These last couple weeks have been hard, so I apologize for not posting a recipe last Sunday. I got some blood drawn at the Doctor and they hit a nerve and my arm was one giant bruise and it was a whole thing.
This recipe I got from Chef Ramsey. In the video I got it from he didn't use real for sure measurements he did a lot of "use several splashes of this" and "a few glugs" of that. So, I tried my best to give a good estimate of the measurements. Funny thing I learned the first time I made this:
Shephard's Pie: Lamb
Cottage Pie: Beef
Hunter's Pie: Venison
Meat Mixture: Mince
Potatoes: Mash
So I made Cottage Pie, because I just can't bring myself to eat lamb. I think it would be interesting to try it with ground venison though.
Ingredients:
Mince:
1.5 lbs ground meat
1 large grated carrot (I actually bought a bag of grated carrot and then chopped it up because we like smaller bits of the carrot in ours.)
1 large diced onion
1 Tbsp rosemary
1 Tbsp thyme
2 Tbsp minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Worcestershire Sauce
1 (6oz) can tomato paste
1 cup red wine
1 cup chicken broth
Mash:
1.5 lbs golden potatoes
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 1/2 Tbsp butter
salt and pepper to taste
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
(extra shredded parmesan for sprinkling on top)
Directions:
1. Peel and boil potatoes. I always cut the potatoes into about quarters when I boil them. You will know they are done when you stick a fork in them and it shows no resistance. This is usually 20-30 minutes of boiling. Drain. Mash. Add all ingredients for Mash and blend with electric mixer until smooth. Set aside. Tip - When I have to separate eggs I crack them into a bowl and then use a spoon to pull out the yolks.
2. You can be making the Mince while your potatoes are boiling. Brown meat. Make sure you drain any grease. You don't want a greasy mince and we will be adding plenty of liquids so it wont be dry. Add carrot and onion. Cook until the veggies are tender. Add rosemary, thyme, garlic, salt and pepper and cook for about 2 minutes. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, red wine, and chicken broth, stirring between each. Let it simmer so all the flavors can mix together. It will end up looking a bit like sloppy joe mix.
3. I use my 7x5 pyrex glass dish. You put the mince on bottom. Then you cover it with the mash, making sure to spread it evenly. Then I take a fork and poke holes in the mash all over. Sprinkle with shredded parmesan. Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes.
Who doesn't love meat and potatoes?
Sunday, August 24, 2014
Tuesday, August 12, 2014
Spaghetti and Meatballs
When I first decided to make my own meatballs, I looked up a lot of recipes and I was surprised at how totally easy it was! Once I saw how easy it was I was amazed that anyone would ever buy frozen meatballs knowing how easy it was to make them from scratch. So here is the recipe I use:
Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 egg
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1 jar pasta sauce
1/2 lb spaghetti
(I do this for just me and Tim so it makes about 12 meatballs and enough spaghetti for us to have 2 servings each)
Directions:
1. Combine all meatball ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
2. Shape into 12 meatballs and arrange in a baking dish. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
3. While meatballs are cooking, prepare spaghetti and pasta sauce. When everything is done, Serve.
Can you believe how easy that is?!?!?!?
Ingredients:
1lb ground beef
1 egg
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1 jar pasta sauce
1/2 lb spaghetti
(I do this for just me and Tim so it makes about 12 meatballs and enough spaghetti for us to have 2 servings each)
Directions:
1. Combine all meatball ingredients in a bowl and mix well.
2. Shape into 12 meatballs and arrange in a baking dish. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.
3. While meatballs are cooking, prepare spaghetti and pasta sauce. When everything is done, Serve.
Can you believe how easy that is?!?!?!?
Sunday, August 3, 2014
Manicotti!
My manicotti recipe is something I have been making for years. I always had to make two batches when I made it for my family because I had certain siblings who were very picky so I had to make half of the batch without the spinach/onion mixture and half with it. It was the meal I made when Timothy came over to my house for the first time after we started dating. It's one of the first things I even learned how to make when I started cooking. It's super easy, and super delicious.
Ingredients:
8 oz box of manicotti noodles
1 large yellow onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
5ish oz baby spinach (I use a little over half of a 10 oz bag of spinach. I tend to do it by sight, when I think it's enough I stop chopping but this is a good estimate I would say.)
15 oz ricotta cheese
4 cups mozzarella cheese (divided into 3 and 1)
3/4 cup grated parmesan (divided into 1/2 and 1/4)
2 Tbsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg (optional! I'll explain later)
2 jars pasta sauce (This time I'm trying the new Prego Florentine Spinach and Cheese. We like to try different sauce flavors all the time. Also I LOVE sauce which is why I use so much. Feel free to use less.)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add in manicotti noodles. Cook al dente (remember last time I said this means they are still a little firm. Once again the liquid from the sauce will cook them further in the oven.) When they are done, place on paper towels to cool down/dry a little.
2. Meanwhile, chop onion. Chop spinach. Add onion, spinach, and olive oil in pan. Cook until onions are soft and spinach is wilted down. (When you first put in the spinach it might seem like A LOT but it's not. When it wilts down it becomes a lot less.)
3. Mix together in a bowl - ricotta, 3 cups mozzarella, 1/2 cup parmesan, oregano, salt, pepper, and spinach/onion mixture. This is where the egg might come in. If you feel that the cheese mixture you have created is a little too runny you can add the egg. If it's holding together well don't worry about the egg. It's completely up to you. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. It usually depends on how much liquid was created while wilting down the spinach.
4. Put a little bit of sauce on the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. (Just enough to cover the bottom. Sometimes I have to use an extra smaller dish if I have a few extra manicotti that don't fit.)
5. Stuff the cheese mixture into the manicotti shells. I just use a spoon. I've seen people online use a pastry bag. It's up to you what you want to do. Place the noodles in the 9x13 baking dish.
6. Cover in remaining sauce. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Cover in foil. Place in oven for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes. Take out of oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve.
Tonight I'm serving mine to not only Tim but our siblings Brittany and Jamie. :)
Ingredients:
8 oz box of manicotti noodles
1 large yellow onion
2 Tbsp olive oil
5ish oz baby spinach (I use a little over half of a 10 oz bag of spinach. I tend to do it by sight, when I think it's enough I stop chopping but this is a good estimate I would say.)
15 oz ricotta cheese
4 cups mozzarella cheese (divided into 3 and 1)
3/4 cup grated parmesan (divided into 1/2 and 1/4)
2 Tbsp oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1 egg (optional! I'll explain later)
2 jars pasta sauce (This time I'm trying the new Prego Florentine Spinach and Cheese. We like to try different sauce flavors all the time. Also I LOVE sauce which is why I use so much. Feel free to use less.)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Fill a pot with water and bring it to a boil. Add in manicotti noodles. Cook al dente (remember last time I said this means they are still a little firm. Once again the liquid from the sauce will cook them further in the oven.) When they are done, place on paper towels to cool down/dry a little.
2. Meanwhile, chop onion. Chop spinach. Add onion, spinach, and olive oil in pan. Cook until onions are soft and spinach is wilted down. (When you first put in the spinach it might seem like A LOT but it's not. When it wilts down it becomes a lot less.)
3. Mix together in a bowl - ricotta, 3 cups mozzarella, 1/2 cup parmesan, oregano, salt, pepper, and spinach/onion mixture. This is where the egg might come in. If you feel that the cheese mixture you have created is a little too runny you can add the egg. If it's holding together well don't worry about the egg. It's completely up to you. Sometimes I do and sometimes I don't. It usually depends on how much liquid was created while wilting down the spinach.
4. Put a little bit of sauce on the bottom of a 13x9 baking dish. (Just enough to cover the bottom. Sometimes I have to use an extra smaller dish if I have a few extra manicotti that don't fit.)
5. Stuff the cheese mixture into the manicotti shells. I just use a spoon. I've seen people online use a pastry bag. It's up to you what you want to do. Place the noodles in the 9x13 baking dish.
6. Cover in remaining sauce. Sprinkle with 1 cup mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup parmesan cheese. Cover in foil. Place in oven for 40 minutes. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes. Take out of oven and let sit for 5 minutes. Serve.
Tonight I'm serving mine to not only Tim but our siblings Brittany and Jamie. :)
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Mexican Stuffed Shells
So I've been on a mission as of late to find recipes that I will actually cook. There are so many recipes out there that are just ridiculous. They have crazy ingredients that I'll never buy and that I'll never want to cook. When I look in cook books there are maybe five recipes in the whole book I would actually be interested in cooking on a normal night. I don't want to cook chiptole chicken kabobs with avocado cream sauce. I'm not going to be cooking zucchini nachos or beef wellington with warm wilted greens. (That last recipe had literally over 40 ingredients people!) I think sometimes when people look in one of the new cook books or hop on to pinterest they can get a little bit discouraged by the barrage of "this is how I make my own homemade tortillas and almond milk from scratch" because in all reality most of us don't have the time to do that. It comes time to whip up dinner and there aren't enough decent, relatively simple recipes out there, so people resort to boxed and convenience foods. So I'm going to try and post at least 1 recipe a week that I find to be a simple normal recipe that pretty much anyone could whip up.
So long story short, I stumbled across this recipe while exploring pinterest:
http://lmld.org/2014/01/13/mexican-stuffed-shells/#_a5y_p=1826813
I made it tonight with a few tweeks. I'll put my tweeks in bolded parenthesis.
Ingredients:
So long story short, I stumbled across this recipe while exploring pinterest:
http://lmld.org/2014/01/13/mexican-stuffed-shells/#_a5y_p=1826813
I made it tonight with a few tweeks. I'll put my tweeks in bolded parenthesis.
Ingredients:
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1/2 cup yellow onion, diced
- 2 TBS taco seasoning
- 4 oz cream cheese
- about 8 oz jumbo pasta shells (some may break - I used 21 shells total but cooked 25) - (I actually ended up only using 16 for the amount of mixture that this recipe produced)
- 10 oz enchilada sauce
- 1 cup salsa
- 1 1/4 cup cheddar cheese
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
- (A drizzle of taco sauce)
- Bring a large pot of water to boil.
- Boil your pasta shells for about 10 minutes until cooked al dente. Rinse shells when done cooking. (Not really a tweek but for anyone who may want to know I cooked my shells until they were just almost done. Not soft. They are still firm. This is what al dente means which I didn't know when I first started cooking. The shells are going to do more cooking in the oven in the liquids they will be sitting in so they will be too soft if you cook them to long from the start.)
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Meanwhile, cook up your ground beef and onions over medium high heat until cooked thoroughly.
- Drain the excess grease from the pan.
- Add in taco seasoning and stir to mix.
- Add in cream cheese and cook over medium heat until cheese is mixed in and melty throughout. Set aside. (I got a 16 oz jar of salsa. I used 1 cup of it in the steps below and the remainder of the salsa I added to this mixture to make it easier to stir. It seemed very dry before I did this.)
- Combine your enchilada sauce and salsa in a small bowl.
- Pour about half of your enchilada sauce salsa mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 pan and spread around.
- Fill each jumbo shell with a heaping 1 TBS of meat mixture and place into pan with sauce.(I did not measure out a heaping 1 TBS of meat mixture. I just took a big spoon and filled up the shells. Maybe this is why I only made 16? I don't know but that's what I did.)
- Repeat until all shells or meat mixture is gone.
- Pour the remaining enchilada sauce salsa mixture over the tops of the shells. (I also added a drizzle of taco sauce)
- Wrap pan in aluminum foil.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove foil and top with cheeses. (I know the ingredients list has a specific amount listed but I don't measure my cheese when I use it as a topping I just sprinkle til it looks like the amount I would want on the top of my food.)
- Return to oven and bake for an additional 15 minutes until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
Our Date Night Book
Today I decided to get a bit crafty and make us a Date Night Book. I used cardstock, plain white paper, a glue stick, book rings, scissors, 3-hole punch, some stickers from my scrap booking collection and a black pen. Here is a picture of the cover:
I did 4 different sections with 4 different colors to make it easy on me: Free (green), $20 or less (pink), $20-$50 (blue), $50+ (purple). I used a different quote on each Section Content Page:
1. Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies - Aristotle
2. Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars - Gilbert Parker
3. Love is when he gives you a piece of your soul that you never knew was missing - Torquato Tasso
4. You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams - Dr. Suess
Here is an example of a Section Content Page:
I used the book rings because this way I can add pages whenever I want to and there's plenty of room on the content pages to add date ideas. I came up with 5 ideas to start for each section.
FREE:
1. Picnic in the park - food, frisbee, fun!
2. Board game Night
3. Go on a hike
4. Walk up to the Lighthouse at Headlands
5. Make a Time Capsule - This I'm really excited about. You each pick 5 things to put in the time capsule that you think represent you today, right now. You write each other a love letter and seal it without reading it. You set an amount of years until you open it together!
$20 or less:
1. Indoor Glow in the Dark Mini Golf - I found this website and this looks so much fun! http://www.fireflysminigolf.com/
2. Lunch or Dinner at Scooter's (we love this place).
3. Shooting Practice (this will make Tim happy).
4. Homemade Ice Cream Sundaes.
5. Make a pie together.
$20-$50:
1. Wine and Cheese at Debonne (local winery)
2. Haunted House
3. Progressive Dinner - This is where you have your appetizer, entree, and dessert all at different places.
4. Wagon Trails Safari - http://www.wagontrails.com/Home.aspx
5. County Fair
$50 or more:
1. Dinner at Vault- I've been wanting to go here since it opened! http://www.vaultsteakhouse.com/
2. Trip to the Casino (Tim has really been wanting to go)
3. Cedar Point - https://www.cedarpoint.com/
4. Camping - Anywhere really but I would love to do it here: http://www.mohicanadventures.com/
5. Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad - http://www.cvsr.com/
Then I added a page for each date. We haven't done any of this yet so I don't have an example page for that but they would each be like a scrapbook page. A title, a spot for written memories, and pictures. I can't wait to start filling it up!
I did 4 different sections with 4 different colors to make it easy on me: Free (green), $20 or less (pink), $20-$50 (blue), $50+ (purple). I used a different quote on each Section Content Page:
1. Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting two bodies - Aristotle
2. Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars - Gilbert Parker
3. Love is when he gives you a piece of your soul that you never knew was missing - Torquato Tasso
4. You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams - Dr. Suess
Here is an example of a Section Content Page:
FREE:
1. Picnic in the park - food, frisbee, fun!
2. Board game Night
3. Go on a hike
4. Walk up to the Lighthouse at Headlands
5. Make a Time Capsule - This I'm really excited about. You each pick 5 things to put in the time capsule that you think represent you today, right now. You write each other a love letter and seal it without reading it. You set an amount of years until you open it together!
$20 or less:
1. Indoor Glow in the Dark Mini Golf - I found this website and this looks so much fun! http://www.fireflysminigolf.com/
2. Lunch or Dinner at Scooter's (we love this place).
3. Shooting Practice (this will make Tim happy).
4. Homemade Ice Cream Sundaes.
5. Make a pie together.
$20-$50:
1. Wine and Cheese at Debonne (local winery)
2. Haunted House
3. Progressive Dinner - This is where you have your appetizer, entree, and dessert all at different places.
4. Wagon Trails Safari - http://www.wagontrails.com/Home.aspx
5. County Fair
$50 or more:
1. Dinner at Vault- I've been wanting to go here since it opened! http://www.vaultsteakhouse.com/
2. Trip to the Casino (Tim has really been wanting to go)
3. Cedar Point - https://www.cedarpoint.com/
4. Camping - Anywhere really but I would love to do it here: http://www.mohicanadventures.com/
5. Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad - http://www.cvsr.com/
Then I added a page for each date. We haven't done any of this yet so I don't have an example page for that but they would each be like a scrapbook page. A title, a spot for written memories, and pictures. I can't wait to start filling it up!
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Long Time, No Blog
It has been a few YEARS since I posted in this blog. So sad :( but I'm posting again. Hopefully I'll be better about it! So where am I at in my life right now? I am married. I have bought a house. I have 2 cats. I have no children. Only one of those things makes me sad, but we're working on it! We've been trying to get me pregnant for 7 months now. Maybe 8 months will be the charm? Last time I was posting, I was trying to become a teacher. I became a teacher, and then had to go back to Drug Mart for financial and health care needs. It's disappointing, but it's life. I enjoyed my 8 months at the Day Care. I loved the children. There was quite a bit of drama with the workers, but when you get a bunch of women working together how can there not be right? I miss teaching terribly. I miss lesson plans. I miss projects. I miss games. I miss the spark that goes off in a kids head when they understand something and their whole face lights up with the new knowledge they just absorbed. I miss getting to share milestones with proud parents. I was helping my sister put together a Professional Portfolio to showcase her accomplishments as a teacher and bringing out all my old lesson plans and projects and pictures of the kids made me want to cry because of how much I miss it. If I could afford to do it for free I really would. Just writing this is making my heart break, so I think I'm going to move on before I end up sobbing in front of my computer.
I'll move on to something more happy and exciting. I got my Ipsy bag in the mail today. Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription that costs $10/month. You get a cute little bag and 4-5 products to try out every month.
The bag:
The bag this month was really cute! It's a faux leather material and it's neon pink. It's got a cut pattern around the edges and it zips at the top.
1. 5-in-1 Bare Minerals BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow (0.03 oz) - worth $5.40 - But it Here!
I got this in the shade Soft Linen. It comes in 10 different colors. I am happy with the color Ipsy sent me. This products 5 uses are as follows: long wear color, primer, brightener, smooths, protects (SPF 15). This color matches my skin tone very well. I put it on and it would make a very nice base. I do love neutrals especially for my eye shadows. I'm happy to get to try out a cream shadow. I usually use powders so this is nice. Ipsy gave us a code to get free shipping with any $25 bareMinerals purchase: IPSYBAREFS good through 8/10/14. Also on the site I see that you can get a FREE deluxe sample Marvelous Moxie Lipgloss in Daredevil with any $35 bareMinerals purchase (offer valid 7/6/14-7/26/14 or while supplies last).
2. Clear Clinic Laboratories Vanished Clear Spot Treatment (2 mL) - worth $9.33 - Buy it Here!
The ingredients on this product are as follows: Isopropyl Alcohol, Purified Water (Aqua), Zinc Sulfate, Salicylic Acid, Glycolic Acid, Camphor, Hamamelis Virginiana (Witch Hazel) Extract, Cellulose Gum, Menthol.
I understand why this works as a spot treatment with the drying things it has in it like the alcohol, salicylic acid, etc. I personally prefer to have benzoyl peroxide in my acne products. Drying out acne is only half the fight. Benzoyl peroxide also fights the acne bacteria in the skin. This is priced at $35 for 7.5 mL. Personally I would rather spend my money on a benzoyl peroxide formula. I did however really like the applicator wand and will probably use this if I have a pimple pop up simply because I have it. You can get 20% off any purchase on clearcliniclabs.com by using the code IPSY20 through 8/15/14.
3. Pixi Beauty Mini Tinted Lip Balm (0.06 oz) - worth $8.40 - Buy it Here!
I got this in Unique Pink. It goes on pretty much clear but it is very moisturizing and smells minty. I'm not huge on colored lips so I really liked getting this product. You can get 25% off your purchase as pixiebeauty.com by signing up for an account and using the code flawlesspixi through 8/31/14. Also on their site they have free shipping for all purchases over $25.
4. POP Beauty Sunkissed Bronzer (0.25 oz) - worth $10 - But it Here! This came in shade Secret Sunshine. It looks pretty dark on the pallette but it doesn't go on that way. It looked nice on my cheekbones and gave me some actual color! It went onto my brush very easily. I will use this for sure. You can get 25% off your purchase at popbeauty.co.uk by using the code POPIPSY through 8/31/14.
5. Pur~lisse Pro-protect Essential Daily Moisturizer with SPF 30 (15mL) - worth $16.18 - Buy it Here!
I used this today as my moisturizer. It worked very well. My T-zone gets very dry if I don't use any moisturizer and this kept it nice and smooth. I LOVE moisturizers that have SPF because of my very pale skin. It has a light sunscreen smell. Not overpowering at all. It contains Vitamin E, Soy Proteins, and White Tea. You can get 30% off any purchase at purlisse.com using the code IPSYSUMMER30 through 8/15/14.
If you think Ipsy looks fun (which it is) please sign up using my link below:
Join me on ipsy and subscribe to the Glam Bag! You get 4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door, for just $10. Michelle Phan curates the bags! Check it out here: http://www.ipsy.com/r/875d
I'll move on to something more happy and exciting. I got my Ipsy bag in the mail today. Ipsy is a monthly beauty subscription that costs $10/month. You get a cute little bag and 4-5 products to try out every month.
The bag:
1. 5-in-1 Bare Minerals BB Advanced Performance Cream Eyeshadow (0.03 oz) - worth $5.40 - But it Here!
2. Clear Clinic Laboratories Vanished Clear Spot Treatment (2 mL) - worth $9.33 - Buy it Here!
I understand why this works as a spot treatment with the drying things it has in it like the alcohol, salicylic acid, etc. I personally prefer to have benzoyl peroxide in my acne products. Drying out acne is only half the fight. Benzoyl peroxide also fights the acne bacteria in the skin. This is priced at $35 for 7.5 mL. Personally I would rather spend my money on a benzoyl peroxide formula. I did however really like the applicator wand and will probably use this if I have a pimple pop up simply because I have it. You can get 20% off any purchase on clearcliniclabs.com by using the code IPSY20 through 8/15/14.
3. Pixi Beauty Mini Tinted Lip Balm (0.06 oz) - worth $8.40 - Buy it Here!
4. POP Beauty Sunkissed Bronzer (0.25 oz) - worth $10 - But it Here! This came in shade Secret Sunshine. It looks pretty dark on the pallette but it doesn't go on that way. It looked nice on my cheekbones and gave me some actual color! It went onto my brush very easily. I will use this for sure. You can get 25% off your purchase at popbeauty.co.uk by using the code POPIPSY through 8/31/14.
5. Pur~lisse Pro-protect Essential Daily Moisturizer with SPF 30 (15mL) - worth $16.18 - Buy it Here!
If you think Ipsy looks fun (which it is) please sign up using my link below:
Join me on ipsy and subscribe to the Glam Bag! You get 4-5 beauty products every month delivered to your door, for just $10. Michelle Phan curates the bags! Check it out here: http://www.ipsy.com/r/875d
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)