Shepherd's Pie

I found two very different recipes for shepherd's pie that sounded great. One was vegetarian and the other was a hearty Rachael Ray recipe. I combined them, taking out a lot of the meat Rachel Ray called for and replaced it with kidney beans, the "meat" of the vegetarian recipe. Jesse, my dad and I finished up the whole pie--no leftovers! Yay!
Next time, I want to make individual shepherd pies for everybody, I think they'd be cute.
Links to the recipe's I combined into my own: Eat Better America + Rachael Ray = yummy shepherd's pie.

Ingredients:



1/2 lb. ground beef
1 can kidney beans
1 c. beef broth
EVOO
3 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. frozen peas (I used half a can, but I prefer frozen ones)
1 tsp. paprika
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley
1 box of instant garlic mashed potatoes (plus milk and butter needed to make them)



Get Cookin'

Add EVOO to hot pan. Brown the ground beef and onions, then add veggies and kidney beans (except the peas) to the pan. Cook, stirring often. In another (smaller) pan, cook the butter and flour over medium heat. Whisk in beef broth and Worcestershire sauce. Allow the sauce to thicken.

After the sauce is thick, pour it over the beef mixture. Put in oven to keep warm.

Make the mashed potatoes and cover the meat with the potatoes. Garnish with sharp Cheddar cheese, parsley and paprika on top.

Broil in the oven for a few minutes, until the potatoes are browned.

Chicken Chickpea Curry Bowls

I love everything Rachael Ray and I love Indian food. What a great combination! I used brown rice instead of white and omitted the ground chicken she suggested. Other than that, I followed the recipe exactly. Enjoy!


Ingredients
1 cup brown rice
2 cups water
1 tablespoons EVOO
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup plain yogurt
1 14.5-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 14.5-ounce can chick peas
A handful cilantro, chopped

Get Cookin'

Cook the rice according to package directions.
Once the rice has started to cook (mine takes about 45 minutes), start cooking the onion in a skillet with some EVOO.
Sprinkle with the curry powder and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the yogurt and simmer gently for 3 minutes, adding a splash of water if it needs to loosen up a little. Stir in some salt, pepper, the tomatoes and chickpeas then remove from heat.
Divide the rice and chicken mixture among individual bowls and garnish with the cilantro.

Cheeseburger Chili Mac and Cheese

Crockpot Cheeseburger Chili Mac and Cheese

This was delicious! I actually modified it to cook in the crock pot all day from a Rachael Ray recipe that used the stove top. I also changed the spices to give it a real kick. Plus, the carrot gives us a little vegetable. At least it's something! Jesse and I loved this!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground sirloin
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1/2 tablespoon cayenne pepper (this gives is a MAJOR kick, just use 2 Tbsp of chili powder if you don't like spicy foods) :)
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup yellow mustard
• 2 cups beef stock (it will cook down in the crock all day)
• Half a box of elbow macaroni
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp yellow cheddar (the sharper the better!)
• 1 shredded carrot

Yields: 4 servings

Add spices, ketchup, mustard, beef stock, carrot and beef in crockpot. You can put raw meat in the crockpot; it is safe! This saves a lot of time, too.

About 20 minutes before you'd like to eat, boil water and drop the pasta in. Cook to al dente and then toss in crockpot to mix with everything else for a little bit. Mix the cheese in too.