Swedish Meatballs

From All Recipes:

Allrecipes.com/recipe/chef-johns-swedish-meatballs/

I was having a huge craving for meatballs and this recipe came up on google with lots of good reviews

Sadly we all just thought it was "meh" and did not provide the flavor we were looking for.  Maybe we should have had them with lingonberry sauce. 

Spicy Taco Pie

as adapted from the cookbook Company's Coming for Kids

500g lean ground beef
brown beans in tomato sauce 398ml
envelope taco seasoning mix 35g
cornmeal 1 tablespoon
biscuit mix 2 cups
milk 2/3 cup
grated monterey jack 1/2 cup
grated cheddar 1/2 cup
(we used 1 cup of  tex mex shredded)
crushed corn chips 1/2 cup
shredded lettuce 1 cup
1 med tomato - chopped
green onions - thinly sliced
sour cream 1/2 cup

Place oven rack in center position.  Preheat to 400F.  Grease pie plate.
Brown ground beef in frying pan over med heat. Stir in beans and taco seasoning.  Reduce heat to low. Simmer uncovered for 5 min.
Sprinkle pie plate bottom with cornmeal.
Combine biscuit mix and milk in a bowl and stir until it forms a ball.  Knead dough 7-8 times on lightly floured surface.  Roll out on waxed paper into 12" (30 cm) circle.  Turn dough over into pie plate. Press dough lightly to form a shell.  Spoon beef mixture into shell.  Bake ~12 min until crust is golden.  Remove to wire rack.  Sprinkle with cheese, corn chips, lettuce, tomato and green onion.  Place dollops of sour cream on top.  Cut into 6 wedges.

This was really easy to make and really tasty.  It may not be the healthiest dish we've ever made but when both kids eat it with such enthusiasm - we will make this again!

Family Meat Loaf with special Meat Loaf Sauce

This recipe is from The all new Purity Cookbook, reprinted in 2001, first published in 1967 (yes, I typed that right!!) I use this book often, a lot of childhood favorites made by my mom were from here, which is why I had to get a copy for myself.

FAMILY MEAT LOAF

1 1/2 pounds minced beef

1 beaten egg

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp instant minced onion (I used 1 small fresh onion, diced)

1/2 tsp dried parsley flakes

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp pepper (I use more)

1/4 tsp monosodium glutamate (I did not use, yikes!!)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce (I use a bit more)

Blend thoroughly.
Pack lightly into 9x5" loaf pan. (I use a jumbo muffin tin for individual servings)
Bake at 350 for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours. (Small ones take about 40 minutes)

MEAT LOAF SAUCE
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp mustard

RATINGS:

Heather - 10 - "A classic"

Brad - 9.5 - "I LOVE this sauce"

NOTES:

It seems like a lot of milk and oats, but trust me, it makes this meat loaf yummy.

I mix the milk, oats and egg together first and let sit for a couple of minutes. The oats soak up the milk and it helps the meat loaf stay nice and moist when baked.

We do love the sauce. In the summer I make a big batch and keep it in the fridge to use on hamburgers and hot dogs. Yum.

Beef and Pineapple Red Curry

The current issue of Everyday Food Magazine "have you tried?" section features Thai curry paste. I had half a pineapple left so I thought that I would give this recipe a try.

BEEF AND PINEAPPLE RED CURRY

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup red curry paste

1 pound sirloin steak, cut against the grain in very thin strips

1/2 pound green beans cut in half crosswise

2 cups large diced pineapple

1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn

In a large skillet or wok, heat oil over medium-high. Add curry paste and cook stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add steak and cook, stirring, until browned, 2 minutes. Add green beans and pineapple and cook, stirring, until pineapple starts to release juices, 1 minute. Add broth and coconut milk and cook at a rapid simmer until green beans are crisp-tender, 8 minutes. Serve over rice topped with basil.

RATINGS:

Heather - 8 - "OK, but not great, I like the basil"

Brad - 7.5 - "Too spicy for me"

NOTES:

I only used 1/4 of the red curry and even that was toooooo spicy for both of us. The container of red curry paste I bought is going to last 20 years at this rate.

I used light coconut milk and the sauce was very runny. I added cornstarch to thicken it, as I like my sauces a bit thicker. If I make this again I would try regular coconut milk.

It was a fast and easy recipe to make.

Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs

So I was going to blog about this new recipe we tried and I even took a picture:

I then logged into Blogger and started to type Baked Spaghetti into the title.  Up came a pop up window filling in the rest of the title for me. 

Sigh.

Sure enough, I made this back in Feb as seen here.  Strangely (or not) both kids felt the same way they did when I made this back in Feb.  So much for being unique!

Baked Spaghetti and Meatballs

From the Sandi Richard's cookbook "Eating Forward" (very loosely based as my husband modified it)

Make some 1" meatballs with ground beef, egg & spices.  Add them to a fry pan preheated at medium. Add chopped onion, celery and carrots.  Once the meatballs are brown - remove them and set aside.  Leave vegetables in, add a 680ml can of pasta sauce, 1/3 can water and 1tsp Italian seasoning.  Simmer to blend flavors while cooking the pasta.

Cook the pasta 2 min less than package directions.  Drain.

In the bottom of a cake/lasagna pan put a little bit of sauce on the bottom.  Top with 1/3 of the cooked pasta, sauce, 1/3cup ricotta cheese, parm cheese (3/12 cup) and shredded mozza (1/3 cup).  Repeat 2 more times but on the last layer - scatter meatballs on the top before you add the sauce and leave the mozza off. Cover with foil and put in 375F preheated oven for 25 min.  Add remaining mozza on top and broil - watch carefully.

While Miss Almost vegetarian tolerated this - Mr Picky was really NOT a fan!  Both my husband and I liked this and we would eat it again. 

Steakhouse Steaks with Roquefort Chive Sauce

From the Barefoot Contessa cookbook "How Easy is That"
or as seen here:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/steakhouse-steaks-recipe/index.html

cut and pasted for convenience here:

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 2 (10-ounce) filet mignon
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon fleur de sel
• 1 tablespoon coarsely cracked black peppercorns
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, optional
• Roquefort Chive Sauce, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Heat a large, well-seasoned cast iron skillet over high heat until very hot, 5 to 7 minutes.
Meanwhile, pat the steaks dry with a paper towel and brush them lightly with vegetable oil. Combine the fleur de sel and cracked pepper on a plate and roll the steaks in the mixture, pressing lightly to evenly coat all sides.
When the skillet is ready, add the steaks and sear them evenly on all sides for about 2 minutes per side, for a total of 10 minutes.
Top each steak with a tablespoon of butter, if using, and place the skillet in the oven. Cook the steaks until they reach 120 degrees F for rare or 125 degrees F for medium-rare on an instant-read thermometer. (To test the steaks, insert the thermometer sideways to be sure you're actually testing the middle of the steak.)
Remove the steaks to a serving platter, cover tightly with aluminum foil and allow to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes. Serve hot with Roquefort Chive Sauce on the side.

Roquefort chive sauce:

nocoupons

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 2 ounces French Roquefort cheese, crumbled (4 ounces with rind)
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives

Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook at a low boil, stirring occasionally, until the mixture has become thick and creamy, about 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat, add the cheese, salt, pepper and chives and whisk rapidly until the cheese melts.
Yield: 4 servings
 ***************************
 My husband is the one who made this one.

It certainly looked nice:

 

The sauce never even made it to the table though.  Neither of us had ever had roquefort cheese before and now - neither of us will have it again.  Hee Hee.  It stank to high heaven and had such a strong taste.  DH dumped it out before the steaks were done because neither of us could stand it  

The steak - it wasn't great.  With a steak like that my husband usually BBQs it and it comes out fork tender.  Maybe we're just not pan steak savvy but we both thought this was a complete waste of cow. Both kids ate the steak without complaint but that's only because they have short memories from summer and forget how good it can be.  :) We won't make this again and I've added a sad face in PEN next to the recipe in the book so no one is ever tempted again.  LOL

Braised Beef Short Ribs and Polenta

Today at the grocery store I saw short ribs and thought that since I had the time it would be a great day to make them.

To braise the short ribs:

Brown them on all sides, remove & put in dutch oven

Saute a medium onion

Deglaze pan with 1 cup red wine

Pour over ribs and add 2 cups of beef broth

Put in oven for 4 hours

Polenta

from EDF Jan/Feb 2010 page 73

(I halved the recipe)

2 cups skim milk

2 1/2 cups chicken broth

2/3 cup quick cooking polenta

salt and pepper

In a large pot bring milk and broth to a boil.

Gradually whisk in polenta.

Continue to whisk until polenta thickens.

Reduce heat to low, season with salt and pepper.

Simmer gently stirring occasionally until cooked (about 25 minutes).

Whisk in 2 tsp butter.

Ratings:

Brad - 8 - "The yellow gooppy stuff is great"

(he refuses to call it polenta because it sounds like placenta)

Heather - 9 - "Great change from the ordinary side dish"

Mini Cheeseburgers

From Martha Steward Everyday Food
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/mini-cheeseburgers

Ingredients

Serves 8

• 1 pound ground beef chuck (95 percent lean)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 slices cheddar (2 ounces)
• 8 whole-wheat dinner rolls, split and lightly toasted
• 1 cup shredded romaine lettuce
• 1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
• 16 dill pickle chips
• 3 tablespoons mustard

Directions

1. Heat broiler, with rack in top position. Divide beef into 8 balls. Press each lightly to form 1/2-inch-thick patties and season both sides with salt and pepper. Broil patties about 5 minutes for medium. Remove from oven and top each with a cheese slice. Broil until cheese melts, about 1 minute.
2. Serve burgers on rolls with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and mustard.

DH actually made this one.  I have a huge aversion to touching raw meat.  I think I traded him that task for giving Miss Almost Vegetarian a bath.    He couldn't resist adding an egg to the raw burger and we did have fries instead of dill pickle chips. 

This was a HUGE hit with both Mr Picky and Miss Almost Vegetarian who practically wolfed  it down.  Mr Picky went so far as to announce that this was the best thing that he had all week.  As for my husband and I...little burgers are fun.  I would rather season these up a little - they were a bit bland but we will make something like this again. 

Calabrese Lasagna

as adapted from the cookbook "Eating Forward" by Sandi Richard

(found this cookbook for 40% off at Safeway just before Christmas)

Sauce for 3 dinners:
1 tsp EVOO
1 onion
2 tsp fresh garlic from a jar
1/4 green bell pepper
450g ground beef
10 mushrooms
2 cans tomato pasta sauce (680ml each)

1 loaf Calabrese bread (we used French)

2 cups sauce per side, each layer has 1 cup (4 cups total for both sides)
1 cup 1% cottage cheese per side, each layer has 1/2 cup (2 cups total)
1/4 cup parm cheese/light grated per side, each layer is 2T (1/2 cup total)
1 cup mozza/part skim/shredded per side, each layer has 1/2 cup (2 cups total)

Preheat oven to 425F.  Heat oil in large pot. Finely chop onion, adding to pot as you cut. Add garlic and stir. Finely chop green pepper and add to pot. Add ground beef stirring occasionally until meat is no longer pink. Wash and slice mushrooms, add to pot as you cut. Add sauce and stir.  Cook until heated through. Remove from heat.

Set aside 3 cups of sauce to use with another recipe - freezes well.

Slice bread lengthwise, remove most of the white bread from the center of each side with your fingers. Smear sauce on the bottom of each side, then cottage cheese.  Sprinkle on parm and mozza cheese. Repeat layering.  Place one side on a cookie sheett. Bake cheese side up for 15 minutes.  Slice into thick slices and serve with salad.

Wrap the other side in foil then plastic wrap and freeze for dinner at another time.

My picture here is not good. I forgot to take one so the picture is of the leftovers... 5 days later. LOL  I'll try to take a better pic when we defrost and eat the other half.

This was really easy to make and everyone loved it.  Even Miss Almost Vegetarian wolfed hers down and asked for more. Mr Picky whined a little about green peppers but still managed to eat his piece.  We will make this one again.

Beef and Bok Choy on Vermicelli Pasta

as adapted from "Eating Forward" by Sandi Richard

6 baby bok choy
1 tsp sesame oil
675g flank or skirt steak
1 tsp sesame oil (yes, again)
8 mushrooms
1/2 onion
1/2 red bell pepper
1 tsp fresh garlic
1T soy sauce
1T sweet thai chili sauce
2T Kepac Manis (sweet soy sauce) - we used regular soy sauce
340g vermicelli pasta


Cut off the end of each bok choy at the root. Separate leaves and bathe in a large bowl of cold water to remove grit. Let stand.


Begin heating water for pasta in a large pot.  Heat oil in a fry pan or large pot at medium high. Cut beef into thin strips, against the grain and gradually add to pan as you cut. Stir until browned. Transfer to plate.  Add additional oil to pan at med heat. Rinse and cut mushrooms into quarters adding to pan s you cut. Cut onion into chunks and add to pan. Silver pepper, adding to pan as you cut. Add garlic. Add water (1/4 cup), soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, Kepac Manis and stir. Slightly thicken then reduce heat to a simmer. 


Cook pasta.  Add precooked meat to sauce pan and stir. Add rinsed bok choy and toss with meat and sauce. Partly cover until bok choy is completely wilted. Serve beef and bok choy on the pasta.

I don't think any of us were huge fans of this dish.  We found it to be quite tasteless and maybe it was because we use soy sauce instead of Kepac Manis.  Either way, we won't be making this dish again.

Bolognese with Pappardelle

as adapted from the book Rachel Ray's Look + Cook

2T EVOO
1/4 pound bacon, cut into small pieces
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
1 onion diced
3-4 garlic cloves, minced or grated
1 carrot, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
salt and pepper
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 bay leaves
1T fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1 tsp dried marjoram or oregano, 1/3 palmful
1/2 tsp crush red pepper flakes
1/4 cup tomato paste
2 cups red wine
3 cups beef stock
1 pound pappardelle or fettucine pasta
1 cup whole milk or half & half
1 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano (I used the prepackaged Kraft Italian blend)
1/2 cup chopped parsley

In a large pot, heat EVOO over med-high then add bacon and cook, stirring occasionally until it is browned and the fat is rendered, 3-4 minutes.  Add the ground beef and pork and brown for 8-10 min, stirring occasionally. Add the onions, garlic, carrot and celery.  Cook, stirring, until the veggies are softened, 6-7 min.  Add salt/pepper, nutmeg, bay leaves, thyme, marjoram or oregano, and red pepper flakes. Add tomato paste and stir for a minute or two then add the wine and scrape up all the drippings. Reduce wine by half for 2-3 min then stir in the stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and thicken the sauce for 1-1.5 hours, stirring occasionally.  Cook the pasta.  When pasta is done reserve a cup of the pasta water before draining.  Add the milk to the sauce and simmer for a couple of minutes to heat through. Discard the bay leaves and adjust the seasonings to taste. Turn off the heat. Add the reserved pasta water back into the pasta pot, along with 1 cup of grated cheese and a couple handfuls of chopped parsley. Add half the pasta sauce and toss to coat.  Serve in shallow bowls, topped with additional sauce and cheese.

Miss Almost Vegetarian was not a huge fan of this but managed to eat some of it.  Mr Picky thought it was yummy.  Both DH and I LOVED this too.  We were also make this one again.  That's 2 for 2 in this recipe book!

Meatball Stew

Taken from Taste of Home magazine from years ago...
It's not a new recipe for me but it is a yummy one that I just made again this week.

And here is what it looks like once you eat some...  :)

Both kids actually liked this as did we.  We will make this one again.   I love coming home from work and finding supper already made in the slow cooker!

Beef Marguerite

From the Company's Coming Cookbook Casseroles

1T cooking oil
1 lb/500g ground beef
1 cup onion, finely chopped

1/4 cup ketchup
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow corn meal
2T baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp curry powder

1/3 cup shortening
3/4 cup milk  (I needed more)

Heat oil in frying pan. Add beef and onion. Brown. Transfer to bowl.

Add Ketchup, pepper and soup. Stir. Cool.

In medium sized bowl, measure in flour, corn meal, baking powder, salt and curry. Stir.  Add shortening. Cut in until crumbly.

Stir in milk. Add more if necessary. Dough should be rather stiff. Turn out on floured board. Knead 10-12 times. Roll out to form 12" square. Spread with meat. Roll in jelly roll fashion. Seal seam. Cut into 8 slices. Place in greased pan cut side flat down. Bake in 400F oven for 20-25 min. Serve with mushroom sauce (can of crm of mushroom soup and 1/2 cup water). Serves 4-8.

I *LOVE* this.  I've made it before and I will make it again.  Both Mr.Picky and Miss Almost Vegetarian eat this fairly well.  DH is not a huge fan.

Pineapple Sauce for Meatballs by Melanie

As adapted from the cookbook Grandma's Touch by Irene Hrechuk & Verna Zasada

Have I mentioned how much I love this book?  We have a number of favorite recipes from this book....

It calls for making the meatballs but I just used the frozen precooked ones from M&M - mostly thawed.


2T Cornstarch
1 cup brown sugar
2z398ml cans pineapple tidbits, drained, reserve juice/syrup
2/3 cup vinegar
1/2 chopped green pepper


Mix cornstarch with sugar.  Add reserved pinapple syrup, soy sauce and vinegar.  Cook over low heat, stirring, until smooth and thick.  Simmer for 2 minutes.  Add pineapple tidbits and green pepper.  Pour sauce over prepared meatballs in an overproof casserole.  Bake at 350F for 30 min or until thoroughly heated.

This was very very tasty!  DH says to not put all the pineapple in and to add more green pepper.  If making with the M&M Meatshop meatballs either defrost them first or add cooking time to make sure it's thoroughly heated.  Miss Almost-Vegetarian was not a fan of this despite the fact that she loves pineapple.  Mr Picky would not even try it.  Yet, when we forced him he said it tasted like sweet and sour sauce and that it wasn'tyucky after all.  He maintains that his official rating is "not as yucky as it looks".  We will make this again.

30 Minute Meals Again...

Hello from Melanie...

From Rachael Ray's 30 Min Meals 2 and as seen on the food network website.   Cut and pasted for convenience below:


Baby Spinach Salad with Thyme and Dijon Vinaigrette with Crisp Swiss Cheese Crisps

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1 sack, 12 ounces, baby spinach or 3/4 pound from bulk bins
1 small red apple, cored and thinly sliced
1 wedge lemon
3 or 4 sprigs fresh thyme, stripped from stems and chopped
1 rounded teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, eyeball it
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, eyeball the amount

Directions
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add shredded Swiss in small, 2-inch piles to the hot skillet. When the cheese fries to a light golden color at the edges, about 1 minute, and can be moved with a thin spatula, turn the cheese rounds, cook another 15 seconds, then remove rounds from the skillet and transfer rounds to a work surface to cool. The cheese crisps will cool within a minute or so. Repeat to form 12 to 16 crisps, 3 or 4 per salad. Crisps may also be flavored with cracked black pepper and chopped thyme or other herbs.

Place spinach in a bowl. After slicing your apple, squeeze a wedge of lemon over the slices to keep them from browning. Toss apples with spinach. For dressing, combine thyme, Dijon mustard and vinegar with a whisk. Stream in olive oil while continuing to whisk dressing. Pour dressing over the salad and toss to coat greens and apple evenly. Pile salad onto cheese roundss and serve.



Sirloin Beef Burgundy: Boeuf Bourguignon

Ingredients

3 slices bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons butter, divided
16 white mushrooms, medium in size, wiped with damp cloth to clean, thinly sliced
1 cup frozen pearl onions, defrosted and drained
Salt and pepper
2 pounds lean sirloin, 1-inch thick, trimmed and cubed into 1 inch pieces
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup burgundy wine
1 1/2 cups store bought beef stock
Bouquet of 3 or 4 sprigs each sage and fresh thyme, tied with kitchen string

Herb Egg Noodles:
12 ounces wide egg noodles, cooked to package directions
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley leaves, 2 handfuls
12 blades fresh chives, snipped or finely chopped

Directions
Heat a large deep skillet with a heavy bottom and a lid over medium high heat. Add bacon to the pan and brown. Remove crisp bacon bits with slotted spoon. Add 1 1/2 tablespoons butter to the pan and melt into bacon drippings. Add mushrooms to the pan and turn to coat evenly with butter and bacon drippings. Season the mushroom slices with salt and pepper. Saute mushrooms 2 to 3 minutes and add onions to the pan. Continue cooking onions and mushrooms 2 to 3 minutes longer, then transfer to a plate and return pan to the heat. Add remaining butter to the pan and melt it, then add meat to very hot pan and brown evenly on all sides, keeping the meat moving. Add flour to browned meat in the pan and cook the flour 2 minutes. Add wine to the pan slowly while stirring. When the wine comes up to a bubble and you have scraped up the pan drippings, add the stock and bouquet of fresh sage and thyme sprigs to the pot. Cover the pan. When the liquid boils, reduce heat to medium. Cook covered 5 minutes, remove lid and add mushrooms, onions and bacon back to the pot. Simmer with the cover off until sauce thickens a bit. Adjust seasoning and remove herb bouquet.

Toss hot egg noodles with butter and herbs. Place a bed of noodles in a shallow bowl and pour beef burgundy over the noodles and serve.




Before cooking this - have one of these....

It does help with the cooking process....and helps pass the time while you watch the swiss cheese mounds brown.

 

While everything is simmering at the end, be sure to take a sniff.  Yum.

It`s funny how much tastier parsley can make noodles look!
 

When it`s all said and done, here is what they look like:

Note that this recipe makes a TON of food.  I made this while Mr Picky and Miss Almost Vegetarian were away at their Grandma`s house.  We had leftovers for a few days with this amount.  Both DH and I were a little startled by the taste of the salad dressing.  We were both thinking that the dressing should be fruity tasting.  However by the end of the salad - we had gotten used to it and really liked it.  I loved the addition of apples and the swiss cheese crisps to the salad.   DH gave 2 thumbs up to the beef dish.  I thought it was good but picked out all the mushrooms.  I am after all, Mr Picky`s Mom.  :)  We will make this again.

Super Sloppy Joes by Melanie

As adapted from the cookbook Rachel Ray's 30 Minute Meals 2

as seen on Food Network here

This was a super fast and easy recipe to make.  As it brags - it does only take 30 minutes to get this on the table - a plus after a day of work and kids to get to bed!

More importantly EVERYONE liked it!!  At first I wondered if I was the only one that liked it.  I bit into mine and made all sorts of yummy noises only to realize that no one else was making the same noises.  I raised my eyebrows at my husband who merely nodded his approval as he enjoyed his.  Mr Picky only griped a little about the onions and red pepper inside but managed to eat most of his.  Most surprising was Miss Almost Vegetarian who ate faster than Mr.Picky.  

We WILL make this one again.

Beef Taco Ring by Melanie

As adapted from the Pampered Chef cookbook "All the Best"

Brown some hamburger with some onion.

Stir in a package of taco seasoning mix (we like Taco Time), 2 Tablespoons of water and 1.5 cups of shredded cheddar cheese.  Mix well.

Using a large baking stone, open 2 packages of Pilsbury Crescent Rolls - arrange the triangles in a circle (or in another shape like the Chicken Club ring I made a couple of months ago).  Press down on the middle seams.

Using a large scoop, scoop the filling evenly over the ring.

Bring the triangles over the meat and tuck underneath.  Brush the top with egg white and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of grated cheddar.  Bake at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown (Just over 20 minutes in my oven).

You can serve as is, or put fillings in the center.

I thought this tasted GREAT.  I liked it better than the chicken club but not as much as the chicken and broccoli ring.  My husband thought this was really tasty as well.  The 2 shockers were the kids.  Miss Almost Vegetarian scarfed up her piece in record time and asked for "mo".  Mr Picky declared that this was better than "real tacos" which is a huge compliment coming from him.

All in all, it's not the healthiest recipe but we will make it again sparingly because it is delicious!!

Warm and Yummy...get in my Tummy

Hello Everyone! Thank you very much for letting me join your food blog! Right from the very first time Heather had shown me this blog I have been very excited about it. I am not a chef extraordanaire like Heather but she has shown me some tricks of the trade and I now love to experiment in the kitchen.

For my first blog post I have chosen one of my favorite recipes.

Italian Potpie

The recipe can be found in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food magazine issue 58 on pg 89. You can also get this recipe from her website here is a link.

This meal looks really cute served in ramekins as shown on the website but I don't have these yet so I just used an oval corningware baking dish.



The ingredients are items that are always on hand in my house so if I am low on groceries this recipe is usually one that I can make and not have to run to the store.

My favorite part of this dish is the biscuits that are baked on top. They have crushed rosemary in them and the rosemary with the tomatoe sauce ground beef mixture is a fantastic flavour combo.

Prep time is about 35 minutes!




Enjoy!

Comfort Food

I am having a lot of fun with this blog and Brad is definitely enjoying the end result of my experiments, although he is not liking the amount of dishes I have been creating (we don't have a dishwasher).

My newest recipe comes from Anthony Sedlak's show on Food Network, The Main. While watching this episode I learned something new. What most of us think of when we think of Shepard's Pie is in fact Cottage Pie! A traditional Shepard's Pie is made with ground lamb (makes sense when I think about what a shepard does) and a Cottage Pie is made with ground beef. I made the whole meal as he did on the show, Cottage Pie with Irish Peas and Cabbage.

It is a long recipe so I have included a link to it for you.

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/ontv/shows/The-Main/recipe.html?dishID=8510&titleid=108594

Ratings:
Brad - 10 - "Every bite is a happy place"
Heather - 10 - "Worth all of the effort and then some"

There are much easier recipes to be found for this type of meal but I have never tasted one as good. The mashed potatoes for the topping are absolutely delicious and would be great on their own as would the Irish Peas and Cabbage.