Category: MISC

Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s Pie Recipe from Dawn’s Daily Life
9 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 (6 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 dash Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 (15 ounce) can green beans, drained
1 (15 ounce) can corn, drained
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons milk
Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the potatoes in a large pot, cover with water, and cook over high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, brown ground beef in a large skillet over medium-high heat; drain fat. Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce to taste, salt, pepper, green beans and corn. In a separate bowl, mix flour with the 3 tablespoons water and stir into beef mixture. Pour this mixture into a casserole dish. Stir all together well. Drain the potatoes, mash and spread over the beef mixture. Place 2 to 3 vent holes through the mashed potatoes.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Brush the milk over the potatoes for the last 5 minutes of baking.
Modifications:
-I added 2 cloves of garlic, 1 onion and 1 green pepper to this recipe.

Here’s what you’ll need:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Peel and cut up about 10 potatoes and put them on to boil
Slice up a green pepper.

Coarsely chop 2 garlic cloves and slice up an onion.

Brown about 1 1/2lbs of lean ground beef.

Add the garlic, onion and green pepper.

Add 1 small can of tomato sauce.

Drain and rinse a can of corn and a can of green beans and added it to the mixture.

Add 7 or 8 good shakes of worcestershire.
While that mixture is cooking, measure out 2T of all-purpose flour and 3T of water. Mix it together and then mix it into the pan.

Grease a 9×13 baking dish and put the mixture in it.
Drain the potatoes and then added a tad of butter.  Mash.

Once mashed up, I scoop the potatoes over the meat mixture and poke 4 holes in it.
Popped it into the oven for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
With a few minutes left to go, I measured out 3 tablespoons of milk and started to brush it on the potatoes. That was too much of a pain so I just drizzled it all over the top.
Here’s what you’ll end up with:

Review:
I almost just made the mashed potatoes on the side and served it that way but I really wanted to try to stay as close to the recipe as possible. I’m glad I did!
I added the garlic, onion and green peppers and it did add a lot of flavor. In hindsight, though, I think I should have left out the green peppers. The texture was pretty close to that of the green beans and while it wasn’t bad, it just didn’t add a lot to it.
If you aren’t going to be all critical about the authenticity of what you put in the dish, I think you could really add anything you wanted–mushrooms, ground turkey, beans, etc.
I’d say to definitely give this recipe a try. It was easy and tasty!
Hope you enjoy!
April

WEEKLY MENUS

Menu Plan Monday hosted by Laura at I’m an Organizing Junkie


 DATE BREAKFAST LUNCH DINNER
Monday 3/19 Cereal Sandwiches Seafood Salad
Tuesday 3/20
 Toast C.O.R.N. Roasted Red Pepper Krab Salad
Wednesday 3/21 Yogurt Soup Polynesian Chicken Pasta Salad
Thursday 3/22
 Fruit Salad Hot Wilted Greens
Friday 3/23
 Oatmeal Sandwiches Peanut Butter Burgers
Saturday 3/24
 Oven Poached Eggs Salad Danish Cube Steak
Sunday 3/25
 Buttermilk Pancakes C.OR.N. Stuffed Shells

DELICATE BERRIES – HELPFUL EMAIL INFORMATION – REALLY WORKS

Berries are delicious, but they’re also kind of delicate. Raspberries in particular seem like they can mold before you even get them home from the market.  There’s nothing more tragic than paying $4 for a pint of local raspberries, only to look in the fridge the next day and find that fuzzy mold growing on their insides.

Well, with fresh berries just starting to hit farmers markets, we can tell you that how to keep them fresh!  Here’s a tip I’m sharing on how to prevent them from getting there in the first place:  Wash them with vinegar.

When you get your berries home, prepare a mixture of one part vinegar (white or apple cider probably work best) and ten parts water. Dump the berries into the mixture and swirl around. Drain, rinse if you want (though the mixture is so diluted you can’t taste the vinegar,) and pop in the fridge.  The vinegar kills any mold spores and other bacteria that might be on the surface of the fruit, and voila!  Raspberries will last a week or more, and strawberries go almost two weeks without getting moldy and soft.  So go forth and stock up on those pricey little gems, knowing they’ll stay fresh as long as it takes you to eat them.

FRIDAY FILL IN TIME

FFI
1. Welcome TO MY WORLD.
2. COMPLETED PHONE CALLS and PAPERWORK COMPLETION makes me jump for joy.
3. There’s a LIGHT AT THE END OF EVERY TUNNEL!
4. BREATHING is the thing I love most about LIFE.
5. Eyes FORWARD IS THE PHRASE I REMEMBER MOST FROM TEST TAKING IN SCHOOL.
6. VA CLAIM COMPLETION is what I’m eagerly awaiting.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to SOME DOWN TIME, tomorrow my plans include PAPERWORK and Sunday, I want to WATCH THE RACE!

IT’S TASTE & CREATE TIME – CHICKEN BREASTS IN LEMON SAGE SAUCE

Taste and Create was started as a food event by Nicole from For the Love of Food.  The whole purpose of Taste and Create was, and has been, and continues to be to create a community of bloggers who test each others’ recipes and share links. The participants of the event are paired together and try a new recipe from one another’s blog.
This month I was paired with Corina from SEARCHING FOR SPICE. I love being paired with someone I’ve never been paired with before I inevitably learn sooooooo much, and find great new recipes.  I chose her CHICKEN BREASTS IN LEMON SAGE SAUCE recipe which she adapted from The book Fantastico by Gino D’Acampo.  I chose it because it looked sooooooo good and I had some sage that was left from when I made the PARSLEY, SAGE, ROSEMARY & THYME CHICKEN.  I converted the metrics for my use.
Ingredients – Serves 2
2 chicken breasts
1 lemon, juiced and divided
1 tablespoon flour
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 teaspoon fennel (optional)
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon sage
Salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
  • Make a paste with the flour, garlic and lemon juice.   
  • Coat the chicken with the paste and leave for half an hour.
  • Put a little olive oil in a sauce pan.   
  • Scrape the paste off the chicken and keep for the next step.   I forgot to scrape off the paste, but it worked well as a coating and hubby enjoyed it so I guess you could do it either way.  Fortunately my pan wasn’t too hot that it burned and all worked out well.
  • Add the chicken and the fennel seeds to the pan and fry the chicken on each side.  I also omitted the fennel seeds – thought I had some, but didn’t after all.
  • If the paste is quite thick, thin it with a little water or stock then add it to the pan and stir with a wooden spoon. Since I messed up above, I did add a little stock (thought about using wine, but didn’t want to mess with her recipe since it smelled perfect).
  • Then add the rest of the stock, sage, salt and pepper. 
  • Bring to the boil then lower to a very gentle simmer for about 20 minutes.  
  • Mix the egg yolk with a little lemon juice.    
  • Remove the chicken from the pan.   
  • Stir in the lemon juice.  Keep stirring as it thickens, but don’t let it boil.
  • Serve the sauce over the chicken with rice or potatoes and vegetables.

Slam Dunk Wings – Fire Day Friday

March Madness is here and the NCAA basketball tournament has kicked off for this weekend.  Wings are always a great “game day” food and here is one I made this past weekend.
Slam Dunk Wings
Source:  NibbleMeThis
6 servings
Ingredients
  • 36 chicken wing pieces (wingettes and drummettes)

For the dry rub

  • 1 1/2 tsp Lawry’s Season Salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/4 oregano

For the toss sauce

  • 1/2 cup hot sauce
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 1 Tbsp worchestershire sauce

 For the Dunk Sauce

  • 3/4 cup ranch dressing
  • 2 Tbsp diced roasted red pepper
  • 2 Tbsp cilantro, finely minced

Instructions

  1. Preheat a grill set up for indirect heat (or an oven) to 350f.  
  2. Mix the “dunk sauce” together and refrigerate.  
  3. Dry the wing pieces well* and season with the dry rub.  
  4. Cook the wings for 30 minutes and then flip the wings.  Cook another 20 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, whisk together the “toss sauce” over medium heat.
  6. Toss the wings in the toss sauce and grill another 5-10 minutes.  
  7. Serve with the Dunk Sauce

Notes

  • This helps get a crisp skin.
Grilling indirect makes wings nice and roasty toasty!
Tossing – No wings were harmed in this production 😉
Served with dipping sauce…..oh yeah!

HELP??? DROWNING IN RED TAPE!!!

I’m screaming, can’t you hear me?  This vicious circle of red tape and apathetic government employees needs to end!!!!!!! You may laugh at my picture above, but all kidding aside our pile of paperwork is HUGE!!!!  The following story is just one example of a standard life within the VA system.
Did you know that the VA governmental computers are not linked?  There are a precious few who have the password” to see past records, but they are so far and few between that you, the soldier or military spouse are best armed by maintaining your own notes.  Be sure to include dates, names, length of time on hold, how many times you are disconnected or transferred and who said what.  If you move, all the records from the MTF (military treatment facility) or VA Medical Center do not really follow you, so be sure to stop by and always get your release of records so you can read and see what is right and wrong.  If there is wrong information stop by and see the patient advocate to make the correction.
We recently moved to a new city.  We immediately went to the VA Medical Center to get registered. (You have to register AGAIN at all facilities since they are not linked and each facility has their own procedures – in Texas it was mandatory to go through a half day orientation class, which was actually informative and would have been beneficial had it been taken when he first retired, but that facility didn’t do an orientation.  Much of what we learned that day was already out of date.)  
Anyway, during that process we were told by the Registration Clerk that an evaluative appointment would be made with my husband’s primary care doctor and he would have an appointment in the next 3-4 weeks.  We waited patiently for the appointment time to be mailed to us.  After 4 weeks, it wasn’t here.  After 5 weeks, it still wasn’t here.  After 6 weeks I was livid.  I called the VA and a week later, 6 hours of hold time, 4 times being cut off/hung up on, 12 transfers, 12 different answers and I finally spoke with the scheduling clerk for my husband’s doctor.
Cory (or attitude boy as I call him – the poster boy for apathetic I don’t really give a crap) proceeded to tell me that there are only 2 doctors at this facility and that my husband was 200 on the waiting list to see a doctor and that he would eventually get an appointment.  After some heated discussion I was able to get him fit in for an appointment 2 months from now.  Think about it, if they had made the appointment as promised, when promised, he’d be seeing the doctor next week instead of in May.
I then went to state our complaint to the patient advocate who took our name and number and promised to get back to me later that afternoon (last Thursday).   He never called.  We stopped by his office today and he didn’t remember ever speaking with me.  While he was cordial and sympathized with our concerns on the breakdown in the system, he said there really wasn’t anything he could do.  He did tell us that the reason there were only 2 doctors was that the doctors who came to this area rarely stayed past 6 months because the “wives” didn’t like the ruralness of the area, lack of shopping facilities and the lack of “decent” restaurants.  Really, I can’t make this stuff up as well as the real stuff.  He then referred us to a different office for a reevaluation of a problem hubby is having.  When we got there we found that they were closed and only opened when there was a scheduled appointment. Really?  how do you get a scheduled appointment?  No one knew – there was literally NO ONE in sight of this window!
From there we went to the pharmacy.  A line of 20 people with just as many already sitting and waiting.  Many had been in line “forever”, their words, not mine, so we opted to wait for the prescriptions to be mailed.  Keep in mind that they were supposedly mailed on the 8th, but have yet to arrive 10 miles away.
During my cancer ordeal hubby was at my side continually, but so much so that he let his own care slide.  Now that I’m getting better, I plan to make it my mission to get him the care he needs and the red tape cut and cleaned up for the VA claim issues.

I’ve heard many times that the VA is just waiting for the Vietnam veterans to die so they don’t have deal with them. While I hope this statement isn’t really true, I have to say that the amount of red tape paperwork generated by the VA to do the simplest of tasks is overwhelming and ridiculous and I can see why many veterans would give up hope of ever solving their claims.  We tried to contact a service officer also, but they work out of a different office.  The 2 veterans manning the front desk at the medical center had differing advice – one said you must call first for an appointment while the other said it was walk in only.  They gave me a slip of paper with a phone number and hours of M-T 1:30-4PM typed on it.  I called the phone number and they said if you MUST leave a message make it short and DO NOT leave repeat messages, they will get back to your eventually otherwise show up at noon, take a number and wait.  They will begin taking you in order at 1:30PM.  REALLY????  I want a job where I can work 2 1/2 hours a day, 4 days a week and treat those I serve as cattle!

KIWI ORANGE GLAZED CHICKEN with SCALLION RICE PILAF


KIWI ORANGE GLAZED CHICKEN with SCALLION RICE PILAF
1 roasting chicken (6-7 pounds)
3 oranges
1/4 cup honey
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 green onions, sliced and divided

1 tablespoon safflower oil
1 teaspoon sea salt, divided

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon roasted corriander, ground
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup uncooked rice
1/2 cup cashews, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh parsley

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees˚.  
  • Quarter 1 orange, set aside.
  • Grate 1/2 teaspoon zest and juice remaining oranges to 1/2 cup.
  • In a small saucepan bring juice, honey and zest to a slow boil.
  • Cook about 5 minutes until slightly thickened.  Remove from heat.
  • Thinly slice scallions.
  • Place chicken in roasting pan.
  • Fill cavity with orange quarters and scallion slices.
  • In a small food processor combine oil, salt, pepper, garlic, ginger and corriander until well blended.
  • Rub over chicken.
  • Roast 1 hour 45 minutes.
  • Brush reserved honey mixture all over chicken.
  • Roast another 15-20 minutes or until 180˚.
  • Meanwhile prepare rice according to package directions.
  • Add remaining salt.
  • Stir in sliced scallions, cashews and parsley.