Perfected Shepherd's Pie

I have been making and perfecting my Shepherd’s Pie for about 7 years now. At this point, I don’t know that this recipe could get any more perfect. I know I am tooting my own horn here, but this recipe is that good! For those of you who have been living under a rock your whole life, a Shepherd’s Pie is a beef, vegetable, and tomato sauce casserole topped with mashed potatoes and cheese.

About a month ago when I first started to do a little freezer cooking, I made a big batch of the beef-and-vegetable filling for Shepherd’s Pie and froze enough to make 2 large casseroles. Well last night for the first time I made this dish using the frozen filling, and it was PERFECT! I did make fresh mashed potatoes to top my casserole, so it wasn’t quite as speedy as most of my from-the-freezer dinners. However, definitely worth it!!

* Freezer Foods Tip: [I haven’t personally tried freezing potatoes of any kind yet, but I have read (and would imagine) that white potatoes do not freeze well. I can’t imagine mashed potatoes retaining their creamy texture after being frozen. Yuck.]

**SUPER LAZY NOTE: I have used pre-made Country Crock mashed potatoes in a pinch once when I didn’t make enough mashed potatoes, and it was fine. Now that I think about it, mashed potatoes from the deli at the grocery store would probably be cheaper than the plastic tub style.

Below are my original directions (written down for the first time) to make and freeze enough beef-and-vegetable filling for TWO large Shepherd’s Pies. J

~LAZY LAURA’S PERFECTED SHEPHERD’S PIE~

First, you will need to gather your ingredients. Shepherd’s Pie is extremely versatile so feel free to leave out the ground beef or substitute ground turkey. Add or omit any vegetable depending on your tastes. This meal can pack a powerful nutritional punch, so be sure to add any and all vegetables that your family will eat. All vegetables combined well in this dish so go crazy! Romanesco Cauliflower and fresh yellow squash have been some of my favorite seasonal additions.

~Ingredients for Filling~

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

4 cups of spaghetti sauce (Prego for me)

1 small can tomato paste

Pinch of salt, pepper, and oregano

½ sweet or yellow onion, diced

3-5 cloves of fresh garlic, minced

1 small head of broccoli, chopped

5 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 red bell pepper, diced

2 small zucchini squash, sliced and quartered

1 can kidney beans

1 can green beans

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen peas

STEP 1: Prep all of your vegetables! Dice the onion and bell pepper, mince the garlic, chop the broccoli, peel and slice carrots into bite sized pieces, and slice and quarter the zucchini.

STEP 2: Brown ground beef in LARGE skillet. Add onions and garlic to the meat in the last few minutes of cooking. Drain (if necessary) and transfer the meat to a bowl. Wash your skillet.

STEP 3: Then I add my broccoli, carrots, and a 1/3 cup of water to the large skillet, cover, and cook on medium-low, for around 5 minutes to soften them up a bit. Then I add the bell pepper, zucchini, and any other fresh vegetables you are adding, and cook for several more minutes.

STEP 4: Add spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, salt pepper, and oregano. Heat through. Stir cooked ground beef into the sauce mixture. Then add all canned and frozen vegetables (including kidney beans).

STEP 5: Pray your skillet can hold all of this. Stirring occasionally, heat this beef-vegetable-sauce mixture through on medium-low.

STEP 6: Transfer the filling to TWO, LABELED gallon sized Ziploc freezer bags. Freeze them flat. I would NOT use a freezer bag with a slider seal for this dish since it definitely has some liquid to it.

~When you want Shepherd’s Pie for dinner~

STEP 1: Pull the bag of filling from the freezer and put it in the fridge to thaw the night before (or at least a few hours before) you want to cook it.

STEP 2: Heat filling through in large skillet on medium-low.

STEP 3: Make a decent sized batch of mashed potatoes. [Peel and boil potatoes, drain, add butter, milk, salt, then mash. ‘Nuff said.] After many times of running out of potatoes before covering my whole casserole, I now mash about 12 potatoes.

STEP 4: In a large casserole dish or a 9 x 13 cake pan, pour in and level meat-vegetable-sauce mixture. Dollop on the mashed potatoes, and then spread them to cover the casserole. Sprinkle cheddar cheese (Tillamook!!) on top.

STEP 5: Bake in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes. Then slice and enjoy!

Chocoholic's Dream Cookie

While I would definitely describe myself as an avid cook, I admittedly do not bake much. This is probably not the worst thing in the world considering neither Jordan nor I are able to exert any measure of self-control when faced with sweets. (I’m pretty sure he admitted to eating 10 cookies last night.)

Anyhow, this past Christmas Eve I had to work at my old job mixing paint, so I decided to bring in a homemade treat, to make being stuck at work suck a little less for everyone.

When cooking with my usual ingredients of meats, vegetables, pastas, and cheeses I don’t follow recipes, I just follow my gut. However, baking is another beast entirely, and therefore I tend to follow other’s recipes for most goodies.

Allrecipes.com has yet to give me a true failure of a recipe, so while searching through their desserts; I came across the dream cookie of any chocoholic. The recipe is called Chocolate Pile-Up Cookies by user bansidhewail, and can be found at the following web address:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-pile-up-cookies/detail.aspx

To make these dreamy chocolate cookies you will need:

·         2 cups all-purpose flour

·         ¾ unsweetened cocoa powder

·         1 teaspoon baking soda

·         1 teaspoon salt

·         1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature (Tillamook all the way!)

·         ¾ white sugar

·         ¾ cup brown sugar

·         2 eggs

·         2 teaspoons vanilla extract

·         2 tablespoons coffee-flavored liqueur (Kahlua:)

·         1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

·         1 cup milk chocolate chips

·         1 cup white chocolate chips

·         1 cup finely chopped toasted hazelnuts (I left those out this time)

Here are the directions (almost) how they appear on allrecipes.com:

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 375°. Line baking sheet with parchment paper (THE best way to bake cookies!).

Step 2: In a bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

Step 3: In another bowl, beat together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until creamy. An electric mixer would definitely come in handy here, but my boyfriend also does an awesome job. (Hey, he’s got to work off all those sweets somehow! ;) Then beat in the eggs, vanilla extract, and coffee liqueur.

Step 4: Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture. Stir until well combined. Then stir in all of the chocolate chips and chopped hazelnuts.

Step 5: Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.



LAZY LAURA’S ALTERNATE STEP 5: Cookie dough almost always freezes well. This cookie recipe makes 5 dozen cookies, so I suggest forming half of it into rolls (like how you buy refrigerated cookie dough in the grocery store) and freezing them. I take a big blob of cookie dough (enough for about a dozen cookies), mold it into a small log, wrap it in parchment paper, then freeze in a gallon sized freezer bag. On a lazy afternoon or evening you can pull a roll out of the freezer, let it thaw slightly, slice, and bake following the recipe.

** Note: The following pictures look a little nasty. It would probably look a lot nicer with sugar cookie dough. Hehehe ;)

Then roll it up!

ALWAYS label and date your bags! :)

Waffles

Late last night, in the middle of a Heroes marathon, the boyfriend and I

needed a midnight snack. Here is what we came up with...

A fresh waffle topped with peanut butter, sliced bananas, and maple syrup!

The reason I bring this up (besides to gloat) is that I always freeze waffles.

(I have a freezer bag of banana waffles in there right now.)

I just pop them into the toaster on those lazy mornings! ;)

I grew up on Bisquick waffles so that is generally what I make.

However I have also frozen waffles made from Krusteaz mix and from scratch.

I let them cool for a minute or two after cooking, then break them into squares,

and freeze them in a single layer in a gallon sized bag.

They keep for a week or so before becoming a little stale.

Some of our other favorite waffles to eat and to freeze are:

•  Apple Cinnamon (add a few tablespoons of applesauce, a few tablespoons of finely diced apples, and a sprinkle of cinnamon to waffle batter)
• Banana (mash a ripe banana into the waffle batter)
• Chocolate Chip
• Blueberry



Lazy Lasagna

In my book, pasta is perfection. This is the one category of grub that I am not picky in. Stuffed shells, ravioli, lasagna, pasta salads, noodle soups, spaetzle, marinara sauce, vodka sauce, cream sauces...

[Side note: What is the best way to clean drool out of a keyboard?]

My mom began making this Lazy Lasagna a number of years ago, and recently we tried freezing it prior to baking. The results? It tastes exactly the same whether it gets frozen or not! This is the first pasta dish that I have successfully frozen, baked, and loved. I'm not yet brave enough to subject my famous homemade macaroni and cheese to the freezer. Baby steps...

Here's a list of what you need to make 1 large (or 2 small) Lazy Lasagna(s).

• 1 lb. box of rotini pasta
• 1/2 yellow or sweet onion
• several cloves of garlic, minced
• 4 cups spaghetti sauce (I usually get Prego through Costco)
• 3 cups shredded mozzerella cheese (Tillamook if possible!)
• 1/2 head of broccoli
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 can of olives
• Casserole dish(es) you can freeze and bake in

I just love how ingredients look when they are all laid out together! :)

First things first. Shred your cheese, slice your olives, chop your broccoli, mince your garlic, dice your bell pepper and onion. I like to get all of my veggies prepped before I start any cooking.

 STEP 1. Saute 1/2 diced onion and minced garlic in 1 Tablespoon of butter for just a few minutes.

I cannot stress enough how helpful my food processor is with all this chopping, dicing, and shredding. Especially the dreaded shredding! I don't know if I even would have thought to start freezer cooking if I hadn't recieved this awesome food processor from my boyfriend's mama. Thanks again!!! :)

STEP 2: Cook pasta according to package directions. Then drain and rinse with cold water (this seems to help the pasta avoid getting gummy).

STEP 3: Add onions, garlic, broccoli, bell pepper and olives to pasta sauce; No need to heat. Mix the noodles in with the sauce and veggies. Then mix in 2 cups of shredded mozerella cheese.

STEP 4: Transfer to the dish in which you will freeze and bake the Lazy Lasagna. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top. I like to sprinkle a little bit of parmasean cheese on the very top as well.

STEP 5: Seal the casseroles up, Label with what it inside and the date it was made, and Freeze! One of these dishes has an air tight plastic lid but for the loaf pan I tightly saran-wrapped it, and then covered in it tin foil.

When you are ready to feast upon your Lazy Lasagna, put it directly from the freezer into a 350 degree oven and bake for about 90 minutes.

[I don't have a picture of the finished (baked) product yet because when I last ate Lazy Lasagna a few weeks ago, I wasn't in the habit of photographing every meal. ;]