Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Ghetto Shepherd's Pie

I am a weirdo. I sort of love bland comfort foods. In an effort to please The Hubby however, I make attempts (sometimes successful, sometimes not so much) to jazz up some of my favorite comfort foods and make them more interesting. I made this on Thursday and it may still be a bit of a work in progress, but it's most definitely worth writing down before I forget that I got fairly close to a dish Hubby will actually enjoy =)

Ghetto Shepherd's Pie
Serves 6

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
16 oz frozen veggies (choose your favorites)
4 potatoes
1 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, Mexican blend, etc.)
Garlic salt and pepper, to taste
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prepare a 2.5 quart baking dish.
  2. Peel and halve potatoes and boil in a large pot.
  3. In a large skillet brown the ground beef and onion together.
  4. Add half the can of soup, the Worcestershire, and the marinade (my two secret weapons of choice these days!) to the beef.
  5. Once combined, stir in the veggies and pour mixture into the baking dish.
  6. Drain potatoes and return to the hot pot.
  7. Mash potatoes together with the remaining half of the soup, cheese, salt, and pepper (use milk to thin out if necessary).
  8. Spread potatoes on top of the beef mixture in the baking dish.
  9. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
The beef mixture was tasty, but the potatoes needed a bit of work according to Hubby. I'll definitely be using this as a jumping off point though in the future!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes


Welcome fall =)

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cupcakes
Adapted from Annie's Eats
Makes 12 cupcakes

1 1/3 cups flour
1 1/2 Tbsp instant espresso
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg
Dash of cloves
7 1/2 oz pumpkin puree
1/2 cup granulated/white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1/4 cup (strong) coffee
  1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.
  2. In a mixing bowl mix together the flour, instant espresso, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices.
  3. In a stand mixer, combine the pumpkin puree, sugars and oil.
  4. Add the eggs in one at a time and beat well.
  5. On low speed add in the dry ingredients until just combined.
  6. Fill the cupcake liners and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Cool the cupcakes for about 10 minutes and then brush with the 1/4 cup of coffee. Go over them twice letting the coffee soak in pretty good between each time.
  8. Cool completely and then ice the cupcakes with whipped cream frosting (I used store-bought because I am terrible at homemade icing at this time...perhaps at a later date I will master this...)
  9. When serving, dust with cinnamon and drizzle on some caramel sauce if you're looking for something extra tasty ;-)