a Shepherd's Pie before, but it looked really simple and yummy. I know that there are a LOT of variations of Shepherd's Pie out there. Some people don't use any meat, some use tomato sauce, etc. So I just made up a version that sounded the best to me. Now, unfortunately when I cook I don't use a lot of exact measurements. I tend to eyeball and decrease and increase ingredients as it looks appealing to me, but you'll get the general idea here.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown some ground beef (about two nice sized patties worth) with a bit of chopped onion and season as you prefer (I used garlic powder, salt and black pepper).



Make a large batch of mashed potatoes (or use leftovers if you have them).

Drain ground beef and mix with one bag of frozen mixed veggies.



Pour beef and veggie mixture evenly into a greased casserole dish (I just use stick butter to grease the dish).

Layer mashed potatoes on top of the beef/veggie mixture.

Sprinkle a thick layer of shredded cheese (I used Colby Jack) on top of potatoes.



Pour approximately a 1/2 cup of milk over the cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes (cheese will start to brown).



Serve and Enjoy!!

Unfortunately, I didn't serve it up very prettily, so I don't have a picture with all of the layers, but you get the idea!!

Monday, February 11, 2008

Chicken Pot Pie




On Friday, I FINALLY made my first ever chicken pot pie! I was so nervous making it, the fear that it would come out and taste horrendous was probably what kept me from making it for so long. The recipe (click on link to go to the recipe) I used is one that my sister in law D came up with. I've only had her pot pie once (at a family dinner back in September), but I remember that it was AWESOME! About a month later she put the recipe up on her blog, so I've been toying with the idea of making it for the last, ummmm, 3plus months. Let me tell you that it was super easy to make and it came out so, so, so yummy!! No more frozen pot pies for me! I did stray from one part of the recipe a bit, instead of using 3/4 cup Monterrey Jack cheese in it, I used a little less than 1/2 cup of Colby Jack (I didn't have the right kind of cheese and I figured that Colby Jack has a bit of a bolder flavor so I used less of it). And let me tell you also, this recipe makes a LOT of pot pie. It's just myself and my 22 month old daughter eating it (hubby is a way picky eater and said that it looked gross), so we've been eating it all weekend and as of right now, I still have enough for about two helpings. Oh, and it tastes yummy reheated (I just stick a slice in the microwave for about a minute and a half).

And as a 'by the way', the picture above is not mine, it's my sister in law's. I was taking pictures as I made it and completely forgot to take one of the finished product!!

Thanks for the recipe D!!!

Friday, February 01, 2008