Easy Shepherds Pie

Alright, so it's not authentic by any means, but it's easy, quick, and tasty. What more could you want on a cold night after a long day of work?

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground beef
beef stock
flour
frozen mixed veggies
refrigerated biscuits
Salt
Pepper
Thyme
Garlic and Wine Seasoning

Cook the beef with salt, pepper, thyme, and G&W. Drain, spread in a 9 inch pie pan. Add veggies, then beef stock and flour until the consistency is fairly thick. Add more seasonings if needed. Top with refrigerated biscuits and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, until biscuits are cooked through.

Steak Sandwich

Hot. Fresh. French. Bread! There was an employee at the grocery store in Texas who sang a little song that went just like that. As far as I could tell, it was his only duty. Hot. Fresh. French. Bread. It's a great thing. But we'll add to it. Perfectly cooked, medium rare steak. Horseradish aioli, melted cheddar and asiago. Heaven.

Ingredients
Steak. I prefer tenderloin. The better the steak, the better the sandwich.
Garlic Salt
Salt
Pepper
Garlic and wine seasoning
Fresh french bread
Grated cheddar and asiago cheeses
Horseradish aioli (recipe below)

Preheat your oven to 375. Rub the steak with a mix of salt, pepper, garlic salt and garlic and wine seasoning. Bake in the oven until rare or medium rare. DO NOT OVERCOOK. Even if you like your steak well-done, do NOT go past medium rare at this point. Once the steak is done, slice it very thinly along the grain.

Slice the bread lengthwise and give it a quick toast in the oven. Spread with the aioli. Layer the beef on top with the grated cheese. Return to the oven for long enough to heat through and melt the cheese. Enjoy!

Horseradish Aioli

Ingredients
1 clove garlic
pinch salt
1/4 c extra-virgin olive oil (I used red pepper infused oil, recipe to come soon!)
3 T vegetable oil
1 egg yolk
2 t lemon juice
1/4 t Dijon mustard
1/2 t horseradish sauce
S&P as needed

Mince the garlic with a pinch of salt as fine as you can get, as close to a paste as possible. Set aside. Combine oils in a cup. In a small bowl, whisk yolk, lemon juice, mustard and horseradish. Slowly add the oil to the yolk mix, whisking thoroughly. If the mix seperates, stop adding oil and whisk until it combines. Whisk in the garlic. Taste and add S&P or herbs as needed. Refrigerate until used.

Dijon Baked Chicken

One of my go-to recipes on lazy nights, this is easy, tasty, and customizable. Don't like Dijon? Try BBQ. Or ranch. Or anything else your heart desires.

Ingredients

1 chicken breast
1/4 c bread crumbs
1/4 c Parmesan cheese (I use a mix of store bought and fresh grated)
1 T butter
1 T Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350. Blend the crumbs and cheese in a bowl. Melt the butter in a second bowl and stir the mustard in. Dip the chicken first in the mustard mix, then coat with the crumb mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until cooked through.

Shoofly Cake

A twist on the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch Shoofly pie, this can sometimes be an acquired taste - but for me, it's a wonderful comfort food.

Ingredients
1/2 c butter
1 c sugar
2 c flour
1/2 c molasses
1 c cold water
1/2 t baking soda

Cream the butter and add the sugar. Blend in the flour. Reserve 1/2 c of this mixture for the topping. In another bowl, combine molasses, water and baking soda. Slowly add the wet mixture to the dry, blending well.

Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and top with the reserved crumb mixture. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes.

Spinach Salad

Simple, quick, and tasty. What more could you ask for? Oh yes - it's healthy, too!

Ingredients

1 cup baby spinach, washed
1 handful each craisens, dried apples, pecans
light raspberry vinaigrette

Toss all ingredients in a bowl, and you are ready to go in three minutes!

Cake in a Cup

No, those are not root beer floats!

Currently, when I make cakes I don't worry about the recipe so much as the presentation. Here is a quick how-to on making these root beer float cakes.

Ingredients

Your favorite recipe for chocolate cake and yellow cake
Additional flavorings of your choice (I used Irish creme and butterscotch schnapps)
Chocolate pudding mix
Tall glasses
Circle shaped cookie cutters of varying sizes, not larger than the opening of the glass
Straw

Bake your flavored cakes and allow them to cool. Use the cookie cutters to slice enough circles to fill each glass 2/3s of the way with chocolate cake. Layer this with warm pudding mix. Top with circles of yellow cake and refrigerate until pudding firms. Serve with a straw and a long fork!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Who doesn't like chocolate chip cookies? For me, the perfect cookie is soft and slightly chewy - none of that crunchy stuff! The pudding mix is the secret to this, in addition to adding flavor! I prefer to use butterscotch pudding, but any flavor works.

Ingredients

1c butter
1/4 c sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1 t baking soda
2 1/4 c flour
1 package pudding mix
chocolate chips

Cream butter and sugars together. Blend in eggs and vanilla. In a small bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, blending thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chips and bake at 350 for 10 minutes.