Shepherd's Pie

I had half a bag of baking potatoes sitting around and I needed to use it up.  I was craving some beef too and I knew that Shepherd’s Pie is a great way to sneak veggies in for the boys (I really mean the hubby). I’d say that this dish is well-rounded for those meat and potato lovers in your life.

Shepherd’s Pie ~ adapted from Spoon It On

2 lbs. ground beef
1 medium cooking onion, chopped
3 cups of frozen vegetables
1 Tbsp. Tuscan seasoning (I made it from the The Eat-Clean Diet Cookbook , you can use Italian seasoning)
1/2 tsp. ground pepper
1 beef bouillon pack
3 heaping Tbsp Trio brown gravy mix
1/4 cup flour (or more for gravy/sauce)
1 cup water
10 small baking potatoes, peeled, cooked and mashed (see directions below)
1 egg
3 tbsp. butter
1 cup milk

Heat large non-stick skillet on medium heat. Cook ground beef and onion until beef is cooked through. Add Tuscan seasoning, pepper, and beef bouillon. Stir until combined. Mix gravy mix with cold water to make a slurry and stir into meat mixture. Sprinkle flour over meat and stir. Bring to a slight boil. Add more water or flour to make the gravy to desired consistency. Add vegetables and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes.
In a separate pot, boil potatoes until a fork can go through it easily. Drain and add milk and butter to potato and mash until smooth. In a small bowl, beat the egg and pour half of the egg into the mash potato. You do not need to add salt to the potatoes. Turn beef mixture into a 9 x 13 inch roasting pan and top with mash potatoes, spreading evenly over meat mixture. Pour the remaining egg on potatoes and spread evenly again. Use a fork to score a pattern over the potatoes. Bake at 375 for approximately 30 - 40 minutes, or until browned.

Before going into the oven

Ta da! It was really delicious!

Whole Wheat Pizza

I decided to make Hawaiian pizza from scratch. That’s right, pizza dough from scratch. It sounds like a lot of work, but I tell you, it was so easy! I had this book on hand for reference:

I altered the pizza dough recipe to incorporate some whole wheat goodness and the crust turned out yummy.

Hawaiian Olive Oil Whole Wheat Pizza ~ adapted from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

2-3/4 C water, lukewarm                                         
1-1/2 Tbsp granulated yeast (1-1/2 packets)
1-1/2 Tbsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
1/4 C extra virgin oil
5-1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
1 C whole wheat flour

1/2 C tomato sauce (I used Ragu)
20 – 30 slices pepperoni
1/2 C fresh pineapple, sliced and diced
1-1/2 C mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 C cornmeal

1. Mix yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil with water in a large bowl.

2. Mix in both flours and stir with a large spoon (or mixer fitted with a dough hook). If using spoon, you may need to use your hands to mix in the last bit of flour (make sure your hands are wet to reduce the dough from sticking to your hands).

3. Cover bowl with a dry tea towel and let the dough rest for approximately 2 hours.

4. If not using now, refrigerate in a lidded container (not airtight) and this can be stored this way for up to 12 days.

5. Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat oven with a pizza stone at 500 degrees. Prepare pizza topping ingredients.

6. Dust the surface of the dough with flour and cut off desired amount of dough (I used half of the dough). Dust the piece with more flour and shape into a ball by wrapping the dough around itself.

7. Flatten the dough with your hands and a rolling pin (dusted with flour) to desired thickness. Place the rolled out dough onto a pizza peel (I used a flexible cutting board) covered with cornmeal.

8. Spread tomato sauce thinly over the pizza leaving a 1/2 inch border around the crust.

9. Distribute pepperoni and pineapple pieces over pizza dough. Scatter cheese over pizza.

10. Slide pizza off of the pizza peel onto the stone.

11. Check for doneness in 8 – 10 minutes. Depending on thickness of the crust you may need to add an extra 5 – 8 minutes.

12. Allow to cool slightly before serving (cheese needs to set).

Brownies, 2 Ways

Have you ever been invited to someone’s place and have no idea what to bring? Last week I was invited to my cousin’s for a pool and lunch party. The night before I still didn’t know what I was going to bring. Sure, I could always stop by the coffee shop and pick up a box of donut holes (aka Timbits), but that would be the usual. I also didn’t want to trek 3 kids with me to the bakery to pick up anything. What did I have in my pantry that I wouldn’t have to make from scratch? Think, think, think…Yes! My no-fail brownie mix:

It only takes 45 minutes in the oven and all I needed to add was egg, water and oil. I wouldn’t be leaving for another 2 hours so this was perfect.

Well, I’ve been meaning to do something different to them, you know, dress them up a bit. I wanted to do something with peanut butter. With school out for the summer I knew there were going to be quite a few kiddies at the get-together and one of them has severe nut allergies. Hmmm,  I remember the mom saying that they still have peanut butter in the house so I knew that as long as the child didn’t ingest it, he was okay. So I decided on making 2 batches of brownies taking precautions that there would be no cross-contamination at all. I decided on a batch of marshmallow brownies and a batch of peanut butter banana brownies.

For the marshmallow brownies, in a medium mixing bowl, combine 1 egg, 1/3 C water and 1/3 C oil with 1 pouch of mix. Stir in 1.5 C miniature marshmallows and pour into 9 x 9 inch square pan.  Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 minutes.

For the peanut butter banana brownies: I had an unopened jar of natural peanut butter that had separated. I put the oil and the settled peanut butter (reserving 1/2 C of the peanut butter) into a food processor and whirred it until smooth. Because it needs to be refrigerated to prevent separation again, the peanut butter was somewhat runny so this was great for making these brownies. In a medium mixing bowl (I used the same bowl from the marshmallow batch so that I wouldn’t need to wash it twice), combine 1 egg, 1/3 C water and 1/3 C oil with 1 pouch of mix. Measure 1 C runny peanut butter from the food processor, 1 diced banana and the reserved peanut butter from the jar, in chunks, and stir. Pour into 9 x 9 inch square pan.  Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 minutes. Just in case of any cross-contamination issues and for peace of mind, I made sure that the peanut butter banana brownie was baked after the marshmallow batch was out of the oven and cooling.

Note: when making brownies, do NOT over mix. It will make for some very tough brownies. Definitely not a good thing.

The finished products:

Marshmallow Brownies

Peanut Butter Banana Brownies

I packed both pans of brownies and the kids into the minivan. Oh My Goodness! The smell of the peanut butter brownies was amazing and I almost pulled over to try it. When it came time to cutting into them all I could say was “Yummy!” as I tried to get the peanut buttery goodness off the roof of my mouth.  As for the marshmallow one, it was all right. Too sweet and ooey, gooey for my liking but the children were all for it.

Blog Award

Thank you to the ever-so-talented Spoon It On for sending this award to me. If you haven’t gone to visit her blog, you’ve got to check it out. It’s very well-written. Her cooking motto is Quick, Easy, and Delicious - my kinda style.

Proud To Be

I've done it! I've joined the Green Monster Movement and I'm proud of it. I've even added it to my blog roll. Go check it out.

For over 7 months, I've been following Angela of Oh She Glows make her famous Green Monster smoothies. Two months ago, I decided to try making one for myself. I now make them almost daily and miss them when I don't drink them. I've got my 4.5 year old and 1 year old drinking them too (not much success with my second born though). They like them. The 4.5 year old drinks them because of the name (think The Hulk). I've even got my mother drinking them and she likes them a whole lot. I use whatever fruits/vegetables I've got in the fridge but the main ingredient is always baby spinach (organic, of course) hence the "green" part of Green Monster. Here's yesterday's combination:

2 large handfuls organic baby spinach
1 frozen banana
1/2 C fresh blueberries
1 small apple, cored and diced
1/3 C vanilla yogurt
1/3 C POM juice

Blend until smooth. I don't mind my smoothies being on the thick side, but if it is too thick, I would add milk (soy, almond or 2%) but I don't think it would go with this combo so I would add water or juice.

Just go crazy with your Green Monster. You can't really go wrong with just the basic: spinach, banana, milk (my mom's favorite). You can even throw in supplements, protein powders, nut butters, flax seeds, veggies. I say, trial and error to find what you like. CHEERS!

Angela of Oh She Glows is having a contest open to Canadians only until Thursday, July 9 at noon. You could win an amazing Neal Brothers prize pack. Go to Oh She Glows to see the prize pack and find out how you can enter the contest. Good luck.

Sponge Cake Roll with Berries

I know I’ve been doing a lot of posts mentioning Spoon It On lately, but I just can’t help it. She has such great recipes that I often refer to her blog for ideas in the kitchen. So when I made my Chinese Sponge Cake recipe, I altered it into a cake roll.

Chinese Sponge Cake Roll with Berries
(makes 2 rolls)

Ingredients

Chinese Sponge Cake recipe
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract
1.5 tsp pure orange extract
2 C strawberries, diced
2 C blueberries
3 C whipping cream
7-8 tsp icing sugar
1 Tbsp icing sugar, optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

1. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and spray with Pam.

2. In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites with 1/2 C of sugar until soft peaks form.

3. In another mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, 1/2 C sugar, flour, water, oil, vanilla extract and pure orange extract . Beat until smooth but do not overbeat.

4. Fold egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture.

5. Pour the batter into the lined cookie sheets. Bake for 15 minutes and check for doneness with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, it’s done. I had to add an extra 5 minutes because I put both sheets into the oven at the same time (and I don’t have those fancy convection ovens).

6. Cool on a cooling rack. After 30 minutes, carefully lift the cake off the parchment paper.

Assemble roll just before serving. For each cake roll:

Wash 1 C strawberries (diced) and 1 C blueberries and allow them to air dry for 30 minutes. Whip 1.5 C whipping cream with 3-4 tsp sifted icing sugar (check for sweetness) until peaks are stiff. Spread whipping cream over entire surface leaving 1-inch border and reserving 1/2 C whipped cream. Spread strawberries and blueberries over the whipped cream. Roll the cake, careful not to “crack” the cake as well as not rolling it too tight or too loose. For a more professional look, cut off one inch from each end of the roll. Make sure to use a serrated knife for a clean cut. Place on serving dish and decorate with reserved whipped cream and berries. Sprinkle roll with icing sugar using a small sieve.

Enjoy. Here I served it with an extra dollop of whipped cream.

My son’s finished plate ~ he ate all the whipped cream and berries!

I don’t know if any of you have notice but I have switched to Windows Live Writer to write my posts. This is my second post using it and I find that it is very user-friendly and prefer it over Blogger. Let me know what you think.

Wishing you all

Happy Canada Day!!!!

Chinese Sponge Cake

I started making this sponge cake a decade ago. An elderly lady I used to work with would bring in the most spongiest (is that a word?) cake ever and it had a very light egg flavour. I like to call it Chinese Sponge cake because it’s not like other sponge cakes. We Chinese do not like our cakes to be overly sweet and this cake fits the bill. The elderly lady wrote the recipe out for me:

Chinese Sponge Cake
(makes 1 angel food pan)

8 large eggs, separated
1 C sugar
1 C flour
3/4 C water
1/4 C oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If your angel food pan is non-stick, you do not need to line it with parchment paper.

1. In a medium mixing bowl, beat egg whites with 1/2 C of sugar until soft peaks form.

2. In another mixing bowl, combine egg yolks, 1/2 C sugar, flour, water and oil. Beat until smooth but do not overbeat.

3. Fold egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture.

4. Pour into angel food pan and bake for 45 minutes (or until a cake tester/toothpick comes out clean).

5. Cool on a cooling rack, inverted.