Food Friday: Gluten Free Recipe - Shepherd's Meatloaf

My sister-in-law gave me this recipe for my freezer shortly before Judah was born. I remember that only meat and potato type meals seem to fill me up with the nutritious calories I needed for nursing. And this was one of those meals.

Not only is portion of meatloaf delicious, but it is a guaranteed gluten free recipe. My brother-in-law is constantly on the look out for such recipes and having gestational diabetes in the past, I understand how important it is to have recipes like this on hand for special dietary needs.

So eat healthy and eat tasty!

Ingredients

1 pound lean chuck beef
2 tablespoons diced onion
1 teaspoon salt
1 cooked medium potato, mashed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms sliced or 1 can drained

Directions

In an 8 inch loaf pan, mix meat, onion, salt, potato, garlic powder and egg, thoroughly and form loaf. Firmly press mushroom slices over entire surface of loaf. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 hour. Slice and serve hot.

Food Friday: Camping Cookout - Hobo Dinner!

Today would be a beautiful day to go camping. My family often did this during the summer weekends when I was growing up. My mom would lug us kids down to the popular camp ground to get a site and my dad would come after work in time to help set up the tent and start supper.

Camping is such an inexpensive way to do family vacation. Enjoying the outdoors at its best can also be a valuable family outing as well.

All that fresh summer air too makes one hungry for some home cooking. Perhaps my favorite recipe when my family went camping together was when mom rustled up some hobo dinners. This simple dinner satisfied the hunger the outdoors created for my family.

Hobo Ingredients and Supplies

Ground beef
Potatoes
Carrots
Onions
Salt
Pepper
Seasoning
Cooking Spray
Heavy duty tin foil


Hobo Cooking Directions

Remove your thawing ground beef from the cooler of ice. Dice up potatoes and onion. Carrots can already be prepared sliced ahead of time. Take heavy duty tin foil rectangles and spray inside with cooking oil. Divide chunks of beef, diced potato wedges, onion, and pre-cut carrots to the tin foil rectangles. Season with salt and pepper and any other meat seasoning. Wrap up tin foil packs for each family member and put among gray fire coals and ashes to cook. Cook until vegetables are soft and meat is brown. To make extra juicy, add a sliver of butter or olive oil. Each individual wrap is one serving.

Food Friday: Shepherd's Pie

This dish requires minimal prep work and utilizes many ingredients that you are likely to have on hand on any given day. It is a hearty, healthy meal and can easily feed four adults.

Ingredients

• 6 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 cloves fresh garlic
  
• 1 tablespoon dried onion flakes
  
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 lb bag frozen vegetables
  
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• Lawry's Seasoned Salt, salt and pepper to taste
• Dried parsley leaves
  

Directions

1. Mash potatoes in whatever fashion you are accustomed. I use a special microwave cooker from Pampered Chef - fast and easy. Mix in butter and two pressed cloves of garlic; set aside.
2. Cook ground beef until well browned with the dried onion flakes. Pour off excess fat, and set aside.
3. While ground beef is cooking, steam the frozen vegetables in a Ziploc "Zip and Steam" bag in the microwave. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
4. Spread the ground beef in an even layer on the bottom of a casserole dish. Cover with 3/4 of the shredded cheddar cheese. Layer steamed vegetables on top of the meat and cheese at an even depth and season to taste with Lawry's Seasoned Salt, salt and pepper. Top with the mashed potato mixture. Use a large spoon to create peaks in the mashed potato for a polished look when the dish is complete. Sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese and finish with dried parsley leaves.
   
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browning begins. To darken the tips of the mashed potato peaks, broil for 2-3 minutes at the end of the baking time.
   

Food Friday: Hamburger Potato Bake

Good Friday afternoon! Today, I wanted to share a really great recipe for breastfeeding moms. Why?

When people brought me meals as a new mom, I remember enjoying them so much. All the meals were great but I craved the calories tied to meals with meat and potatoes. These meals offered the energy I so desperately needed feeding for a newborn and caring for myself.

One kind friend brought us this meal and taking the first bite, I was sold. I actually felt full. We liked it so much that we had her bring it again later on. Then finally, we nabbed the recipe from her so that we could make it ourselves.

Now note, this recipe is worth all the calories for a new mom who actually needs to intake more calories to breastfeed than when pregnant. However, if you still want to enjoy it, you can always buy the "lighter" ingredients. And if you are really good, you can be like my friend and actually turn it into a vegan dish.

Enjoy eating this easy staple!

Hamburger Potato Bake

1 pound of ground beef
1 medium chopped onion
2 cups of cheddar cheese
1 can of French's Fried Onions
2 pound bag of frozen potato cubes (with peppers in them)
1 can of Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can of Cream of Mushroom Soup
16 ounce container of sour cream

Cook meat and onions. Combine soups, sour cream, and cheese into another bowl to mix. Then stir in potatoes, followed by the meat mixture, and finally fried onions. Pour the entire mixture into a 9 by 13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for one hour if the potatoes are thawed. If potatoes are frozen, then allow a 1 1/2 baking time. This recipe makes excellent frozen meals and provides great leftovers.

Food Friday: Sloppy Joes or Sloppy Jacks?

What guy is not a meat lover! For any meal, especially a party, my husband asks for meat! In fact a meal at our house is not complete without meat. Therefore to complete our Super Bowl table of snacks and appetizers, we must include some meat!

One dish we like to make at our house for company is Sloppy Joes and Sloppy Jacks (a name and recipe my mom invented). This way people can have sandwiches to go with all the other sides. It is also easy to make for large amounts of company.

These recipes are easy for your husband to make and satisfies their need for meat during the football game.

Brown ground beef on the stove with chopped onion. You will need approximately one pound of ground beef for every four people. While the meat is cooking, get out two crock pots and set them up to cook.

Once the meat is done, divide it between the two crock pots evenly as one will house the Sloppy Joes and the other the Sloppy Jacks. For the Sloppy Joes, I combine my mothers and my mother-in-laws ingredients of ketchup, a little mustard, and Worcestershire sauce. Mix to taste, so all ingredients have been stirred in well. For Sloppy Jacks, use a can of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup and a can of mushrooms, enough to mix with the amount of meat you have.

Cook in the crock pot on low for several hours before your company comes, occasionally stirring. Serve on sandwich buns. Add your other sides for a complete Super Bowl buffet!

Food Friday: Roast Leftovers

I like a crock pot full of roast. Add some potatoes and carrots for a filling, healthy meal on a cold day. Not only is cooking a roast an easy meal but it provides a lot of leftovers.

Usually after a couple of meals the potatoes and carrots are gone. You may use some of the leftover meat to make BBQ sandwiches, beef enchiladas, or even beef fajitas. But by this time you are tired of the meat and it sits in your fridge for a few more days because you are not sure what to do with the rest. Been there?

This happened to me recently. And I can stand only so much beef after a while. So one night I came up with a new recipe to finish off that remaining meat. It not only turned out good but I think I would try it again and experiment with some seasonings or nuts. Stir Fry Beef and Vegetables is something new for us.

Here is the original recipe:

1 lb. lean beef, thinly sliced
1/2 c. soy sauce
1/4 c. sherry or cooking wine
1 c. onions, sliced
1 c. celery, sliced diagonally
1 c. broccoli, sliced
1 pkg. hot stir fry mix
12 lg. mushrooms, sliced
1/4 c. vegetable oil
2 sm. garlic cloves, minced
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 med. tomato, chopped for garnish
1 1/2 c. water
Water chestnuts (opt.)

Toss beef in bowl with soy sauce and sherry. Cover and marinate for 30 minutes. Prepare vegetables; set aside. Heat oil in wok, or wide frying pan. Add garlic and saute over high heat. Add drained beef (reserve marinade). Stir fry until meat is brown. Add onions, celery, broccoli and mushrooms. Cover and steam about 5 minutes. Mix water, cornstarch, stir fry mix and marinate in small bowl; pour into pan. Heat to boiling. Cook until thickened. Serve over rice. Garnish with tomato.

Here is the recipe I used:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb. leftover beef roast, shredded
2 tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce (with 1/2 tbsp. water) as substitute for no soy sauce
1 14 oz. package of frozen Mandarin Stir Fry Vegetables - broccoli, carrots, onions, pea pods, red pepper, mushrooms, celery, and leek
2 sm. garlic gloves
1 tbsp. cornstarch
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

I heated up the oil and then put in the garlic, salt, and pepper. Once hot, I added the already cooked meat and the package of frozen vegetables (can run under warm water to thaw some or add vegetables first). I sauteed on medium heat until vegetables were slightly tender. I then added my sauce mixture and cornstarch cooking until it was well stirred together. Served with rice. Enough for 4 people.

Now if you want to make your own rice, follow this quick recipe. Take instant white rice (about 2 cups) and add a can of beef broth and peas. Cook according to microwave directions. Adding scrambled egg is optional. And you have some fried rice!

Definitely makes a quick and easy meal! That is what half the fun in leftovers are, right?