Cottage Pie

Last night I made a tasty dinner called Cottage Pie.  I found the recipe on Martha Stewart's website here.  It's a simple take on shepherd's pie, but with all the flavor and more!

Ingredients:

- 3 tablespoons of butter

- 1 onion

- 2 carrots

- 2 tablespoons of tomato paste

- 1 pound of ground beef

- 1 cup of a dark porter beer

- 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme

- 2 tablespoons of flour

- 1 cup water

- 3/4 cup frozen peas

- 1 large russet potato

- salt and pepper

Directions:

Chop up the onion and carrots into small pieces.  Preheat the oven to 400ºF.  Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet, and add the onion and carrots.  Cook until the onions have browned a bit, and the carrots are beginning to get tender.  Add the tomato paste and ground beef.  Cook until the meat begins to brown.

Then add the porter beer.  My husband is a big beerie, and he picked out this nice beer called Lucky 7 Porter by Evolution Craft Brewing.  The flavor worked really well in this recipe.  I want to make this again, and I definitely plan on using this beer next time too.  

While adding the beer also add the thyme, and season with salt and pepper.  As you can see in the photo I didn't remove the leaves from the stem, but I wouldn't suggest that.  I thought they might fall off, and then I could simply remove the sticks.  That didn't happen, and my husband had to help me remove the hot saucy leaves, so we could get all those unpleasant stems out.  

After the beer has reduced a bit add the flour and water.  Let reduce a little more, and add the peas.  

While that's reducing clean the potato, and cut it into thin slices.  Once the meat mixture has reduced pour it into a 2 quart dish, and cover with the potato slices.    Cover the potato slices with the remaining butter, and season with salt and pepper.  Bake in the oven for 40 - 45 minutes.  The potatoes will be soft in the center, and the skins will be crunchy.  Let it sit for 10 minutes before serving.  The liquid will soak in during that time. 

This was so yummy!  The perfect cold night meal.  I loved the flavor of this, and it was so simple to make.  I want to cook this again sometime soon!  Happy Nom Nom Monday, chris!  

Thyme for Breadcrumbs

Today's recipe for Nom Nom Monday is super easy.  I had a long day at the house, and I wasn't that enthusiastic about making something.  So I'm using some pics from a few days ago when I made some breadcrumbs.  

I've been saving the ends of bread for months.  I save them by tearing the bread up into small bits like above, and then I store them in a plastic bread bag in the freezer.  I love potato bread, so that's what I used, but this would work with any bread.  

I preheated the oven to 350ºF, and covered a cookie sheet with foil.  Then I sprayed the tray down with oil, and sprayed the bread bits with oil.  I seasoned them with seasoned salt, and popped them in the oven for twelve minutes or so.  When they were toasty brown I pulled them out.  

Next I threw them in a blender, and mixed in some dried thyme.  I used about a tablespoon per cup of bread.

This is what it looked like when done.  I had 8 cups of bread, and that resulted in about 4 cups of breadcrumbs.  It's always useful to have breadcrumbs on hand.  There are so many yummy dishes I can make with them.  Last night my mom used them to make zucchini fries.  They were tasty, a great  healthy alternative to french fries.  

Well, I'm tired and it's not even eight!  'Night!  Happy DIYing, chris

Cheese Thyme Mashed Potatoes

Happy Nom Nom Monday!  For today's recipe I made Cheesy Thyme Mashed Potatoes.  This was the largest amount of mashed potatoes I've ever made, and they turn out really tasty.  My mom even said that next year for Thanksgiving, I should bring the mashed potatoes!  

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:

- 10 medium sized russet potatoes

- 2 tablespoons of milk

- 3 heaping tablespoons of shredded parmesan cheese

- 4 heaping tablespoons of shredded cheddar cheese

- 6 cloves of garlic (minced)

- 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme

- 2 tablespoons of salt

- 2 tablespoons of salt

Directions:

Halfway fill a large sauce pan with hot water.  Place the pan on the stove on high, add the salt, and bring the water to a boil.  While the water is heating up, clean off the potatoes, and partially skin them.  I skin the potatoes so they are left striped.  I like to leave a little skin on, I love the texture it creates in the final mash.  However, I have had mashed potatoes that have way too much skin in them, so be carefully not to leave too much on.  Then chop the potatoes up in half inch chunks.  Once the water is boiling drop the potatoes in.  Cover, and lower the heat a little, let the potatoes soak for twenty minutes.  When they are soft, drain the water off, return to the stove, and heat on low for a minute to cook off any excess moisture.  

Now add in the milk, butter, both cheeses (leave a tablespoon of each for a topping), garlic, and thyme.  Mash the ingredients into the potatoes until you have a creamy mashed potato mixture.  Scoop the cheesy thyme mashed potatoes into a serving dish, and sprinkle the remaining cheeses over the top.  Place the potatoes in the oven, and let it heat up to 215ºF.  In five minutes or when the cheese is melted over the top the cheesy thyme mashed potatoes are ready to serve.  

These were the best mashed potatoes I've had in a long time!  I'm always up for a cheesy thyme!  The thyme added a lovely flavor, and complemented the cheeses nicely.  Everyone loves mashed potatoes in my family, and this is a nice change from the classic mashed potatoes we devour.   Does your family enjoy mashed potatoes?  Do you add anything to your mashed potatoes?  Happy DIYing, chris!