Another reason I love Sandra Lee...

She gives you recipes to use with your leftovers! I swear, the woman is brilliant.
Tonight, I wasn't so lucky; no leftover beef stew to make shepard's pie out of. Instead, I chose to use Rachel Rays "easy shepards pie". It was far from easy! It's a good thing I'm confident enough in my culinary skills to improvise, take several recipes and make my own.

Shepard's Pie
2 lbs ground beed, browned and drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups low sodium beef broth
2 tablespoons flour
1 small onion, diced
2 cups frozen peas and carrots (I buy the bag already mixed)
6 large Yukon potatoes, pealed, cut, and boiled.
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 cup milk
1tablespoon chopped garlic

combine the beef broth, oninon, flour and soup. Heat and stir over med-high heat until hot and slightly thickened.
combine meat, gravy, and veggies in the bottom of a 9x13 pan.
mash potatoes and mix in the egg yolk, cream cheese, garlic, and milk (add more milk if necessary)
spread over the meat mixture
broil 5-7 minutes, until the potatoes are browned.

Superbowl Party Menu

This year, we did something different. We stayed home, made "easy" food, and watched the game in our jammies. It was wonderful! At half-time, we put half the kids to bed, enjoyed ice cream with the other half of them, and just enjoyed being a family.
Of everything shown in the picture, only one item was truly "homemade". Last week, I had a Pampered Chef party scheduled, but the consultant had to cancel due to sudden illness. I had a bunch of granny smith apples that had to be eaten. I made caramel apple dip, for the first time ever. I remember eating it all the time as a kid, but never made it myself. It was a hit!!!!! And, super easy, too.

Caramel Apple Dip

1 brick of low fat cream cheese
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
handful of chopped nuts (optional)

Mix first 4 ingredients together with a mixer, until smooth, fold in nuts.

Serve with sliced apples.

Goofy Kate Gosslin...

She made "monkey munch". We prefer to call it "Puppy Chow". Yes, I refer to my children as monkeys more often than not, but with 2 dogs in the house always waiting under the table for thier food, "Puppy Chow" just made more sense.

I love that this recipe can easily be done with all 3 of the boys! Liv is still too young to actively participate in the making of it, however, she's fantastic at eating it! :)
I have Cooper and Nelson get all of the ingrediants and necessary tools out. I have them do as much of the measuring as they can, and I let Maddox do the dumping, mixing, and shaking.


Puppy Chow

8 cups of Crispex (1 large box) or any rice square cereal
1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 ish ( add more at the end) powdered sugar

You will need 1 large mixing bowl
1 microwave safe bowl (with a lid)
1 large ziploc bag (I really like the 2 gallon size)

1. Combine the peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butter. Microwave on high 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until everything is melted and blended.
2. pour the cereal into a large bowl, top with the melted mixture, and stir to coat.
3. pour the powdered sugar into the ziploc bag. Add the coated cereal, and seal the bag (this is VERY important!)
4. Shake the bag to coat the cereal with the powdered sugar.
5. transer the cereal back into the mixing bowl, I top it with a little more sugar, if it needs it, and seal it.
If the container does not seal well, the snack with get stale very quickly.

Oops...

Talk about an unintentional sabatical. Life has been crazy here. I didn't mean to take such a long (10 m0nth) break. I vow to be a lot better!!!!
Don't worry, I've been cooking, non-stop. Tons of new recipes. I have a renewed commitment to posting.
I watched Julie & Julia the other day! I loved it. I would love to say that Julia Child inspired me to come back. Not true. With 4 kids, a husband, and 2 hyper dogs my inspiration comes from Sandra Lee. I love the look and taste of homemade without the work of it! She is amazing!!! Seriously, any woman that has a mixmaster in every imaginable color gets major props in my book. I'm grateful for my 1 mixmaster (in safe white).
Tonight I'm making chicken pad thai, a family favorite with some additions (peas and carrots).
Super easy, and super yummy!!!! Almost makes me crave http://www.thaigourmetfood.com/ less.


a couple things you need to know before I post this recipe...
1. Chicken Ramon Noodles (3 packages) work in place of Rice Noodles if you don't have them.
2. Crunchy peanut butter is 10 times better than creamy.
3. 2 Tablespoons of Worschesire sauce and 1 Tablespoon of water can be substituted for soy sauce. (equivilant to the 1/4 cup)

Without further ado....
Chicken Pad Thai

cook and dice 2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
combine these 3 and set aside
1 1/2 cups frozen peas and carrots (I buy the mix)
boil water and cook noodles according to package directions
drain noodles, mix in sauce and vegetables, top with diced chicken.