Shepherd’s pie is. What it is. I guess I am just not a huge fan of ground beef (see: Meatloaf for people who hate meatloaf). I like everything else in Shepherd’s pie – the veggies, the mashed potato, the (fingers crossed) cheese – but I find that generally, the ground beefyness of it all outweighs the other components.

Let’s fix this, I say. So, I set out to make a Shepherd’s pie that I like which basically means I did what I always do and I take something that Isaac likes (in this case: plain old ground beef and mashed potato) and overwhelm it with things that Dara likes (in this case: lots of roast veggie, goat cheese and tomato vinaigrette). So I did that and I made the best Shepherd’s pie ever. It’s kind of what I do.

Please do not be put off by the seemingly tedious nature of this recipe. I promise it requires very little thought, prep and/or work (I wouldn’t make it otherwise).

Ingredients:

1 lb. Baby Carrots, halved if you’re so inclined
1 Red Onion, roughly chopped
1 Head of Garlic, top cut off (for roasting)
4 Roma Tomatoes, quartered
1 tbs. Herbs de Provence (yes, go buy it)
1.5 lb Ground Sirloin (or beef or whatever)
1 pkg. Lipton Onion Soup Mix
3 Baking Potatoes, peeled and cubed
4 c Beef Stock
1 c Heavy Cream
4 tbs. Butter
4 oz. Goat Cheese
1.5 c Parsley
3 tbs. Red Wine Vinegar
4 tbs. Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 oz. Shredded Cheddar Cheese (optional.. I GUESS)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a baking dish, combine carrots, red onion, tomatoes and herbs de Provence with salt, pepper and some olive oil. Add head of garlic to baking dish somewhere so that the garlic roasts while the veggies cook. Bake for 40-45 minutes.

In a large pot, bring beef stock to a boil and then add potatoes. Simmer for 30 minutes.

In a large pan, brown ground sirloin and onion soup mixture at medium-high heat for 10 minutes. You will probably want to drain this.

When the vegetables finish, remove from oven and take out garlic and tomatoes. Place tomatoes in food processor with parsley, two cloves of roasted garlic, red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt and pepper. Blend until vinaigrette forms. Add beef mixture to vegetable pan and mix in vinaigrette.

Drain potatoes and combine with heavy cream, goat cheese, butter and four cloves of roasted cloves of garlic. Whip until potatoes are smooth.

Top beef and veggie mixture with potatoes and then sprinkle cheddar cheese all over.

Bake in oven (you left it on, right?) for 5-10 min. Eat that s up!

I love leeks but I feel like they turn a bit grey and truth be told, the end result of this dish isn’t the most beautiful. It’s white and grey and a little green and brown and a soupy-muddled mess. But it tastes. Divine. My husband told me well over ten times that he LOVED it and he “hates” mushrooms and leeks.

Ingredients:

2 leeks, washed and sliced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
Some butter, oil, salt, and pepper
3/4 c Chicken Broth
1 cup of mushrooms, chunked
2 chicken breasts, chunked
1/2 heavy cream
1/2 lemon

Directions: Make sure to clean your leeks! It’s kind of tedious but I find it cathartic to seperate and wash each individual layer of leek. Once the leeks are cleaned and sliced, add to a pan with 1 tbs. butter, a swirl of olive oil, garlic, chicken broth, and salt&pepper. This is leeks in their prettiest state:

Let this cook for about 8-10 minutes on medium high heat. Now add chicken, mushrooms and cream. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10-15 minutes (or when chicken is cooked through).

Lastly, squeeze the lemon half over the pan, give it a stir, and serve! We at ours over boil-a-bag rice because we’re classy like that.

Dara and I are horrible at being consistent about blogging. We suck at this, we know.

My heart hasn’t been in the kitchen much lately, I have to say. This summer was a scorcher and the last place I really wanted to be was in the kitchen, cooking. And with Darin traveling as much as he does in the fall, I just don’t get into cooking a lot; he generally likes everything I make and usually I have at least one child making some sort of complaint otherwise. And complaints don’t usually motivate me.

What I’m really trying to say is I haven’t been cooking like I was last year and the year prior. And when you cook the same boring recipes, you don’t like to blog about them, ya know?

I’m hoping this will break my spell, but don’t hold me to it.

Today is my stepdaughter’s fifth birthday and, per our tradition, I decided to make her cupcakes. And we went with pink again this year (after chocolate in 2009 and strawberry in 2008). Last week my mom gave me a little recipe book that included a recipe for pink lemonade cupcakes, so that was on the menu for Emma Day Grace’s big day.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes
Original recipe found in Cake Mix Magic (pilcookbooks.com)

1 pkg white cake mix
1 cup water
3 egg whites
1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup thawed frozen pink lemonade concentrate, divided
2 T vegetable oil
5-8 drops red food coloring, divided
4 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened (not melted)

Ready? Okay!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and, like you don’t already know to do this, line 24 standard muffin cups with paper baking cups; spray with non-stick cooking spray for easy removal later. The recipe says its yield is 24 standard cupcakes, but I had just enough left over to make a dozen mini cupcakes, too. (Don’t know how that happened, but next time I would probably only make mini ones because these bad boys are tart.)

Beat cake mix, water, egg whites, 1/3 cup lemonade concentrate, oil and 4-6 drops of food coloring in a large bowl with electric mixer. Or, if you’re a loser like me and can’t find your beaters, use a whisk and a little elbow grease. Mine was the color of Pepto-Bismol because I squirted pink food coloring in absent-mindedly; I figured the 4-6 drops were red and since I was working with pink food coloring, I should overcompensate a little. Ahem.

Note: I looked up similar recipes online and ended up with about 3/4 cup of lemonade concentrate in my mix, which was way too much for a bunch of 4-5 year olds. My husband’s co-workers, however, were okay with it (and so was Emma, two of the other kids didn’t like it (even my lemonade lover!) and the fourth was just okay with them).

You should know what to do next, right? Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to dip the batter out of the bowl and fill your cute little princess liners.

… Into the oven for about 22 minutes. Marvel at how pink they really are, then close the door and let the oven do its job already (geez!).

While the oven works its inferno-like magic, it’s frosting time for us! If you’re like me, by now you have magically located the beaters you’ve been searching for since Thanksgiving and you rejoice. When the angels have finished singing, beat powdered sugar, butter and 1/4 cup lemonade concentrate in a bowl on medium speed until well blended. Add a couple of drops of food coloring (really, just a couple, learn from last time!).

Cupcakes still baking? Clean up your mess, yo. Unload and reload the dishwasher and wipe down the counters. It will be almost midnight before you finish these (these aren’t complicated, it’s just late).

Dishes done? Check. Cupcakes out of the oven and cooled? Check. Now it’s time to pretend you are cool with an imposter of a pastry bag. Carlo’s Bakery, watch out.

I trust you all know how to do this. My mom taught me this when I was younger. Don’t have a pastry bag? Me neither. Just grab a gallon sized plastic bag, use your rubber spatula to transfer your frosting into it, zip it closed and snip the end off (not too much!). Now you’re ready to pipe frosting onto these bad boys. After you set your camera up on a recipe box and put it in self-timer mode, I mean.

And this would be me piping frosting onto two dozen cupcakes with my ghetto fab pastry bag. In my March of Dimes shirt and my husband’s fleece Aeropostale sweats that are just about the best thing ever. PS – I am growing my hair out and it’s in its icky phase. Enough of Frumpy Echo, though. Back to the cupcakes …

I didn’t do too terribly for my first try, right? The cupcakes needed more time to cool, though, because the frosting melted a bit.

Um, yeah. Neon pink, but they taste just like pink lemonade. In cake. And I mean that in a not-too-shabby kind of way. Like I said, I overloaded on the concentrate because I was an idiot, but toned down it would have been really good.

Next step? Put your 50mm lens on your camera and take more photos. Duh. Because you, my friend, are the bomb.

Oh yes: for a five-year-old princess, you must add the Disney Princess crown cupcake flags and a sparkly 5 candle, found at Walmart.

Package part of the cupcakes in a carrier to take to school and the others for home. Or work, whatever.

Basically, you are wasting time waiting on the mini cupcakes. Because you forgot you turned the oven off after the big ones came out. Oops.

Oh, yum. They are done. Finally! Frost them and marvel over their cuteness. These could really, really work …

I think the birthday girl gives them a grin of approval! She actually had two this morning (shh!). Not sure how they went over at school since her mom picked her up today, but my husband and his co-workers certainly enjoyed them (or so they said).

I’m wondering if this would work with other juice flavors? Grape juice? Pomegranate? Apple (ooh, garnished with a small cinnamon apple, must try this!)? What do you think?

Now, the ingredients that make up this dip (think of it more as a spread for toasts) might horrify or disgust some but I assure you.  I ASSURE YOU.  It is so, so good.  I made it up (I think) one night when my husband was out-of-town so I could eat whatever I wanted and all that I wanted to eat was pickled beets and goat cheese.  So I mashed them together, and viola!  The most delicious, most beautiful in color dip/spread ever created.

Ingredients

• 3 oz. Goat Cheese
• 12 oz. Pickled Beets (or whatever size jar you have)
• 1 tbs. Horseradish
• Zest of 1/2 Orange
• 1 tbs. Fresh Thyme
• Sourdough Bread (or toasts, or baguette, whatever you like)

Combing all ingredients, except bread, in a pan and heat through.

Once the mixture is heated (about 3-5 minutes), blend together with an immersion blender, or in the food processor.

Serve with toasted bread.

The end result is sweet from the beets, tangy from the cheese and a little bit of spicy from the horseradish.  Beets make a great addition to many foods, solely for their gorgeous color alone.  Shred some raw beet in coleslaw or potato salad to turn your dish hot pink!

This morning I told Darin I was tired of the house being so messy and that I was ready to clean after church. And so when the children and I returned, I sent them upstairs to get started on their rooms and I rested for a bit before getting to work. As I cleaned the kitchen I noticed the bananas I bought last weekend either needed to be used or tossed. That pretty much means Echo Day will be doing some baking!

The last time I made the kids banana-chocolate chip muffins, it was a pretty big hit. And because I like it when they like me – the kind of like where they are throwing their arms around my waist and declaring me the best mommy EVAR – I decided it was about time for a freakin’ encore up in here.

Enter the baking.

I used a recipe I found online and modified it to include peanut butter chips. These are what you call Elvis-inspired (my kids are Elvis fans, oddly, so that was one way to convince them the muffins would be fantastic before they’d ever tasted them). All we’re missing is bacon fat (no thank you).

(I also baked blueberry muffins for my husband and he asked if I was trying to get out of doing laundry. I hadn’t even thought of that as a plan! Maybe next time? Note: I still didn’t get out of it, it’s still there, waiting to be folded.)

I wasn’t sure how well they’d really go over, but they LOVED them! And so did I! I am the best mommy EVAR once again (even after I made them all cry today!) They will definitely stay in our rotation. Or, well, they will be made again. I’m not consistent enough to have a rotation, let’s be real here.

Love Me Tender Elvis-Inspired Banana-Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Muffins
(Recipe adapted from one found at epicurious.com)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar (I used light brown sugar)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
2 tsp applesauce (or 1 large egg)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup peanut butter chips and milk chocolate chips, mixed

This has nothing to do with food (not really!), but I wanted to cross-post one of our adventures. On August 1, Darin and I, Dara and Isaac and my father-in-law, Jim, went to see ZZ Top in Southaven, Miss.

Oh yeah, in a limo, so we could partake in adult beverages if we wished and still be safe.

A limo, yeah. A white one.

“We’re making memories!” Jim said over and over.

(I haven’t been in a limo since I went to prom when I was a junior. I didn’t even ride to either of my weddings in a limo. Fancypants, aren’t we?)

On the way there Jim karate-chopped the lid to the styrofoam cooler. The rest of us were chatting and all of a sudden, the lid is breaking into two pieces and he’s grabbing a beer. lololol. Probably not funny to anyone else, but we have been giggling over that for weeks.

Anyway. So we get there and Edward, our driver, has to drop us off about half a mile from the gate because there was nowhere for him to turn around. Or something. But we had to walk. From our limo.

If you’re, say, approaching 30, have four kids, been married twice and generally unhappy with your appearance, your self-esteem is never so low as when you happen upon bikini babes wearing barely there bathing suits and posing with hairy, shirtless drunk guys. The hairy drunk guys I can do without, true, but seriously young bikini babes, you made me feel pretty freakin’ old right then. I look short and chubby compared to Dara, much less an even taller, even tanner, scantily-clad barely legal chick. Ugh.

Oh, that pizza sucked, by the way.

Right after this I saw a former co-worker. Yes, in another state. What can I say? Darin said he can’t take me anywhere, then of course we sat down and behind us was a couple he used to live next door to (and the wife works with his mother). Ha.

The concert was pretty good. We all enjoyed ourselves, except when this jerky lady kept telling Darin and Isaac to sit down. As Dara so eloquently put it, “Sit down? At a rock concert? Seriously?” She pulled on Darin’s shirt at one point and tried to force him to sit, but we exchanged some not-s0-pleasantries and it didn’t happen again. I wanted to punch her because, for real, don’t put your hands on my husband you angry jerk.

I knew five songs the entire night. The last five songs they played. But we had a good time.

When we were done, Edward was somewhere outside. Dara called his cell phone to make sure he was at the amphitheater and he said, “I’m the only white limo out here!” Touché, Edward, touché.

The ride home was … fun? I remember laughing a lot, but I don’t remember why. And that is probably for the best because I can’t share anything incriminating. When we finally got home, Edward scared the bejesus out of me by popping up by the door when I was getting out. Just out of nowhere, there he was! And he was handing me his business card – for his life insurance business.

Ah, memories.

While I am (probably) known in my real life to be a bit leaning towards facetiously over-exaggerating superfluity (see?), I assure you that the title of this post is, in fact, total truth. One should not be intimidated by cooking steak, it is EXTREMELY easy and deceptively inexpensive. Case in point: Uh.. this recipe.

The most important aspect of this recipe is the meat itself. It HAS to be freshly cut when you order. Which also means you HAVE to order it from a butcher. (Be it a “real” butcher, or one at your local grocery store.) Ordering meat from the butcher is really easy and there is a sense of old-timey hokeyness to it that I also enjoy. For this best steak, simply walk up to your meat counter and declare (or politely state): “I need four, six-ounce, one-inch thick filets, please!” That easy! The last time I made this, filet was running $19.99 per pound. My steaks ended up costing about $25.00. Now don’t freak out.  My brother, the math genius, tells me that means that each steak was less than $6 per person. As compared to your $20.00 restaurant steak (per person) that sits under a heating lap.

Ingredients

• 4 six-ounce, one-inch thick Filets
• 2 tbs. Butter
• 1 cup Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 wedge (or container of pre crumbled) Blue Cheese
• 1 tbs. Sherry OR 1 tbs. Sugar

“But Dara, filet is supposed to have bacon!”  If you want to take the time to wrap your filets with bacon, BY ALL MEANS.  I’m not here to judge you.  First turn your oven on to about 375-400 degrees.  Then combine the balsamic vinegar and sherry (or sugar, I just happened to not have sugar but had sherry) in a small pot and bring to a boil, then simmer.  This sauce will need to simmer for at least 20 minutes.  It will get syrupy and coat the back of your spoon.  Stir it occasionally. 

When you are ready to cook the steak, place a pan over medium-high heat (closer to high then to medium), and melt the butter.  If you are afraid of your butter burning (like I was) melt the butter over a lower heat before jacking the heat up to cook the steaks.  When butter is melted, salt and pepper your steaks, and add to the pan.  Cook over the higher heat for four minutes.  The bottom of your steak will be cooked but the top three-fourths will be raw.  Flip and cook the other side for three minutes.  When the three minutes is up, there will probably be a small line of raw meat going around the middle.  Top each steak with a spoonful or so of blue cheese and place the pan in the oven.  Let the steaks cook in the oven for NO MORE then three minutes.  This will produce a perfect medium steak, the inside will be hot pink, but not bloody.

Top steaks with balsamic sauce.  Serve with whipped potatoes.

Send me money, flowers, and gifts.

Side note:  Because I am SO thoughtful, I should tell you that if, GOD FORBID, you are a vegetarian, you can still enjoy one of the finer points of this dish: the sauce.  This balsamic sauce would be insane over strawberries.  Like, really crazy good amazing.  So there you go, hippies.

When I was a pre-teen I fell in love with the move Fried Green Tomatoes. I loved the storytelling done by the elderly Mrs. Threadegoode, the transformation of Evelyn. I loved Idgie and Ruth, Sipsey and Big George, Stump and Smokey Lonesome. I loved the South as a character, the railroad, the food. And I loved the time period (1920s-40s). I recently read the book and liked it even more.

I grew up on the east coast, in the Hampton Roads area in Virginia, and traditional Southern foods were a mystery to me. Did you know you can fry anything? Even candy bars? Here in the South, frying something makes it a delicacy, I think.

One of the first fried things I ever tried was pickles. Yes, my yankee friends, pickles. Dill pickle chips are usually breaded in flour, then fried; spears are best in corn meal. I think I prefer spears. Anyway, you can fry Snickers bars and Twinkies and all kinds of vegetables like squash, zucchini, cucumbers and, of course, tomatoes. Green ones. You know, tomatoes that aren’t ripe.

The first time my brother made them I thought, “People really EAT those? I thought it was just a Hollywood myth!” Oh, but they are delicious!

I made them last night using my brother’s recipe, which was passed down to him by his best friend’s mother in South Carolina. It’s really easy, too. All you need is green tomatoes (I used 3 of them for two adults and three kids), cornmeal (2 cups or so), two eggs, salt, pepper, garlic powder (2 tbsp) and season salt (1 tbsp). Slice your tomatoes, but don’t do it too thin because they’ll be too crunchy; too thick and they won’t heat all the way through. You’ll want 5-7 slices per tomato.

First, you’ll want to coat the tomato slices with eggs, so crack the eggs into a bowl, sprinkle with salt and pepper and whisk. Combine the remaining dry ingredients into a pie plate or similar style dish (you can add more salt and pepper if you’d like). I also added some dill weed and cayenne pepper at one point, but that’s completely up to you (it does add a little kick).

So: dredge in eggs, then cornmeal mix, then fry. I used a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, but you can also use leftover bacon grease or whichever oily substance you prefer. I’ve even seen my brother deep fry them. They’ll take 3-5 minutes per side, until they’re golden brown. You’ll also want to have a plate covered with paper towels handy; when they’re done, set them on the paper towels to help absorb some of the grease.

This is what it should look like inside.

You can bread them in flour if you prefer, but I don’t like flour as a coating so much; I like the crunch of the cornmeal.

The tomatoes are more firm than red ones, because they’re not ripe, and are tangy. You can find them in farmer’s markets (or your own garden); I’ve yet to see them in stores.

These are so good. And pretty easy to make! They’re not at all healthy, but who really cares?

PS – I still have yet to try fried Twinkies. Not sure I can bring myself to it, but I hear they’re great.

I have heard of pho.  Twitter and Facebook (formerly Myspace) gave me enough to know that it is oft eaten by “hipsters” and that it is noodely.  I like both things (hipsters, I like ironically, of course).

Anyway.  I saw a recipe for it in Rachael Ray’s new magazine (she calls hers “Phunky Pho”, oh Rachael!) and I thought “Yes, yes.  I can make this.”  So I did.  It was REALLY good.  I only followed her recipe part of the time.  Do you like really spicy chicken noodle soup full of raw veggies and asian inspired ingredients?  YOU DO??  Perfect.

Ingredients for four:

Chicken with Marinade

• Two chicken breasts, sliced in half longwise (did you know that restaurants are usually serving you a chicken breast this way?  They slice their chicken breasts in half, longwise (butterflying all the way through) and then serve you one of the havles, verrry sneaky!!)
• Allspice (a few shakes), Salt, Pepper, Olive oil (a few glugs), Rice Wine Vinegar (a few glugs), and the zest from one lime

Combine all ingredients in a ziplock baggie for fifteen minutes up to 24 hours.

Broth

• 2 32oz containers Chicken Broth
• 1/2 knob of Ginger
• 3-5 Garlic Cloves (left whole, paper removed)
• 1 pkg. Rice Noodles (any noodle really that you can find in the Asian aisle)

Mix-ins

• 6-10 Radishes, chopped
• 2 Jalapenos, seeds removed, chopped
• Handful of matchstick size Carrots
• Red Onion, chopped
• 1-2 cups Bean Sprouts
• Handful of Fresh Mint
• Handful of Fresh Cilantro
• Lime (the one we zested), cut into wedges
• Sriarcha (also known as “Rooster Sauce”, you will find this in your Asian aisle, it’s a clear bottle filled with spicy sweet red chile sauce, with a picture of a rooster on the front.)
• Hoisin sauce (also in the Asian aisle, it’s a thick soy sauce)

Bring chicken broth, ginger, and garlic to a boil and simmer for 10-15 minutes.  Once the broth is started, cook chicken in a pan over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, per side (no need to add oil to the pan first.)  While the broth is boiling and chicken is cooking, assemble all of your fresh veggies.

When the chicken is done, use two forks to shred it (one fork to hold the chicken, the other to shred.)  To assemble bowls, place chicken, sqeeze of lime wedge, and desired veggies and herb into the bottom of your bowl.  Ladle super hot, noodely broth on top.  Finish with Sriracha and Hoisin.

The wonderful thing about pho is that it’s interactive and eaters  can add (or not!) whatever they like.  I think we can all agree that the best foods are those you can play with!!

For some reason I love chipotle. And salmon. I want chipotle and salmon every single day. But, well, my family may not appreciate that, right? (Boo on them.) So this is what we’re eating this week:

Sunday: Leftover party food

Monday: Shrimp, Tortellini & Spinach

Tuesday: Chicken-artichoke packets with white rice, watermelon

Wednesday: Turkey taco burgers, refried beans

Thursday: Dinner at church/ministry

Friday: Chipotle-rubbed salmon tacos with apple cucumber salsa, garlic and lime shrimp tacos, refried beans

Saturday: Grown-up grilled cheese, chips and dill pickle spears

This week is Darin’s softball tournament and if they win tonight, we’ll have to play the menu by ear. C’est la vie.

I’m so excited about the salmon tacos and the chicken-artichoke packets! In fact, I bought artichokes for the very first time yesterday. (I know, right!)

What do you have planned this week? Anything spectacular?