August has just a couple of precious days left. We have had a whirlwind of craziness this summer. Mike had a work related surgery the end of May that found him recovering for 4 weeks at home. That was followed shortly by my discovery that I quite possibly have Crohn's disease. Symptoms not typical in my mind for this thing, mostly I suffered with such an incredible cough that I was only sleeping 3 hrs a night. Sleep is as precious as gold when you are not able to get it...I was a basket case. Further tests with a pulminologist (sp?) ended up with a referral to a GI guy in Lincoln. After an endoscopy, a colonoscopy, a lung CT and some other fun stuff I've been told I have a small airway lung disease, that is most likely thanks to Crohn's. Further blood work and tests will confirm this at some point, but that's where we are now. Life sure can throw you a curve ball when you least expect it. Now you know why the long absence from this hobby of mine. Not much cooking, but a lot of wonderful support from family and friends. I am so blessed.
Once the Dr. got me on a billion Mg's of Prednisone my energy level is back and I'm cooking again. A few days ago I made a Shepard's Pie, that's what I'm posting today. For my birthday last Tuesday I made my annual chocolate chip cheesecake, delish! That recipe is already on this blog somewhere, if you haven't made it you really should. I'm also waiting for a lady to supply me with the end of her little cucumbers so I can make the pickles I posted earlier in the summer. My daughter made the recipe and I loved them. Salty, but in a good way. This shepherds pie is a spin off of Rachel Rae's version. I changed a couple of things to make it more "me". It's a big batch, we've been eating it all week :-).
SHEPHERDS PIE
2# potatoes - peeled, cubed and boiled until tender
1/3 cup sour cream
2 Tbsp. margarine
salt and pepper
1 1/2 - 2 # ground beef
1 small onion - chopped
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1 cup beef stock
2 tsp Worcestershire
1 package of frozen mixed vegetables - microwaved until just tender
8 oz grated cheese (optional)
After the potatoes are cooked drain them and mash them together with the sour cream, & margarine; season with salt and pepper.
Brown the ground beef with the onion while potatoes are cooking. Drain off any grease and set aside. In the same skillet melt the butter and add the flour stirring for 2 min. to make a roux. Whisk in the beef stock and Worcestershire, stir while this thickens for 1 min. Add the cooked ground beef back into this sauce and stir to coat meat completely.
In a large pie plate or another dish of comparable size place the meat in the bottom. Top this with the cooked mixed vegetables, and sprinkle with a couple of hands full of cheese. Now spread the mashed potatoes over the top and smooth it out so that it seals up all around the dish. Bake this for 30 min. @ 350* and top with a few small pats of butter when it comes out of the oven. The potatoes should just be a little golden when you take it out, oven time may vary.
Mike is making some pickled jalapenos sometime soon, we'll let you know how they turn out!
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