Shepherds Pie

I never thought Shepherds Pie would even appeal to my family but I think my real excuse was I had NO CLUE what it was!  My mom never made it, my friends never talked about it, and I was in complete and total darkness.  Besides, pie for dinner?  If it isn't for dessert, it must be gross.  It wasn't until we went out to eat one evening that my dear husband ordered this dish that I realized... OMGosh!  It was delicious, and not only that, but I can make that!  So create I did.  Now it probably isn't even close to the recipe the restaurant used, but it is delicious, super simple and my family LOVES it.

To make this quick, I am posting pictures in order of each step.

First start by making your mashed potatoes.  Peel and Dice your potatoes...

and place in your boiling pot of water.

I then whip up a double batch of my Cream of Anything Soup Mix, and set aside.

I then brown my ground beef, unseasoned I might add,

Drain off the fat...

and rinse under hot water.

Add beef back to the pan and pour my double batch of Cream of Anything Soup over the beef.

I usually use frozen mixed vegetables, but someone gifted me canned carrots and peas,

so what better way to put them to use? :)

Mix the vegetables in and simmer on low.  If you don't have enough sauce for you dish, add a bit of milk to thin everything back down.  Can't be much simpler.

By now your potatoes should be fully cooked.  Drain them off and whip them or mash them,

adding a bit of butter, salt, pepper and a bit of milk to thin them down.

Top your meat/vegetable mixture with your mashed potatoes,

and toss in the over at 350* until golden brown on top.

Enjoy!

Shepherds Pie

8-10 medium potatoes

1 large bag frozen mixed vegetables

Cream of Anything Soup Mix

Milk

Butter

Salt

Pepper

Mashed Potato Topping:

Boil Potatoes until tender, drain off water and return to pot.  Add 3 Tablespoon butter, salt and pepper to taste and milk to thin to desired consistency.  Blend with hand held blender until smooth.

Filling:

In large skillet, fry ground beef, drain off fat and rinse.  Add frozen mixed vegetables.  Make a double batch of the Cream of Anything Soup Mix and add to meat and vegetables.  Add milk to thin and creat more sauce.

Cover top of meat and vegetable mix with mashed potatoes and place in a 350* oven until top has browned to your liking.

French Bread

My family LOVES bread, particularly French Bread.  Such a simple recipe, but the store charges as much as $5 for this luxury food.  Bread should not be a luxury!  And I am going to do my part in bring delicous, fresh, homemade bread back to the dinner table.  This recipe is my own personal recipe.  Perhaps the best name for this one could be Busy Mom's French Bread, because it really is fast!  I hope your family enjoy's it as much as mine does!

As I normally advise, add your water just above wrist temp (110*) your yeast, and sugar, 

stir and set for 10 minutes until good and bubbly.

Add your salt and slowly add your flour as your mix it in well.

For the best texture, make your dough just a bit sticky.  This will give you a soft yummy center.

Let you dough sit in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Here is mine after 1 hour. 

Now is when you will shape your loaves.  I've chosesn to make round loaves here.

Go ahead and using a sharp knife slash the tops of your bread three times,  being careful not to go too deep.

Let your dough rise one more time until doubled in size, (about 30 minutes).

Ready to go into the oven!!!

30 minutes and 350* F does wonders for a cripy crust and soft center.

If you don't like the hard crust, place loaf in a bread bag while still warm.

For a crispier crust transfer your risen bread to stone pans already preheated in the oven, like my

 Pampered Chef Rectangle Stone or Large Bar Pan.

I forgot to snap an after shot, but this also make delicious sandwich bread,

so I made a few loaves in bread pans too.

French Bread

Yields 2 loaves

2 cups warm water (110 degrees or slightly warm to touch)
4 teaspoons yeast, or 2 packages yeast
2 1/4 teaspoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
6 cups all-purpose flour

In large bowl, combine water, yeast and sugar.  Let sit 10 minutes.  Stir in salt and flour 1 cup at a time, until you reach 5 cups.  Work flour in well, and test dough.  Add remaining cup 1/4 cup at a time, working in well, until dough is just slightly sticky.  Place dough in a large well greased bowl, spray top with cooking spray (helps keep top from drying out,) cover with clean cloth, and let rise in a warm location, until doubled for approximately 1 hour.  Once doubled, remove from bowl and shape into loaves.  Slice top with sharp knife, spray tops lightlyl, cover with cloth and let rise once more, until doubled in size, for approximately 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350* F

Bake 30 minutes.

Mission Organization: One Room at a Time

As promised I am wanting to show you how I keep on top of my responsibilities at home.  With 5 kids, homeschooling 3 and 2 toddlers, and a hubby who works long hours, things can go from clean to a huge disaster in no time.  I really want to share with you my method of how I have learned to keep my home under control.  This is by no means the only way to do it, but for me, it works.

First I can only focus on one room at a time.  And once it is done, the kids help maintain it.  My goal is to focus my attention on one room until it is under control and then move on to another the next day.  If your time doesn't allow you to finish the room in one day, set the timer, do what you can, and come back to it as your time allows. 

Because the entrance and front porch to the home are the first thing people see when they walk in, these are the areas I wanted to share first.

Now I know this sounds crazy, but do what you normally do with your house keeping for the rest of the week, and focus on keeping this one area of your home neat, clean and tidy.  The house didn't become a mess in one day, it isn't going to magically stay clean in one day either.  Although my approach is a bit different than Fly Lady's it still will get you to the same result, a clean, neat and orderly home.  And as she says, "Baby steps, if you want to learn to fly we must first learn how to walk."

I have a fairly small entrance into my split level home. Because of our cold climate and large family, it is also the landing zone for everyone coats, shoes, hats and gloves.

When you moved into the house, we hung two sets of coat hooks to help organize all the coats that seem be needed at least 9 months out of the year.

But if you notice, even once the snow flurries started flying, the amount of coats increased.

Each child has a set of hooks and once cleaned off, each child is only allowed 1 coat or snowsuit on their set of hooks,

Same goes for us.

Here is your own printable cleaning list for you print off!

Detailed Cleaning List - Entrance & Front Porch

Gind Your Own Cornmeal

My family loves popcorn, but did you know you can take your popcorn and grind it into cornmeal with nothing more than a common household blender? 

And the news gets better, did you know that purchasing popcorn in bulk is less than 1/2 the price of it's grocery store counterpart?I found Act II Popcorn at my local Sam's Club for $20.12 for a huge 50 lb bag.

The cheapest I have been able to find regular bagged popcorn for has be $1 for a pound.

So it didn't take long to figure out this was a steal of more 60% off grocery store price. 

The secret to storing bulk popcorn, is to have it stored in a sealed container.

First I measure out a large scoop of popcorn seeds, into my blender.  Although I use (and love) my Vitamix, you can use any counter top blender.  Because the Vitamix is such a high powered machine, I only blend for about 45 seconds.  Depending on your machine, you may need to blend a few seconds longer. 

And that's it.  FRESH cornmeal fit for your favorite recipe.

Popcorn is just for popping anymore!

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Cream of Anything Soup Mix

We have had alot of new followers join us in the last few weeks, and I would like to say "Welcome!  I'm so glad to have you following along!" 

My all time favorite and most requested recipe has been my Cream of Anything Soup Mix.  I feel like since we have had so many new followers join us, it is worth sharing again.  Check it out, and I hope you enjoy your freedom from store bought canned cream soups!

Homemade Hashbrowns

There is just something just absolutely delicious about hash browns for  breakfast or even for dinner.  If you are like me, I would pick up a bag or two, pay a fortune per pound, of this golden bundle of goodness.  But did you know for just pennies, you can serve up the same  golden potato deliciousness? 

Here, I used my Kitchen Aid Shredder attatchment to shred my potatoes skins and all.  If you don't have one of these wonderful contraptions, shred them by hand as your would cheese, on the same medium setting.  

 Rinse your potato shreds, to get the startch off them,

then pat them dry with a towel.

 Add 2 Tbsp to your pan and heat on HIGH. Once your pan is nice and hot toss in your potato shreds and let them sit and start to carmelize.  Don't mess with them too much or you will make them sweat.  Which is not a good thing.  That makes for mushy hashbrowns, and nobody likes mushy hashbrowns.   

Once they begin to brown, you can toss them quickly (if you mess with them too much you will cool down your pan!)  And let them cook some more.  This is also the point in which you would want to add chopped onion if you wish.  You want LOTS of steam coming from your pan, so make sure you are cooking on HIGH.

Cook a bit more and toss again.  This will give you an even browning through your potato shreds.  This is where you two options on how to serve them..

Option 1:

.

Once you have good browning you can seperate your hash browns into seperate patties.  You can leave them in wedges or shaped them up a bit.

Get a nice and golden brown on one side, go ahead and flip them and cook them on the other side.  Salt them and serve.

Option 2: (And my personal favorite)

Instead of shaping your potatoe shreds into patties, let them continue to cook as you have, tossing occasional to keep from burning.

Once done, sprinkle salt over the top

and serve.

Freezing Soup in Individual Portions

Have you ever made soup but not had enough left over for an entire meal?  I love the idea of hockey puck servings.  Grab 2-3 for a serving and reheat!  What a glorious notion!  Check it out at The Mommy in Charge!  She even gives you her delicious recipe for chicken noodle soup!

Homemade 3 Musketeer Bars

Picture from Monster-Mama

With Holloween quickly approaching, I thought it would be fun to address homemade candy.  Check out
Monstermama and look at how she makes a Homemade 3 Musketeer bar.  Looks easy AND delicious!  Do you have a favorite candy that you make for your family?

Top 5 Pumpkin Recipes

October brings about visions of pumpkins for so many of us.  Whether they are carved, mini decorating pumpkins or used in your favorite recipe, October is a month of pumpkins.  I just had to share Just Another Day in Paradise!  She is absolutely ADORABLE!  She too is a newer blog that has some fantastic ideas.  I LOVE her new post with her Top 5 Pumpkin Recipes.  They all look so delicious!  Do me a favor and check out the post at Just Another Day in Paradise!