Sheperd's Pie

Ingredients

• 4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped onion
• 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 5 carrots, chopped (I used a bag of baby carrots)
  
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon ketchup
• 3/4 cup beef broth
• 1/4 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• frozen veggies (corn, peas, carrots etc)
• seasoning for the beef (I used salt, pepper, garlic, and an all purpose season)
  

Directions

1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes (I cooked the potatoes and carrots together, and took the potatoes out first with a slotted spoon and let the carrots continue boiling) and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and mash. Mix in butter, finely chopped onion and 1/4 cup shredded cheese (I added a little milk and more butter). Season with salt and pepper to taste; set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add carrots and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain, mash and set aside. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.)
3. Heat oil in a large frying pan. Add onion and cook until clear. Add ground beef, season and cook until well browned. Pour off excess fat, then stir in flour and cook 1 minute. Add ketchup and beef broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, add an frozen vegetables and simmer for 5 minutes.
   
4. Spread the ground beef in an even layer on the bottom of a 2 quart casserole dish. Next, spread a layer of mashed carrots. Top with the mashed potato mixture and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Kristin- I think your kids would like this

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Shepherds-Pie-VI/Detail.aspx

Chicken Carbonara

Ingredients:
1 pound spaghetti
olive oil
1 lb bacon, diced
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 eggs
3/4-1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2-1 lb cooked, cooked diced chicken (I have no idea how much I use, I just fill the pan)
1-2 cups cooked peas
salt and black pepper to taste
extra parmesan for table

Directions:
Cook chicken with salt and pepper, dice.
Cook chopped bacon until slightly crisp; remove and drain onto paper towels (I cooked, then chopped). Reserve bacon fat; add olive oil, and heat in reused large skillet. Add chopped onion, and cook over medium heat until onion is translucent. Add minced garlic, and cook 1 minute more.
Beat eggs very well, add parmesan cheese to eggs.
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook spaghetti pasta until al dente. Add frozen peas when pasta is done cooking (or you can just cook them separately, this just makes it easier). Drain well. Toss with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and add the chicken, bacon, onions; toss well.
Add the egg mixture and (optional) heat on the stove while tossing constantly until eggs are slightly set (I don't heat it up since the pasta is hot when I add everything).

Delicious!

Adapted from here

Chicken Enchiladas

1 tablespoon butter or margarine
3 1/2 cups Chicken, shredded or chopped (we just get one of those already cooked whole chickens from the deli and chop it up)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 (4.5 oz) can of chopped green chilies, drained
1 (8 oz) Cream cheese
1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
8-10 (8 inch) flour tortillas
2 (8 oz) packages of shredded cheese, Mexican blend
1 pint whipping cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add onion, and sauté 5 minutes. Add green chilies; sauté 1 minute 1 minute. Stir in cream cheese, cook, stirring constantly until cream cheese melts. Add chicken and stir until mixed well.

Spoon 2-3 tablespoons of chicken mixture down the center of each tortilla, add some cheese. Roll up tortillas and place, seam down, in a lightly greased 13x9 baking dish. Sprinkle with more cheese and drizzle whippng cream.

Bake for 45 min or until cheese melts

Yeah, these are low fat ;) but super delicious. Oh, I'm pretty sure tripp adds some garlic too. I like the mixture stuff to just dip tortilla chips in too, you could probably put it all in a crock pot and use as a dip at a party or something...ummm, good idea!




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Baked Chicken Bacon Alfredo

8 oz. penne or bowtie pasta

1 recipe Guiltless Alfredo Sauce (1 16-oz. jar would work in a pinch)

2 chicken breasts, grilled and chopped (about 2 c. chopped chicken)

6 oz. (1/2 package) cooked bacon, chopped

1 14-oz. jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and chopped ( don't use the whole jar)

1/2 c. chopped green onions (about 1 decent-sized bunch)

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350.

Prepare pasta according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking, prepare Guiltless Alfredo sauce (below). When pasta is done, drain and add to the sauce. Toss with chopped chicken, bacon, artichoke hearts, green onions, and 1/2 c. mozzarella. Season to taste.

Transfer mixture to an 8x8" baking dish and sprinkle with remaining 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350 for 20 minutes or until heated through and cheese is bubbly.




Guiltless Alfredo Sauce

2 C low-fat milk
1/3 C (3 oz) low fat cream cheese
2 T flour
1 t salt
1 T butter
3 garlic cloves
1 C grated Parmesan cheese

Toss the milk, cream cheese, flour, and salt in a blender.

Process until smooth and set aside.

In a non-stick sauce pan, melt butter on med-high heat and add garlic. Stand above the pan (but not close enough to scald your face) and inhale. Ahhh...butter and garlic. Okay, now get cooking again. Let the garlic saute for about 30 seconds, you don't want to burn it. It should be nice and bubbly.

Then add milk mixture to the pan. Stir constantly for about 3 or 4 minutes or until it just comes to a simmer. Keep stirring and let it cook for a few minutes more. It should be much thicker now.

When it's nice and thickened remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese, stir it up and then cover immediately. Let stand for at least 10 minutes before using. It will continue to thicken upon standing. Also, if you have leftovers in the fridge, the sauce will thicken almost into a solid. Just re-heat and add a little milk and it will be back to normal again.

Hot Chocolate

Ingredients

8 teaspoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking cocoa
4 cups milk
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions

In a saucepan, combine the first four ingredients. Cook and stir over medium heat until the marshmallows are melted, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Ladle into mugs.

Caramel Apple Cider

1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 cups apple juice
bring cream and brown sugar to boil over med hear, stirring constantly. Add 6 cups apple juice, stir until warm.

Whipped topping:
beat 1 cup cream and 1 TBS brown sugar until thick.  Top cider with cream and (optional) toffee bits (or a crunched up Skor bar)

Shrimb and bacon pasta

I made this last night and loved it, but I didn't use a recipe, so I'm putting down what I did so I won't forget. 

Ingredients
1/2-1 lb shrimp
1/2 large onion
2-4 pieces cooked bacon
2-4 cloves of garlic, minced
some shredded parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil
butter (I used 1.5 TBSP altogether, but could use more :))
cooked pasta (about 8 oz)


Chop onion and saute in olive oil until clear.  Add some butter and the minced garlic.  Add shrimp, bacon and a handful of shredded Parmesan cheese and season with salt/pepper (may want to add a bit more olive oil and/or butter) and cook until the shrimp is done (just a few minutes).  Toss in with the pasta and add olive oil as needed so the pasta isn't dry. 

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Ingredients

• 1 whole Vanilla Bean, Split And Scraped
• 3 cups Half-and-half
• 2 cups Sugar
• 8 whole (up To 9) Large Egg Yolks
• 3 cups Heavy Cream

Preparation Instructions

Heat half-and-half and 2 cups sugar in a saucepan over low heat, adding vanilla "caviar" to the mixture. (You can also drop in the scraped vanilla bean, just to extract all the flavor. Make sure to discard the bean before moving to the next step.) Turn off heat when mixture is totally heated.
Beat egg yolks by hand or with an electric mixer until yolks are pale yellow and slightly thick. Temper the egg yolks by slowly drizzling into the 1 1/2 cups of hot half-and-half mixture, whisking constantly. After that, pour the egg yolk/half-and-half mixture into the pan containing the rest of the half-and-half mixture. Cook over low to medium-low heat (depending on how hot your stove gets) until quite thick, stirring constantly. Drain custard using a fine mesh strainer (not necessary, I didn't do this, though I could see it being a good idea if you're giving it to kids as the specks are quite noticeable), then pour into a bowl with the heavy cream. Stir to combine.
Chill mixture completely, then freeze in an ice cream maker until thick. Place container in freezer to harden for at least eight hours.
 

Found here.

I halved the recipe because my ice cream maker is too small for the whole thing, but I still used a whole vanilla bean.  It's so amazing!  It tastes like custard and doesn't get too hard in the freezer (which I love, all my other ice creams have gotten very hard in the freezer). 

Green Enchiladas

Ingredients:
*10 tomatillos (remove stems and boil until they are a transparent green, about 5 minutes)
*bunch of cilantro
*3 to 6 serrano peppers (6 will make it pretty hot, a bit too hot for me. Apparently, even 4 is too hot for Cory)
*chicken bouillon (powder form) (she didn't say how much...maybe 2 tsp or less)
*4 green onions
*1 jalapeño (optional) (I did not use this)
*1 normal sized cream of mushroom

I toast all the peppers and onions on the grill or on a pan to get them nice and dark. Take off the stems and throw in the blender with everything else listed above. Add the chicken bouillon and some salt to taste.

For this part you need:
*corn tortillas
*shredded cheese (I prefer munster, but also tastes good with colby jack)
*cooked chicken, shredded (probably 3-4 chicken breasts)

I then use a casserole dish and begin the first layer with tortillas, then on top of that shredded chicken and cheese and some of the salsa. Repeat until you have the desired amount of layers. Pour remaining salsa on top of the last layer of tortillas (remaining salsa should be about 60% of the original amount). Sprinkle another layer of cheese on top and stick in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes.

I'm sure you could also put chicken, cheese, and sauce inside individual tortillas and roll them up and then pour the remaining sauce and cheese and top.  We used flour tortillas and it was amazing!

Soft Pretzels

1 1/2 cup warm water

1 TBSP yeast

1 Tb sugar

1 tsp salt

4 cups flour

Add sugar to warm water then sprinkle yeast on top. Cover with a towel and let sit for 6-10 minutes as yeast activates and starts to foam and then stir to dissolve. In a large mixing bowl combine flour and salt. Stir in yeast mixture and knead 5-10 minutes. Add more flour as needed to reduce stickiness.

Divide dough in to 12 pieces and roll each piece into a long rope or "snake". Twist into pretzel shape and place on nonstick baking sheet. Make an egg wash with one egg white and a TBSP of water, lightly beaten together. For salty pretzels, brush pretzels with egg wash then sprinkle liberally with Kosher salt. For sweet pretzels, brush with egg wash and don't do anything else until they're done baking.

Bake at 425 degrees for 13 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven and liberally brush with melted butter. Take the sweet pretzels and brush top with melted butter and then dip/sprinkle in cinnamon/sugar mix. These are best when served fresh from the oven and soooo good.

Pink Cloud

1 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. softened butter
1/2 c. chopped nuts (I like pecans)

Combine well (I mixed it with my hands) and pat into a 9x13 baking pan.  Bake at 350 for 20 min. Stir after 10 minutes.  When cool, take a hand full and set aside to sprinkle on top later.

2 egg whites
1 pint Cool Whip or 1 pint real whipped cream
1 10-oz. pkg. strawberries, chopped
2/3 c. sugar
2 T. lemon juice

Beat egg whites till stiff, add strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice; beat. Fold in Cool Whip.

Make sure the baking dish and crust is cool before pouring in the strawberry mixture.  Freeze.

I also tried it with blueberries (one pint).  I had to mash them down a lot (an electric mixer just threw them around the bowl) and I added the same amount of sugar as with the strawberries, but I think it was too much.  However, I didn't add as much lemon juice, and I think it would have been better if I'd added the whole amount of lemon juice.  It was still good, just too sweet for me!  If anyone else tries it feel free to edit this.  Also, it didn't really come out blue, it was a little brownish after it was all mixed together.

Chicken (or Pork Chops) In A Mushroom Cream Sauce

8 skinless chicken tenders (two per serving) or 4 pork chops or 4 chicken breasts
Flour
Pepper
Salt
Garlic Powder
2 cans evaporated milk
1 cup mushrooms (I don't do the mushrooms)

Preheat oven to 375º. Dredge chicken (or pork chops) in flour and sprinkle both sides with pepper and garlic powder. Brown with 1 TBSP oil in a large skillet, about 2-3 minutes (chicken) 4-5 minutes (pork chops) on each side. You do not want to cook through. Set aside pan as is, do not wash yet. Place chicken in a 9x13 pan. Top with mushrooms if you are using them. Pour over both cans of evaporated milk. Bake 30 minutes until meat is cooked through. Heat your previously used skillet for about 1 minute on medium heat. Place chicken onto plate and pour milk and mushrooms into your skillet. Add more pepper and salt to taste and whisk up bits from bottom of pan. Keep whisking until sauce thickens about 5-7 minutes. Place chicken back in pan to reheat and serve.

I like serving it with mashed potatoes and green beans. 

Calzones

1 teaspoon white sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I only use white whole wheat flour for all of it)

In a large bowl, dissolve sugar in warm water. Sprinkle yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

Stir the olive oil and salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in the whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the all-purpose flour until dough starts to come together. Tip dough out onto a surface floured with the remaining all-purpose flour, and knead until all of the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 10 minutes. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Punch the dough down and divide it into four (or more) balls. Put the balls on a greased cookie sheet and let them rise for 40 minutes. Then, on a lightly floured surface, roll the balls out into circles with a rolling pin. Put two circles on an oiled cookie sheet and fill it with whatever you want. Leave a little dough bare around the edges like you would for a pizza. I recommend putting all your fillings on one side of the dough circle, then folding the other side on top. After folding it over, seal the edges with a fork.  We had mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese, sausage, pepperoni, ham, green peppers, onions, spinach, etc.  One of those is big enough for an adult so you can make smaller ones for kids.

Put them in a pre-heated, 375 oven for 15 minutes or golden brown.

We took one of the leftover balls of dough and made a dessert pizza by putting cream cheese frosting and cinnamon on it.  We baked it with the frosting on it because we also tried blueberries and candied pecans (we ended up picking the blueberries off though), but next time I would brush it with butter and bake it for maybe 10 minutes or so and then add just the cream cheese icing and cinnamon.

Whipped Cream

I made strawberry shortcake yesterday (which was SO good) and I need to write this down so I will be able to easily find it next time.

2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl, whip cream until stiff peaks are just about to form. Beat in vanilla and sugar until peaks form. Make sure not to over-beat, cream will then become lumpy and butter-like.

Baked Ziti with Spinach and Tomatoes

* 3/4 pound hot Italian sausages, casings removed
* 1 medium onion, chopped
* 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
* 1 28-ounce can diced peeled tomatoes
* 1/4 cup purchased pesto sauce


* 10 ounces ziti or penne pasta (about 3 cups), freshly cooked
* 8 cups ready-to-use spinach leaves (about 2/3 of 10-ounce package)
* 6 ounces mozzarella cheese, cubed
* 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (about 3 ounces)

Heat heavy large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add sausage, onion and garlic and sauté until sausage is cooked through, breaking up meat with back of spoon, about 10 minutes. Add tomatoes with juices to pan. Simmer until sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 10 minutes. Stir in pesto. Season sauce with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Bring to simmer before continuing.)

Preheat oven to 375° F. Lightly oil 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish. Combine pasta, spinach, mozzarella and 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese in large bowl. Stir in hot tomato sauce. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish. Sprinkle remaining 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese over. Bake until sauce bubbles and cheeses melt, about 30 minutes.

Found here - http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/BAKED-ZITI-WITH-SPINACH-AND-TOMATOES-2609