Shepherd's Pie

This is a favorite of my boyfriend and roommate.
Ingredients
Cooking spray
1 package ground meat browned
2 pealed carrots
2 stalks celery
1 can peas
1 cup frozen broccoli
3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
2 tsp dried thyme
2 cloves minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste
1 small can cream of mushroom soup
1 cup beef broth
2-3 cups instant potatoes

Instructions
Set oven to 400.
Spray cooking spray in a large saute pan over medium heat. Add the garlic, carrots and celery then cook until tender, about 4-5 minutes. Add the browned meat, thyme, salt, pepper and Worcestershire sauce. Mix the peas and broccoli into the mixture until well combined. Pour soup and broth in and mix well. Let simmer 3-4 minutes then pour the mixture into a large baking dish.
Prepare the potatoes and spread over the beef filling. Brush with olive oil and sprinkle parsley and bake 30 minutes.

Pie Night!

I'm a little behind on posting, so I am going to post the last couple of days of meals at once.

I bought a box of pie shells from HEB for under $2 and made a dinner and a dessert with them on Monday night.
The first was Beef Pot Pie, which is kind of a made-up recipe that combines something like Shepherd's Pie with something like pot pie. :)

Beef Pot Pie:

Ingredients
1/2 package ground beef
1/2 cup chopped carrots
3/4 cup chopped celery
3 red potatoes diced
1/2 can corn
2 cups beef broth
1/3 cup cornstrach (more to make thicker)
1 tsp thyme
black pepper and salt
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp worchestershire sauce
2 tbsp tomato sauce/paste (I only had sauce, so I went with that)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the diced potatoes in a pot of water and boil for 3-4 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Spray deep saute pan or dutch oven with cooking spray and brown the beef with garlic, salt, and pepper.
Add carrots, celery, corn. and thyme and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add the tomato sauce/paste and worchestershire sauce stirring well then deglaze pan with 1/2 cup of broth, scraping up pieces of sides.
Add potatoes along with another cup of broth.
While the mixture is simmering, whisk the corn starch and the remaining 1/2 cup of beef broth; stir into the beef mixture until thickened-- about 2 minutes.
Take off heat and taste, putting more salt, pepper, or thyme is necessary.
Ladle into baking dish or deep pie pan.
Roll out the pie crust from the package and place on top of the filling. Crimp the edges with your fingers or a fork. Make 2 small incisions with a fork in the center. Place the pie on top of a baking sheet and cook for 30-35 minutes or until crust is flaky and brown.

For my companion dessert, click here

Steak Dinner

Tips

Look for sales on sirloin and chuck steak at the grocery. You can find some for $2-$4 a pound, and if you are just cooking for yourself or for one more person, then it’s very inexpensive.

You can keep the raw steak in your fridge, but only for 2-3 days.

You don’t have to have an outside grill to cook good steak. This recipe is for a sauté/fry pan or George Forman grill.

Steak:

Ingredients

Salt

Pepper

Worchestershire sauce

Instructions

Rub salt, worchestershire sauce, and black pepper into both sides of the steak with your hands. (If you don’t have worchestershire sauce, that’s fine.)

Grill both sides in pan or grill as desired (rare, medium rare, well-done). Cut a slit in the middle to check the pinkness.

Garlic Butter Sauce:

Ingredients

1 stick butter

2 tbsp. chicken broth

2 tsp. garlic powder

2 tbsp. chopped or minced garlic. (I use the spice world jar of minced garlic)

Instructions

In a small sauce pan, cook chopped/minced garlic and broth on medium heat until it simmers. Add garlic powder and butter. Stir. Once butter is completely melted, take off heat and set aside.

Green bean and red potato casserole:

I had originally planned on making green bean casserole and rosemary red potatoes, but I decided to combine them.

Ingredients

2 small red potatoes chopped in bite-sized pieces

1 can cut green beans

1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup

3 tbsp. milk (you can add more or less, or add water depending on how thick you want the sauce)

French fried onions

2-3 tsp. black pepper

Instructions

Set oven to 350

Mix milk, pepper, and mushroom soup in a bowl

Add green beans and red potatoes and mix well

Pour into a casserole dish and sprinkle liberally with French onions

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until potatoes are soft.

Tip: To shorten baking time, you can boil potatoes on the stove for 5-7 minutes before putting into casserole and baking. Then you only have to cook for 25-30 min.