Shepherd's Pie...with Biscuits!

Shepherd's pie is wonderful. It's a clean-out your fridge and feel really good about yourself kind of dish. And from the traditional mashed potatoes to random drop biscuits, the toppings are endless!

Dice and saute the following veggies:
1 Onion
4 Carrots
2 Celery Ribs
1 Sweet Potato

Add 1 pound ground meat (I used...you guessed it...ground venison). Once the meat is browned, add 1/2 pound sliced mushrooms.

Cook for about 5 more minutes, and then stir in about 1/4 cup flour. Slowly add about 2 cups beef broth, and a couple dashes each of Worcestershire and hot sauce. Add 1/2 to 1 cup frozen peas, and then season with salt and pepper. Simmer to thicken the mixture while you mix up your favorite biscuit mix. It could be a boxed mix, or just a simple recipe, like...

2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and then cut in 4 Tablespoons butter. Stir in 3/4 cups milk just until everything is moistened.

Whatever biscuit recipe you use, once it is mixed up, here are your next steps: Pour the meat and veggie mixture into a large casserole, and then drop spoonfuls or pieces of biscuit dough. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 20-30 minutes, watching the biscuits to make sure they don't get too brown. I like to cook mine on the longer side because I like my veggies pretty tender.


Enjoy!

Quinoa with Sausage and Beans

Here's another quinoa recipe! If you haven't tried this delightful grain-like complete protein yet, please do so!

Slice sausage of your choice and cook in olive oil in a large pot. Once cooked, add 2 cups quinoa, 1 can light kidney beans (drained and rinsed), 1 can great northern beans (drained and rinsed), 2 cups chicken broth, 1/4 cup bbq sauce, and a dash of hot sauce. Bring to a boil and then transfer to a baking dish. Put in 400 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the liquid is absorbed.


Enjoy!

Vegetable Soup Remix

Let me set the scene for you.

We have a garden. It is...small. But it is ours, and we love it. We get tons of tomatoes from our garden. But our squash plants are not very productive (yet...I'm an eternal optimist). So sitting on my kitchen counter I had 1 little butternut squash and 1 lonely yellow squash.

Yesterday I went to church with the normal suspects in my purse, and thanks to my sweet friend Lauren, I came home with a purse full of okra and these cute little orange peppers.

Okra? I've never cooked okra in my life. And now my purse was full of it.

Add all that to the half-bag of baby carrots that really needed to be eaten, sitting in my fridge, and the bundle of kale that I got on sale at the market, and what do you get?

Vegetable Soup Remix.

And I'll be honest, it was awesome. And just what this little baby inside of me was craving.

I heated some olive oil in a pot and added the veggies as I chopped. Sliced carrots, then chopped butternut and yellow squash, sliced okra, chopped peppers, minced garlic. Then I double-checked in my freezer and lo and behold, there was a bag of frozen green beans only about a third of the way full. Let's throw those in too. Top that with some course ground salt and pepper, chili powder, can of diced tomatoes, and frozen homemade chicken stock; chop or tear kale into pieces and add to the pot; throw in a can of drained chickpeas; bring to a boil, and simmer while you go running with the Coach and the Little...and you come home to a glorious feast of randomness that makes you want seconds.

And thirds.


Enjoy!

Walnut Granola

This is super good. I made enough for us to eat for breakfast all week, but not enough to snack on in between. So when the Coach is home I have to stand in the kitchen guarding the bowl with a wooden spoon. Try telling him that cereal is only for breakfast.

Heat oven to 275. In a large bowl, mix 4 1/2 cups rolled oats, 1 cup untoasted wheat germ, and 1 cup oat bran. Set aside.

On the stovetop, heat 1 cup real maple syrup, 2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 Tablespoons canola oil, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, and 1/2 to 1 tsp salt (depending on taste). When the mixture just starts to bubble, remove from heat and mix together with dry ingredients. Place in an even layer on a parchment lined baking sheet. Put in 275 oven for 20 minutes; stir and put back in oven for 10 more minutes. Then add 1 cup finely chopped walnuts and return to oven for 10 minutes. Take out of oven, turn up heat to 350, and then finish by baking until browned to your liking (it takes about 10 more minutes for me.) Allow to cook completely and then store in an airtight container.


Enjoy!

Brushetta Chicken Casserole

This is a dish that takes about 7 minutes of prep time and tastes amazing. It's a great one for a busy weeknight, yet it tastes so good that I'm pretty sure the next time I take a meal to someone, this will be it.

This recipe comes straight from a Kraft "Food and Family" magazine.

Preheat oven to 400. In a medium bowl, mix 1 can diced tomatoes (undrained), 1 6oz package of chicken stuffing mix, 1/2 cup water, and 2 cloves garlic, minced. In a baking dish, place a pound or more of boneless skinless chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces. Top with mozzarella cheese and basil (the recipe calls for 1 tsp dried basil but I used fresh basil out of my garden), then top with the stuffing/tomato mixture. Bake for 30 minutes or until the chicken is done. I served it with a simple mushroom rice pilaf (saute mushrooms in butter, add rice and stir for a few minutes, add water and chicken bullion, bring to a boil, cover and simmer until done) and steamed broccoli.



Oh, it's so good. Please make it. And enjoy!

Chicken Brunswick Stew

I'm BACK!!!!

It has been entirely too long since I have put recipes up consistently...but there is a reason...a very good one...a very tiny one who is growing inside of me as we speak! Yes, we are having another Little in about 6 months! And the first trimester has not been my friend! But thankfully I am coming out of it...food tastes good again...and that means I'm back in the kitchen!!!

Needless to say, I have no idea where this blog is going in the next few months. Wherever the cravings take me, I suppose. And tonight it is...Brunswick stew!

Start with a lot of cooked, shredded chicken. You could boil a whole chicken, or as I did, several split chicken breasts (which go on sale every few weeks down to 98 cents per pound...maybe even lower in other places!) However you go about it, cook and finely shred your chicken, and in a large pot add to the chicken...

1 can crushed tomatoes
1 can creamed corn
1 cup frozen baby lima beans
1 cup frozen green peas
1 cup bbq sauce
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 Tablespoon hot sauce
Salt, pepper, and celery salt to taste

Add enough chicken broth (you can use the water that the chicken cooked in as well) to make the stew as thick or thin as you want it. I probably added a little less than 2 cups. Simmer for at least 30 minutes, or as long as you want (Just don't forget to stir every once in a while!)

So good. It was Little's first Brunswick stew experience, and she ate two bowls.


Enjoy!

Ridiculous Chicken Pie

Mmmmm. Oh my. This is good. Really good.

Please do me a favor and go into your kitchen right now. Melt a Tablespoon or 2 of butter over medium heat and add a couple of handfuls of sliced baby bella mushrooms and a few carrots, peeled and diced. After about five minutes, add 3 or 4 Tablespoons of flour. Stir it around and then slowly stir in 2 cups of chicken broth. Add some frozen peas and frozen corn, and some cooked chicken, either shredded or chopped. Add salt and pepper to taste (but remember to taste it first before adding salt; the broth may give it enough flavor on its own). You know what I think would also be really good in this? A couple of eggs, hard-boiled and then peeled and chopped. Trust me. I would have added them myself but Little is allergic to eggs.

As the mixture thickens over a medium heat, walk on over to the cabinet and pull out a mixing bowl. Mix 2 cups whole wheat flour, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Then, using either your hands or two knives or a pastry cutter like the one my lovely mother-in-law got me for Christmas last year, cut in 2 Tablespoons softened butter and 3 Tablespoons honey. Bring it all together by stirring in 3/4 cup milk until everything is moistened.

Pour the chicken and vegetable mixture into a large casserole. Pull apart pieces of the biscuit dough and place all over the top. Bake in a 400 oven for 25-30 minutes, until the biscuits are nice and golden brown.

Here is the casserole before it went into the oven...


Here it is after the oven...


And here it is just before it went into my mouth...


Mmmm. Please enjoy!