Friday, February 25, 2011

Shepherd's Daughter's Pie


When I was growing up, my favorite thing to eat was my dad's version of Shepherd's Pie: corn, beef, mashed potato. So simple! But I was crazy for it. I was thinking about how good that would be the other night, but wanted to experiment a little. I came up with this recipe that I call the Shepherd's Daughter's Pie. It's a little more complex, but one of my favorite things that I've come up with so far. Also, this is vegetarian friendly, as long as you use the right gravy. I'll post pictures next time I upload!

Ingredients:
-2 lbs of red potatoes for mashed potatoes
-KOSHER salt, black pepper
-butter!
-garlic powder
-pinch of parsley
-milk
-sour cream
-frozen pie crust
-brown gravy mix (you can use whatever variety of gravy you want)
-chopped onions (about 1/2 a yellow onion in mine)
-small can (about 8.5 oz) corn
-panko breadcrumbs (maybe a small handful)
-small handful of parmesan cheese (not the stuff in the shaky-can but the real stuff!)

START with preheating the oven according to the pie crust directions... should be 350-375 degrees in a standard oven. Chop up your potatoes in big chunks, throw them in a pot with about 6-8 cups of water (depending on your pot!) and boil. Once the potatoes seem tender enough, drain the pot, throw the potatoes back into the pot and add milk immediately! Make sure you cut the temperature to zero right after you take the potatoes off to drain them. Just a smart move. You can use however much milk you think is right but I recommend about 3/4-1 cup of milk. Throw in about 1/4 cup butter and a spoonful or two of sour cream. The mashed potatoes I make are always really creamy since I basically copy my dad's "recipe" which is fearless and calorie packed. There is always a way to cut calories in a dish but I say go for it if you're bothering to make this one. Anyway, throw in your seasoning (salt, pepper, parsley, garlic powder). You can put the gravy together at the same time. Just follow the directions on the back and add the chopped onion to the gravy. Heat up the corn (10 minutes in a small pot, add black pepper and a touch of butter here). Once all those components are there, pour the gravy into the pie crust. I suggest going light on the gravy, but use enough to cover the bottom of the crust. On top of that, add a layer of corn, all of it. Load on ALL the mashed potatoes on top of the corn and smooth out. Throw some panko breadcrumbs and parmesan on top. Put in the oven for as long as the pie crust directions suggest (should be about 35 minutes), turning a few times throughout the cooking process. Should be a lovely golden brown! Serve up alone (very hearty) or follow these instructions for a nice side sauce --- 1 part strawberry jelly/jam for every 2 part applesauce, thin slab of butter. Heat in a small saucepan and stir until consistency is a little thicker than normal applesauce.

DELISH! Enjoy :)

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Spicy Pineapple on Broiled Chicken

Ingredients:

-1/2 to 3/4 of a whole pineapple
-1 clove garlic
-1 can tomato sauce w/ jalepeno (I used one that was 7.75 oz)
-1/2 green bell pepper
-1/2 stalk green onions
-1 lime
-2 tblsp olive oil
-pepper & salt to taste

-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-"House Seasoning" -recipe for this is: 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup black pepper, 1/4 cup garlic power... credit to Paula Deen from http://foodnetwork.com/

Start with preheating the broiler. Whilst this is preheating, mix together pineapple, green pepper, green onions, lime, olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, and tomato sauce. Whip this up a little bit, cover, and throw in the fridge. After that, coat the chicken breasts in oil and rub on as much of the house seasoning as you see fit. I put a lot because it added a nice bite to the chicken. I also added a little dab of butter to the tops of each, just to brown them better. Throw this in the broiler. Place chicken on baking sheet. Cook on each side for about 15 minutes or until cooked through ALL THE WAY! The chicken will emit a lot of juices... when your chicken is cooked, cut some slices in the top and pour that extra juice on top. Plate the chicken breasts by pouring the spicy pineapple sauce on top. We ate this with potato and extra pieces of green pepper. Great dish. Not hard, lots of chopping.

This dish was inspired by this one: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/grilled-tuna-with-pineapple-chipotle-salsa-recipe/index.html - we chose to go with chicken because it's much cheaper. We also didn't like the looks of the peppers in the adobo and didn't feel like getting too crazy so we ended up throwing our own sauce together, which turned out great!

Friday, February 18, 2011

Three Ingredient Splash on Black Bean Cornsy Smash








This recipe is fully vegetarian and delicious! This is another one that takes barely any time at all. Lots of chopping, a little bit of heating, and you're good. Awesome dip served with corn tortilla chips. Serve as dinner though- very filling.

Ingredients:
3 Ingredient Splash
-1/2 cup chopped cilantro
-1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or 1/2 cup, depending on your tastes)
-juice of one lime
-kosher salt & black pepper to taste - not necessary, but recommended



Black Bean Cornsy Smash
-1 can black beans
-small can of corn
-2 diced avacados
-1-2 cups of cherry tomatoes
-1/2 red onion, diced



Mix the ingredients for the Splash in a bowl, cover, put aside. Heat up the corn & black beans (I choose to do this separately to keep the tastes of each more unique but I bet if you heat them together it would be fine). Chop up the avacado & red onion. Throw avacado, red onion, and cherry tomatoes together in a large bowl. Once warm, throw in the black beans and corn, mix together. Then, pour the Splash over the Smash, mix together. Simple!

Barbie's Tuna Salad

I had never tried canned tuna before the first time I made this! I was pretty stoked to have such a successful first experience with making it (although, let's be honest, tuna salad is pretty hard to mess up!). This can be eaten alone with pita chips or pita bread, but I recommend trying it with some honey wheat berry toast in sandwich form. Small raw cherry tomatoes and roasted potatoes pair really well with the taste of this tuna salad. The last time I made this, I shared it with three large guys and there was barely any left! But it makes plenty. Either way, this tuna salad keeps well for a few days in the fridge! Very easy, cheap dinner! Takes ten minutes!

Ingredients:
-3 cans of white, albacore tuna (in water). Drained & flaked!
-12 tblsp of mayonnaise - here, I'm going to say you can be really experimental with both type and amount of mayo used. Miracle whip, slighlty spicy mayo- both good ideas.
-3 tblsp Parmesan cheese, preferably fresh
-6 tblsp relish ... the original recipe calls for sweet relish but both sweet or dill work here
-a couple of shakes of dried, minced onion flakes, depending on how much you like onions
-1/2 teaspoon curry powder
-3 tblsp dried parsley
-2-3 tblsp dried dill weed
-1 pinch garlic powder
-1/2 teaspoon black pepper
-This recipe can use salt but I didn't find it necessary (and I love salt!) - especially if you pair it with the potatoes. Very salty.

In a large bowl, mix tuna, mayo, cheese, & onion flakes. Mix together all the seasonings and serve it up. I find it tastes a little better after sitting in the fridge for 20-30 minutes just to settle but if you are in a hurry, skip this step. Still a great meal!

The original recipe was posted at: http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/barbies-tuna-salad/Detail.aspx - My post is this same recipe but doubled-ish and with some slight alterations and comments. Thanks!

*I don't ever cook completely by the recipe and only use actual measuring tools in baking. It's not something I am bragging about but rather something I am lending caution to!