"Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie"

The title of this is in quotes because there will be some purists who may find this and state that Shepherds Pie is only made with lamb and mashed potatoes, and if it's made with ground beef, it's Cottage Pie.  I like calling this Shepherds Pie because most people I know are familiar with the dish, and may not be familiar with Cottage Pie.

Anyway.

A few weeks ago, my husband found a recipe in a newspaper at work.  He took pictures and texted them to me with a request to make it.  It didn't seem difficult (and I have made Shepherds Pie and Cottage Pie before, so I knew the basics), so this week, it was added to the meal planning.  I tweaked the recipe a little bit.  Rather than type out the original recipe and the changes I made, I'm just going to post my updated version.  The original recipe can be found here.

So, without any other rambling, on to the recipe.

Sweet Potato and Sausage Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 Sweet Potatoes (I used large ones)
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 medium to large yellow onion, diced
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 carrots sliced (I used a handful of baby carrots)
• 1/2 pound Italian sausage (I used 3 mild sausage links)
• 1 pound ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper (I eyeballed fresh ground pepper)
• 1 bottle stout or other dark beer (we had Guinness in the house, so I used that)
• 1 cup or so frozen sweet peas
• 1 1/2-2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 3 Tbsp cool water
• 1 - 8.25 ounce can creamed corn
• 1 cup frozen corn (again, I eyeballed this)
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 Tbsp butter/margarine
• 1 Tbsp packed brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Spray/lightly oil your baking dish of choice and set aside.

Place chopped sweet potatoes in a pot and cover with water (covering potatoes by approximately 1").  Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, or until soft.

Meanwhile, in a large skillet, combine olive oil, onion, celery, and carrots over medium high heat.  Saute for about 4 minutes, then grate in garlic and continue sauteing another minute.  Add the ground beef and sausage.  Cook until meat has browned and is cooked through (about 8 minutes)

Add beer and peas.  Simmer until liquid has reduced by half (4-6 minutes or so).

In a small glass bowl, mix the cornstarch and the water to make a slurry.  Add this mixture to the skillet and stir until thickened (this should be a very quick thing).  Remove from heat and pour this mixture into the bottom of your baking dish of choice evenly.

Mix the can of creamed corn with the frozen corn and layer this evenly on top of the meat mixture and set aside while you finish up the sweet potatoes.

Once the sweet potatoes have cooked, drain them and return them to the pot.  Add the butter, brown sugar and half of the milk.  Mash this all together and add more milk as needed to make it as smooth as you'd like.  (I ended up using about a half cup of milk.)  Season with salt to taste.

Spread this evenly over the corn layer.

Bake for 35 minutes or until potatoes are lightly browned at the edges.

I put a sheet pan on the shelf directly below this to catch any overflow.  It turned out to be a smart thing to do.

Hubby and I really enjoyed this dish.  I think next time I'll leave out the creamed corn and just add the corn to the meat mixture.  Hubby doesn't like creamed corn anyway and I'm not sure it really added that much to the recipe.

I was a little concerned about the sauce flavor when I was making this.  All the other recipes I've used called for Worcestershire Sauce, but this just used the beer.  I'm not a beer drinker (my husband always tells me I don't like anything good), but the flavor in this sauce was really good.  It didn't need the Worcestershire Sauce in my opinion. 

Please try this and let me know how it comes out for you.

Thanks and Happy Eating!

Ginger Veggie Stir Fry

So, as I stated 2 posts ago, I was making the Ginger Veggie Stir Fry that came in the last packet from Linda.  You can find the recipe on this post.

For the record (and because you'll see by the pictures), I don't really measure my vegetables.  So when the recipe calls for a cup of this and a cup of that, I just chop whatever amount looks good to me.  With this in mind, I did bump up the amounts used in the sauce as well.  And I ended up having to cook the veggies in two different pans.  One non stick skillet and one wok.

Before I started chopping veggies, I mixed up what was going to be the sauce and set it aside.  I made sure that I mixed all the cornstarch in so that it wouldn't be lumpy.  I also added the spices into this mix so that they had time to infuse their flavors into the sauce mix as well.  I don't know how much more flavor it added if any, but it seemed like a good idea at the time.

I also decided to add meat to this dist (because my husband likes meat in the meal, though he also asked if I was going to make rice with this and I told him I wasn't because it had sweet potatoes in it).  I cooked up some kielbasa while I chopped up the first round of veggies and used the fat/oil that resulted to stir fry the veggies.  After the sausage was browned, I pulled it out and set it aside to add back in at the end.

Because of the amount of veggies I was using, and because I only have one larger cutting board for this purpose, I had to cut the veggies in two patches.  I cut the broccoli, carrots and trimmed the snap peas first.

Once the first round was cooking up in the wok (as per the directions), I chopped the onion and the sweet potatoes.  I purchased the non-orange sweet potatoes.  I've read conflicting things about what the difference was between sweet potatoes and yams.  I've always thought of the orange variety as yams and the white-ish as sweet potatoes.

By the time I was done peeling and chopping the sweet potatoes, he green veggies were looking pretty good.

I added the onions and sweet potatoes and realized that my wok was too full to really stir the veggies, so I split the mixture into another skillet.  Once the sweet potatoes were tender, I tossed everything back into the same pan, added the sausage and the sauce mixture and let that cook until it thickened up and coated everything.

The sauce helped pack the veggies down a little bit too.  My husband wasn't too sure about the choice of kielbasa in this, but I wanted something with it's own distinct flavor, and chicken just wasn't going to cut it for me.  I kind of liked the combination and after dinner, my husband admitted that it was pretty good too.

Since then, I have made one other stir fry, but that one I did with a bunch of veggies I had to use up (I had some older carrots, some broccoli stems and some celery), stir fried some chicken and made up some rice to go with it.  I needed leftover rice for a dish later on in the week.

I should be getting on here more often to post.  Lately my work schedule has been weird and my days off have been split up which makes it hard to have a day to just do things that I want to do because I'm always taking care of little things around the house or running errands.  However, I have finally been offered a full time position and that comes with a set rotation, where my days off are together for 3 of the 4 weeks in the month.  As of right now, I have a list of 17 more things to share in the blog and that's not counting all the new things that I'm trying to do as well.  So I'll have plenty to share.

Thanks and happy eating!

Cream of Potato and Broccoli Soup

So, I have two copies/versions of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. One is an older version like my mom had and one is the updated version that the link points to.  My husband got me the updated version for Christmas two years ago.  That same year, my brother gifted me an immersion blender which I have mentioned in here once before.

The first thing that I made out of the cook book was cream of broccoli soup.  My husband and I thought that it came out really well.  It was yummy.

I had some potatoes to use up (in fact, I still have some to use up, but I have a lot less now), so I figured I'd make the potato version combined with the broccoli version.  I doubled the basic recipe and added to it.

Here is the basic recipe for the Cream of Vegetable of Your Choice Soup:

Desired Vegetables (variations listed include potato, cauliflower and broccoli)
1 1/2 cups chicken broth or vegetable stock
1 Tbsp butter or margerine
1 Tbsp all purpose flour
Seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
black pepper
1 cup milk, half and half, or light cream

Directions:
 In a large saucepan cook desired vegetables, covered, in a large amount of boiling water according to directions in each variation.  Drain well.  Reserve 1 cup cooked vegetables.

In a food processor bowl combine remaining cooked vegetables and 3/4 cup of broth.  Cover; process about 1 minute or until smooth.  Set aside.

In the same saucepan melt butter.  Stir in flour, seasoning, salt, and pepper.  Add milk all at once.  Cook and stir until slightly thickened and bubbly.  Cook and stir for one minute more.

Stir in the reserved 1 cup cooked vegetables, blended vegetable mixture, and remaining 3/4 cup broth.  Cook and stir until heated through.  If necessary, stir in additional milk to reach desired consistency.  If desired, season to taste with additional salt and pepper.

For the potato variant it says to use 5 medium potatoes peeled and cubed and a 1/2 cup chopped onion.  It also suggests dill or basil for the seasoning.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Now that you have the starting point, here's what I did.

 Ingredients:

3-4 cups chopped potatoes (I probably used 14 small red potatoes and peeled half)

4 carrots

4 ribs celery

1 large onion

4 cloves of garlic

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups milk

2-4 cups of broccoli (I didn't really measure)

salt, pepper and dill to taste

butter and flour (approx 2 Tbsp each)

bay leaf

Directions:

I chopped the whole onion, 2 carrots, 2 ribs of celery, and peeled the cloves of garlic.  I didn't bother chopping the garlic at this point, but I did smash them a little with the side of my knife.  I sauteed all of these vegetables with some pepper in the dutch oven with a little bit of olive oil until they had softened somewhat.

Before and while these were cooking, I peeled half of my potatoes and chopped them into small pieces.  Once the mirepoix (which is the fancy cooking term for the "aromatics" that are onions, celery and carrots) had softened, I added the peeled and chopped potatoes, the bay leaf and the 4 cups of chicken stock.  I let this cook for about 10 minutes, then I tossed in about half of the frozen broccoli I was going to use.

Once I made sure that the broccoli had softened and the potatoes were thoroughly cooked, I took the pot off the heat and blended everything with my immersion blender until it was smooth.  You can see the consistency in the second picture.

I returned the pot to the stove and added the seasoning and the remaining vegetables except the broccoli (2 chopped carrots, 2 ribs of celery, chopped, remaining potatoes, chopped with skin left on).  I let this mixture cook on a medium heat, stirring often, until the potatoes were cooked through and adding the broccoli with just enough time for it to heat through.

In a small saucepan, melt your butter, then add the same amount of flour to make your roux (another fancy cooking term which usually refers to a fat and flour used to thicken something).  Once the butter and flour are mixed thoroughly, let them cook for about a minute.  You want to cook off the raw flour taste.  

Next, add all of your milk to the roux.  I used 1 cup of whole milk and 1 cup of skim milk for mine.  Whisk your milk and roux together, eliminating lumps.  Heat until your milk starts to thicken, but not boil.  You don't want to burn the milk. 

Add the milk to the soup mixture and stir to combine.

We served ours with some grilled cheese sandwiches made with the wheat bread I posted previously and sprinkled with a little shredded cheese on top.

When I was making this, my husband asked me if there was any meat in the soup.  It's not really a soup that needs meat in my opinion, and the nice thing is that most of the thickness is from blended vegetables, so it's pretty healthy.

Try it and tell me what you think.

Thanks and happy eating!

Spring Vegetable Soup with Tarragon (and chicken)

So, you can find the recipe for this in Saturday's post.  I don't have any "as we go" pictures because I think I was being lazy.

I think for this soup, I spent more time chopping and cleaning things than I did paying attention to the soup itself.  I used the recipe as a guideline.  I figured that if I added more veggies to it, it wouldn't hurt.

I had never used leeks before this recipe, but I had seen other people talk about how dirty they were on the many food shows I watch in the background during the day.  They weren't lying.  I'm glad I saved them for last because my cutting board was dirty after I was done.

So, just in case you didn't feel like bouncing back and forth between the previous entry and this one, here is the list of veggies for the soup:

10 small red potatoes, quartered
2 medium carrots, sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 celery ribs, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 large leek, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 pound green beans, cut into 1-inch lengths, or frozen peas

I think I used 8 red potatoes (because they were a little bigger than I thought), 4 carrots, 4 ribs of celery, and 2 leeks.   The green beans and onion were about right though.

After cutting everything up, I cleaned the leeks.  To do this, chop them however you need to for the recipe, fill a bowl with cold water and put all the copped leeks into the water.  Swish the leeks around to break the pieces apart, then let them sit for a few minutes.  The leeks float on the surface of the water while all the dirt sinks to the bottom.  I was amazed at exactly how much there was.

While the leeks were sitting in the water, I did my first addition.  I took a large, thawed chicken breast and seared it on both sides in a little garlic infused olive oil (making a nice brown flavor coating on the bottom of my dutch oven).  I removed the chicken breast, reduced the heat on the stove and sauteed the onion, carrots and celery until slightly softened.  I added the potatoes, salt, water, and leeks into the pot, then added the chicken breast back in.  I added the tarragon at this point.  The recipe sounds like it called for fresh tarragon, but I had dried stuff.  When you're cooking things in a slow cooker, or for longer periods of time, you want to add dried herbs at the beginning so they have time to develop.  If you're using fresh herbs, add them at the end.  If you cook the fresh herbs from the beginning, they won't be as potent and you'll lose some of the flavor.

I let all this cook at a simmer for about 30-40 minutes.  At that point, I pulled out the chicken breast and added the chopped, fresh green beans to let them cook while I shredded the chicken.  After 3-5 minutes, I added the shredded chicken back in, peppered to taste and added some more tarragon, and it was ready to serve.

My husband and I each had 2 bowls and we still had enough left over for 4 more servings.

I was amazed at how much flavor came out of the veggies and how dark the broth was.  The added chicken breast was just the right amount so that my husband didn't complain about there being no meat for dinner.  (I made another soup last night that had no meat in it and he just had to suffer.)

Anyway.  Try it .. you'll like it.

Thanks and happy eating!

Mmmm... Bread Part 2 ...

So, I make bread frequently because it's cheaper than buying bread.  It's not really all that difficult now that I've found a recipe that gives me a softer crust.  Crusty bread is good for some things (like dipping in olive oil and balsamic vinegar ... yum), but for an every day bread that I use for sandwiches and stuff, I like something that doesn't feel like I'm tearing up my mouth if I bite into it.

One of the first posts that I did was of my favorite bread recipe, and you can find that here. The only "problem" with this bread is that it's made with white flour.  I put problem in quotes because it's not really a problem.  I'm sure it's healthier than white bread you can get at stores, but it could also be healthier.

A while back, I tried to make some homemade granola and it came out okay, but it wasn't exactly the texture that I was looking for.  I wanted some granola that clumped together.  To try to accomplish that, I had purchased some wheat germ.

My hope was that the smaller particles would kind of act like a cement when the liquid/sugar flavors were added and create the clumps I was hoping for.  It didn't, but this blog entry isn't about granola.  This part is just back up to explain why I had some wheat germ just hanging around with my baking stuff.

According to some information I researched, I could substitute up to 1/3 of my flour in yeast breads with wheat germ.  So, that's what I did in my bread recipe.  I was looking for something to make my bread a little more nutritious.

I followed the same process as in the main recipe and used 1.5 cups of wheat germ and 3.5 cups of flour.  In the bread recipe, the ratios of wet to dry liquids work out perfectly every time, but with the substitution, the dough was very wet and sticky.  I added more flour, a little at a time, until the dough started to pull together.  I think it was 3/4-1 cup of additional flour.  The dough was still a little softer and stickier than I was used to, but it was just dry enough that it wasn't sticking to everything anymore and I didn't want to over work the dough or make it too dry.

I continued to follow the same process outlined in the main recipe and let the dough rise.  I punched it down, split it in two, rolled the loaves and let them rise again.  I baked them at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes (rotating the pans once on the shelf for even browning about 10 minutes in), then took them out to cool.

Once they were mostly cooled, I sliced them in to small, sandwich sized slices and tried a piece.  It turned out pretty good.  To be honest, I wasn't sure how it would taste because I love the taste of the other bread, but I think this one might be even better (though I haven't tried it with a little peanut butter and a little Nutella yet... one of my favorite dessert sandwiches).  It even got a "pretty good" out of my husband, who has never really been a fan of the wheat breads I've bought in the past.  He said that he thought it came out softer than the other version.

I'm getting pretty good at slicing even slices in bread.  I used to be horrible at it.  I guess practice really does help.  A good knife doesn't hurt either.

This is the first time I've really done a substitution in a baking recipe.  I've always been a little afraid to do that because baking can be pretty fickle, and it can turn disastrous if you get the ratios wrong (though breads tend to be a little more forgiving I think).

Anyway.  Give it a try if you want and let me know what you think.

Thanks and happy eating (happy and healthier)!