Kitchen Adventures 15.2

Every few months or so I like to go through my cookbooks and recipes to select some recipes to try over the next couple months. Sometimes I faithfully follow this list, while other times I get  a moment of inspiration (or am limited by what's in my cupboards) and make up something different.

This recipe is one I randomly selected while deviating from my list. I had hamburger that needed to be used and was looking through my beef recipes. This looked good, so I thought I'd give it a try. It is definitely a different take on a pot pie, that's for sure! In the middle of making these, which did take awhile and an extra set of hands, I realized I was making biscuits from scratch. Again, I don't read recipes close enough sometimes to realize what exactly I'm doing. To cut out the biscuits I used a jar because I had no cookie cutters at that time. Now, of course, I have plenty, but that's why I keep random things around; you never know when something can be used a different way.

For me, this was pretty strong on the tomatoes, but I am not a big tomato person. The biscuits were delicious, though.

This recipe is from Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Beef and Cheddar Potpie

Ingredients:

6 T. butter, chilled
1 small onion, chipped
1 1/2 lb. ground beef
One 28 oz. can diced tomatoes, drained
1 c. beef broth
Salt and pepper
1 1/2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar cheese (8 oz.)
1/2 c. milk

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Great an 8"x12" banking dish and set aside. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoon butter over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened but not browned, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the beef and cook, breaking it up, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain if needed. Stir in the tomatoes and beef broth and season with salt and pepper. Lower the heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the liquid cooks out, about 20 minutes. Pour into the prepared baking dish and spread evenly.
2. Meanwhile, while the beef is cooking, make the biscuits. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, blend in the remaining 4 tablespoons butter and the cheese until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Pour in the milk and stir quickly with a fork to form a dry dough. Gather the dough together and knead lightly in the bowl. Transfer to a floured work surface and roll into a large, 1/2-inch think round. Using a large round cookie cutter or a glass, cut out 8 biscuits. Gather the scraps and reform the round and continue cutting biscuits until the dough has bee used.

3. Place the biscuits on top of the beef mixture as close together as possible and bake until lightly browned, about 35 minutes.

Kitchen Adventures 13.2

When someone says "down home cooking," people can have different ideas. For me, it makes me think of casseroles, roast, potatoes, and veggies. Normally meat and veggies combined comes in the form of pot roast and veggies. However, I found a pie recipe, similar to a chicken pot pie, that is quite delicious.

This dish took some effort, mainly because I ended up with way too much food for my cooking dish. You really do need a deep pie dish or a skillet for this one. I ended up using my pie dish for part of it and baked the rest of the filling wrapped up in the remainder of the crust. That turned out pretty well, too, which just proves mistakes can be delicious.

This recipe is another one from Every Day with Rachael Ray.

Beef, Cheddar and Potato Pie

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground beef'
2 carrots, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1 large onion, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
2 stalks celery, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 large baking potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
1/2 c. dark beer
8 ounces shredded Sharp cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper
2 sheets frozen puff pastry, thawed but cool
1 large egg yolk beaten with 1 T. butter

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine the beef, carrots, onion, celery, garlic, and potato in a large skillet, breaking up the meat, over medium-high heat until the beef is cooked through and some liquid has evaporated, about 15 minutes. Lower the heat to medium, add the beer and cook for 10 minutes. Add the cheese, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper, then let cool.
2. On a floured surface, roil 1 puff pastry sheet into a 12-inch round. Place this in a 10-inch ovenproof skillet or deep pie dish. Roll the remaining pastry into an 11-inch round. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the meat mixture into the skillet/pie dish. Lightly brush the edges of the crust with some egg wash, then place the second pastry sheet on top. Press the edges to seal, then trim to a 1/2-inch edge.
3. Place the pie on a baking sheet. Brush the top with the egg wash and cut an "X" in the top. Sprinkle with 1 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper and bake for 45 minutes. Tent the pie with foil if the crust darkens too quickly. Transfer to a rack to cool for 15 minutes when done.

Kitchen Adventures 11.1

Every now and then you read a recipe and think it will turn out perfectly, then when you get halfway through it you realize things could go terribly wrong. At that point, you turn to salvage mode and try to find a way to save the dish so it's not a complete wash. This happened to me with this recipe. Everything looked fine at first, but as I went along I realized I would have to do some adjusting to make things turn out right. Fortunately, I made the correct adjustments and it turned out pretty well. I'm getting better at this improvisation in the kitchen thing!

This is a nice casserole recipe that could feed a family or a couple people for a few days. It came from the binder my aunt gave me several years ago. I'm posting it with changes I made so you can learn from my experiences. The oddest thing that happened when making this was that I used more meat than I was supposed to but cut almost everything else in half. It turned out pretty meaty, but it was still good.

Burrito Bake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. ground beef
1 1/2 c. grated cheddar cheese
1 pkg. taco seasoning
1 1/2 c. grated Monterrey jack cheese
1/4 c. chopped onion (I omitted this)
1 pkg. crescent rolls
1 can refried beans

Directions:

Brown the beef and onion, then drain. Stir in the dry taco seasoning. Press the crescent rolls in the bottom of a 9"x13" pan. Use a second package of crescent rolls is one won't cover it. Spread refried beans over rolls. Use a second can if one won't cover it. Add the beef mixture to the top and then top it all with the cheeses. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil to brown the cheese at the end.

Kitchen Adventures 9.1

Oh goodness, it's been almost a month since my last post! Gracious. February has been a busy month to say the least. We had lots of snow at the beginning of the month, busy weekends all month, beautiful weather in the middle of the month, and a big hurdle finally jumped. The combination of everything has kept me away from my computer and my blogging. Fortunately, it has not kept me away from my kitchen. When recently asked about my hobbies, cooking and baking are always at the top of my list now. It's a great stress reliever, and it's also a way I give of myself to others. For example, someone asked me to make him brownies since he had a bad day yesterday. Even though I was exhausted, I quickly whipped up a batch (I luckily had a box mix on hand) and they made his day. It's just part of my personality; I have to care for people. One way I do that is through food.

And though I care about people and love making food for them, I also have to eat. And boy, do I love eating! Good thing my metabolism can still keep up with this love. :) I love making a large dish at the beginning of the week and having it for dinner the rest of the week. Mainly, this is because my week gets busier as it goes and it's much faster to heat something up instead of making another meal later in the week. I do mix it up every now and then, though.

This recipe is one I made almost a month ago at the onset of the big blizzard to start February. My sister had made it and gave it good marks, so I figured it would be delicious. However, after making the dish and then speaking with her again, I realized I had made a small but significant error. The recipe calls for egg noodles. It means the kind you find in the pasta aisle. However, I think I must have combined ingredients from another recipe and thought I needed frozen egg noodles, like you find in chicken noodle soup. Like I said, small mistake with significant consequences. This dish was still delicious, but I'll have to try it again sometime the way it is supposed to be made! Also, perhaps I'll try it when I get married someday (whenever that is in the distant future) as it's called "Husband's Delight" and since I have no husband to delight I can't know if it's really good. Just kidding, of course. Perhaps I should call it "Myself Delight" since it filled my belly wonderfully. :)

This is a recipe that came from the binder my aunt made for me several years ago. I'm glad I have this recipe source; it has provided me many a delicious meal.

Husband's Delight

Ingredients:

1 pkg. egg noodles (NOT the frozen ones!)
26 oz. spaghetti sauce
8 oz. softened cream cheese
2 lbs. ground beef
8 oz. sour cream
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Cook the noodles and place them in the bottom of a 9"x13" baking dish. Beat the cream cheese and sour cream together, then spread this mixture over the noodles. Brown the meat and drain the grease, then add the spaghetti sauce and stir together. Pour this over the ingredients already in the baking dish. Sprinkle (liberally) with shredded cheese. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

It should turn out like lasagna without all the layers. Mine, obviously, was different since I used frozen egg noodles, but it was still delicious.