On the Menu: Shepherd's Pie

As common as I thought this was, Jason had never heard of this or ate it.  I told him it was meat and potatoes so he agreed to try it. Mom made this while I was growing up and although this isn't her recipe, it's still yummy.  Plus, you get to cheat and buy the steam and mash potatoes. If you haven't tried them yet, please do and don't worry about the guilt of not boiling your own potatoes and wearing your arms out mashing away. You'll still get a little workout here. :-)

For the caramelized onions:
1 Tbl olive oil
1 tsp butter
1 1/4 cup chopped onion
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup water

For the filling:
1 Tbl olive oil
1 lb ground beef
1/4 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp parsley
1/2 cup beef broth (or as needed)
1 Tbl flour (or as needed)

For the topping:
1 bag of steam and mash potatoes--or--
if you want to be difficult, 3 large potatoes cooked and mashed

What to do:
For onions, heat oil and butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and salt and cook for 5-7 minutes until translucent.  Reduce to low and add water, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Continue to stir. Remove the cover, turn to medium and stir. Continue to cook until the water is gone and onions are brown. Move to a bowl.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spray a 8x8 dish if you like it thick, but I preferred the 13 x 9.

For the filling, add olive oil to the same pan over medium heat.  Add beef and drain.  Add onions, thyme, pepper, prasely and beef stock.  Add salt to taste.

Add flour, reduce to low for 3-5 minutes.  Add more flour or stock.  This is your gravy.

Put in casserole dish and spread mashed potatoes on top.  Cook for 25 minutes or until bubbly on the sides.

An all in one dish! Yummy!

Thanksgiving Weekend

I hope all of you had a great Thanksgiving.  Jason and I enjoyed our four days off.  We stayed busy but it was a good kind of busy with 3 family get togethers and of course, lots and lots of food.  We still have two leftover plates in the fridge.  I think it'd be a good week for sushi or something equally as opposite of turkey and dressing as you can get.  Ella is at such a fun age right now and I'm trying to soak it in as much as possible.  She got to sleep in all four days and visit with family and eat cookies with Nonnie when she didn't eat any lunch....AKA...she had it made.  She is such a good kid.  We really do feel blessed and she brings such happiness into our lives.  I know it's sappy, but it's true.

We've got a head start on her Christmas presents.  We don't buy her a lot because both of our families do enough of that and we don't want her to expect a truckload of gifts every year.  I've got to start planning her birthday party soon.  I was going to go with a Little Einstein's theme, but she is currently in love with Toy Story 3's Woody and "Fuzz" so I'll ask her and get the verdict.  We've got lots of Christmas activities planned (as usual) and I think this year she'll really enjoy all of the festivities.  I'm really looking forward to the free Polar Express PJ party at the library.  They're even giving out a wrapped copy of the book! I'm a sucker for freebies and good deals.

Before you know it, I'll be posting about Christmas.  Take a deep breath and get ready for the ride! :-)

Halloween 2010

Ella is still talking about Halloween and it's been almost 4 weeks.  She still talks about dressing up as Minnie Mouse, going to Halloween parties, spooky ghosts, and all sorts of things.  We didn't do much door to door trick-or-treating but she had a fabulous time.  I love this age.  She is so busy and is constantly learning new words and forming 6-8 word sentences.  We're working on patience (just ask once...I promise I heard you! Gimme a minute!) and manners at the moment.  Bossiness and demands are thriving. :-)

 Coloring her pumpkin

Acting silly!

Proud of the pumpkins. Momma's not too creative, but it counts!

With Nonnie

With Poppie and Daddy

Knock Knock!

Big cheesin' with Papa

Talking to Nana about her sucker