The best (Americanized) Shepherd’s Pie EVER

and I stand by that.

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!

Cream of Mushroom Soup.. with Chicken! and Leeks! Hold the soup!

No, I don’t think there is anything wrong with this recipe’s title.  Adapted from this Jamie Oliver recipe:  “Chicken and Leek Stroganoff”  just doesn’t hit the same mental flavor notes as my title does. So says I.

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.

Pink Lemonade Cupcakes

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.

Let’s Beet Breast Cancer!!

As you are probably (hopefully) aware, October is National Breast Cancer Month.  I think it is pretty awesome that breast cancer awareness has become such a national platform that even our professional football players wear pink all October long (while hopefully donating huge portions of their salaries to cancer research).  At my previous job we purchased pink shirts to wear every Friday and had at least one luncheon,  in efforts to raise money for breast cancer research and awareness.  The following recipe would be PERFECT to bring to such a luncheon.

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!

Love Me Tender Elvis-Inspired Muffins

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

All shook up:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line twelve 1/3-cup muffin cups with foil muffin liners. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix mashed bananas, applesauce (or egg), melted butter and milk in medium bowl. Stir banana mixture into dry ingredients just until blended (do not overmix). Stir in peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Divide batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake muffins until tops are pale golden and tester inserted into center comes out with some melted chocolate attached but no crumbs, about 32 minutes. Transfer muffins to rack; cool.

But before they cool completely, cut one open, slather on the butter and shove directly into your face. Repeat until you’ve ruined your supper.

These are TO DIE FOR! Just ask Elvis. (Bada-bing! Thanks! I’ll be here all week …)

The best steak you will ever eat.

Period.

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.

Fantastic Fried Green Tomatoes

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.

Faux Pho Bo

I also considered calling this blog “Pho Sho!” or “No Pho-mo!”

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!!

Just Peachy

A few weeks ago I took my children to Jones Orchard, located in Millington, to pick peaches. I figured it’d be a fun thing to do and I was happy they enjoyed it (and want to return). Nevermind the fact that it was about a MILLION degrees out and the humidity was about 150 percent that day.

You only think I’m joking, but I am oh-so-serious. Heat waves are not funny.

We also picked blackberries, but that left a thorn in our side (ha). I don’t think the blackberry patch will be revisited, but we can also pick those in my parents’ backyard, so no biggie.

ANYWAY. Fast-forward a week and it’s time for a barbeque at my in-laws’ house.

Dara had some fabulous food planned and I was looking forward to it. She asked me to bring peach crisp and I’d never made it, but it went over very well. So well that even my brother said it was good.

“I didn’t know Echo could make anything edible,” he said (and by said I mean screamed because he yells everything, he can’t just talk).

He is obviously not a Daylicious fan. The nerve.

Because I was being lazy and watched the USA lose to Ghana and didn’t feel like peeling peaches, I just bought two cans of peaches to use, but I did use some blueberries from Jones Orchard. This recipe is so, so easy! It takes about three minutes, which includes fumbling with wax paper and melting the butter.

Peach-Blueberry Crisp
(adapted from Cooks.com)

1 box yellow cake mix
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cans peaches in heavy syrup (or you can use about 2 cups of fresh peach slices and about a cup of light corn syrup)
1 1/2 cups blueberries
1 stick butter, melted

Line an 8×8 cake or brownie pan with wax paper, then add brown sugar over wax paper. If you’re using canned peaches, empty one can into pan with syrup, then drain the syrup from the second can before adding peaches (if you’re using fresh peaches, just add peaches and syrup); add blueberries. Cover with dry cake mix, then drizzle with melted butter.

Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes at 400 degrees, until top is golden brown.

Then eat! After it’s cooled a little bit. And have ice cream on the side. Who needs a bikini-ready body, anyway?

Meatloaf for People who Hate Meatloaf

Meatloaf is SO GROSS.  The word is gross.  The food is gross.  I love beef as much as the next Texan but meatloaf is the fruitcake of the meat genre.

That means, of course, that meatloaf is one of my husband’s favorite foods.  OF COURSE.

And THAT means that I have had to figure out a way to make a meatloaf that isn’t totally vomit inducing so dear old Isaac will not feel neglected and dear old Dara doesn’t have to make two meals at a time.

Meet  (ha!) Dara’s Italiano Meatloaf.  I tried to remove as much gross as I could and add as much yum as possible, while still keeping things relatively loaf-y. 

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. Ground Beef (I use the leanest I can find)
• 1 small Onion, diced (I use red)
• 1 Bell Pepper, diced (I use any color but green)
• 1 tbs Fresh Basil, chopped (or 1 tsp. dry)
• 1 tbs. Fresh Thyme, chopped (or 1 tsp. dry)
• 1 c Italian Breadcrumbs (or Panko, or whatever you have)
• 1 Egg
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 pkg. pre-sliced Pepperoni (the big round slices in the packages you get by the deli)
• 1 tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
• 1 pkg. Fresh Mozarella Cheese (I like to get the pre-sliced kind in the cheese case, or just get a ball of  it to slice yourself)
• 1/2  jar of Marinara Sauce (your favorite)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Mix together all of the above ingredients EXCEPT for the pepperoni, cheese, and marinara sauce. 

Once completely combined, flatten the meat mixture (I usually use a long baking sheet as a base but you could use your counter or a cutting board).  Press the loaf into a rectangular shape about 8 x 10 inches or a little larger. 

Place slices of pepperoni all over the surface.  I can usually fit at least eight to ten slices.  Top the pepperoni with eight to ten (or more/less) slices of cheese.  VERY CAREFULLY, starting from one end, roll the meat loaf up.  Place it seam side down into a meatloaf pan (you know the ones that are shaped like rectangles with high edges.. you know). 

Bake for twenty-five minutes.  Take it out and top with the marinara sauce and five to eight more slices of cheese.  Place back in the oven and bake for ten minutes more. 

Now you can enjoy a delicious loaf of meat that doesn’t make you gag and doesn’t smell weird and doesn’t have ketchup or anything nasty poured all over it.  Serve with whipped potatoes and a smile because you win again!!