Shepherd's Pie

This is recipe is really nice coming into fall and winter. It's a comfort food that comes together pretty easily though there are quite a few steps involved. I've heard some people use instant mash potatoes to shorten prep time, but I've never tried it. Traditionally 'Sherpherd's Pie' is made with lamb, but that's not something we usually keep stocked... Someday we'd like to try it that way, but for now we just use ground beef. So I guess this is actually a recipe for 'Cottage Pie'?

This is an adaptation of a couple of different recipes that I think turned out really well. It was a combination of one recipe that fit in an 8x8, and another that fit in a 9x13. Our finished product fits somewhere in between those two, ha! You could put it in a 9x13 and it would be a little thin so you'd have to adjust the cooking time or add a little more of everything else. So this is just a starting place, easy to adjust for however much you want to end up with, just add more mashed potatoes, meat and vegetables. We ended up cooking this recipe in a 7x11 baking dish we had and it filled it completely. So Yummy!!!

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 cups potatoes 
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 2 Tbsp cream cheese - you could leave this out, but it does make the potatoes really thick and creamy, it's a nice touch if you've got it
• 1/2 - 1 cup shredded cheese - half for mixing in potatoes, half for topping finished casserole
• Salt and Pepper to taste

• 1 - 1 1/2 cups frozen vegetables thawed in water from boiling potatoes - use a mix of whatever you have on hand, peas, carrots, corn

• 1 1/2 tsp oil - you could use vegetable or oil, whatever you prefer
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 lb lean ground beef
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1-2 cloves garlic, finely diced
• 3 heaping Tbsp flour
• 2 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 can of low sodium beef broth - We used Swanson's 14.5 oz can, you could use a smaller can, just adjust the flour accordingly. You could also use regular sodium, I've just found it's harder to plan for that as you're seasoning your meat and you don't want it too salty. 

PREPARATION:

1. Bring a pot of salted water to boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still a little firm. About 15 min. Drain but keep water in pot, and mash. Mix in butter, cream cheese and half shredded cheese. Salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
2. Thaw frozen vegetables in potato water and set aside.
3. Heat oil and butter in frying pan. Add onion and sweat until translucent. Add ground beef and cook until half way done. Add garlic, flour and cook until fragrant. Add Worcestershire sauce, ketchup and beef broth and bring to a boil. Continue simmering until thick. 
4. Remove from heat and mix in thawed vegetables.
5. Spread ground beef mixture in an even layer in bottom of baking dish. Top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
6. Bake in oven preheated to 375 for 20 min. or until golden brown.

Gingerbread-White Chocolate Blondies

This recipe is from Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. We love it. Bought the cookbook awhile back from Costco around Christmastime when they have a ton of different cookbooks stocked. Hands down we use this recipe the most! Granted we have only tried a handful of them... It's almost like we found this one and stopped looking, ha! 

The first time we made these we were in Portland and it was for a Sunday dessert after dinner with our friends Paul & Wendy. Didn't realize how many the recipe made until after the fact so there were a ton of leftovers and we left them for them to keep. They decided it was too much for them and Paul ended up bringing them into where he and Don worked. People started coming in from other offices asking about them!

Anyhow, they are fabulous year round, but particularly around fall because of the spices. I usually end up cutting them into triangles because the spacing works out better for me. I cut them into rows of 4 and then 6 bars per row then into triangles to get the 4 dozen. They finish up quick because you don't have to form individual balls, just spread it all out and bake it!  

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 3/4 cups plus 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yoke
• 1 1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 3/4 cups coarsely chopped best-quality white chocolate (10 oz)

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 17" x 12" rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray. Line bottom with parchment cut to fit, and coat parchment. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.
2. Beat butter and brown and granulated sugars with a mixer on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy. Add eggs and yolk, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in vanilla and molasses. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Stir in white chocolate.
3. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake until edges are golden, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 2-inch squares or desired shape. Makes about 4 dozen.

Basic Burger Patties

This is an adaptation of this recipe on Allrecipes. It's a good basic burger recipe! Makes 6 burger patties.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese (I've left this out on occasion and everything was still fine!) 
• 1 small onion chopped or 1/2 large onion - anywhere between 1/4 to 1/2 cup (On occasion I'll also leave this out if I'm planning on putting red onion or grilled onion on top separately...)
• 1 egg (Some people recommend halving or omitting the egg entirely, we've always done it with)
• 1 Tbsp ketchup
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder

PREPARATION:

1. Preheat grill or frying pan. 
2. In a large bowl, mix together cheese, onion, egg, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and spices. Crumble in ground beef and mix together by hand.
3. Form into 6 patties and cook until well done.