Blog Feed

Shepherd’s Pie

Shepherd’s pie is a large meal that is easy to make. I like making it when I have lots of leftovers I can use in it to clean out my fridge and to finish up some food. This time I used some of my leftover turkey stock from thanksgiving, but I recommend using beef or veggie stock. I also recommend stock or gravy, so you do not have to thicken it as much as broth.

  1. Make your favorite mashed potatoes (find my recipe here). With a large dutch oven, begin browning 1 lb of ground beef or venison. Dice one small onion (1/2 cup) and add to browned meat. Cook your onions until translucent. Preheat oven to 450 F.
  2. Add strained cans of sliced carrots, peas, and corn. (You can also use fresh or frozen. Add your fresh veggies with the onion, add frozen veggies with this step.) Add 2 cups of stock and 3 Tbsp flour, stir and simmer until everything is hot and bubbly.
  3. Transfer into a 7×10 casserole dish, and bread pan if you have extra. Top with mashed potatoes, place in oven and cook for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes, then serve.
1

Removing Wallpaper

  • Listing photo with wallpaper

When we moved in, there was a wall that ran through the house that was covered in wallpaper. It ran from the utility room through the kitchen, dining room, living room, and the hallway outside the bathroom and two bedrooms. It literally went throughout the whole house. We have been working for weeks to remove some the wallpaper and to figure out how to deal with some spots that were giving us some problems. First, there was not just one layer of wallpaper, but two layers of the exact same wallpaper! Second, there were spots where they plastered over the wallpaper extensively to cover all damage, now we were stuck with spots that had plaster on top of the two layers of wallpaper!

Before New Year’s, we were able to strip the wallpaper almost completely off of 1/3 of the wallpapered surfaces in the house. We recently were able to finish that first third by sanding off the plaster, removing the underlying wallpaper, plastering spots that were damaged, sanding again, washing the walls, then finally painting the wall. Thankfully, this wallpaper can be removed with water, so that has been very helpful, but it was still a lot of work. Take a look at the work so far, and keep an eye out as we still have 2/3 left to go!

The next two photos show some flaws in the wall after painting. I’ll let you know what we do about that in the future, but for now we’re gonna leave it since you can only really see the flaws at night in artificial lighting.

1

Baked Chicken Breast

This was one of my favorite recipes to make for my husband and I after we got married. It was a simple healthy meal that just takes the time to bake. My chicken breasts I get at Aldis, and they are so thick. My chicken breasts are usually 1-2 inches thick, which is more than enough for my husband and I to share. You can also add some seasoning before you bake, or add it during the last 10 minutes of cooking, if you want additional flavoring, but I’ve found I have to add a lot (several Tbsp) to get significant flavor, so keep that in mind. The chicken also has a natural roasted flavor to it when baked this way. I’ve also decided to serve this meal with mashed potatoes. I still have so many potatoes, since I bought 25lbs a month and a half ago, however, I was able to make enough mashed potatoes to use these up!

  1. Heat your oven to 450 F.
  2. Prepare your chicken breast by removing it from the container, and placing it on a baking sheet.
  3. Bake it for 30-45 minutes until an internal temperature of 165 F. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
0

Homemade Fudge

I made this fudge as a gift to our families this Christmas and it was a big hit! Josh and I love this fudge. It’s so rich and creamy, and this recipe make lots. This recipe makes 25 squares, and you can easily be satisfied with a half piece. Prepare for lots of stirring, and take a break off the heat when you need to!

  1. Prepare a 9×9 pan by spraying it with non-stick spray and lining the bottom and sides with wax paper.
  2. Place 2 cans of sweetened condensed (28 oz total), and 2 bags of semi-sweet chocolate chips (24 oz total) in a sauce pan.
  3. Place over very low heat and stir constantly until everything is melted and the mixture is smooth and shiny.
  4. Remove from heat. Mix in 1 Tbsp Vanilla extract. Transfer to pan and smooth to an even layer. Let cool for at least 1 hour, then remove and cut into 25 pieces.
1

Whimpies (Sloppy Joe’s)

This is the version of Sloppy Joe’s that I grew up with. Compared to Manwich, chili sauce is more savory and less sweet. It has a ketchup base/flavor to it, but it’s not over powering. And, despite it being called chili sauce, it is not at all spicy, in fact, if you use only this sauce in your chili, you will be thoroughly disappointed.

  1. Brown 1 lb of beef in a large skillet. If excessively fatty, strain fat onto a paper plate. Add one jar of chili sauce, add 4 Tbsp water to the empty jar, replace lid, shake, then add water to skillet. Heat on low heat till boiling and hot. Stir occasionally and serve on toast or rolls.
1

Website Powered by WordPress.com.

Up ↑

Design a site like this with WordPress.com
Get started