Shepherds Pie

Here is my easy Sunday dinner tonight!

I'm a 5 ingredients or less kinda gal and this is one of my families favorites. I started making this when my boys were little and I wanted to sneak a few extra greens into their diet. I did not expect that they would love it so much! My girls now request this often and since it is sooooo easy, I don't mind.

Shepherds Pie

1 pound ground turkey, cooked with 1/2 cup chopped onion and salt and pepper to taste.
2 cans cambell's tomato soup
2 cans french green beans, drained (can use cooked frozen)
3 cups mashed potatoes (I usually mix up potato pearls from my food storage)
Shredded cheese to taste

Brown the ground turkey with the onion. Add the tomato soup. Let this simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes. While this is simmering, heat oven to 350. Open the green beans and drain well, then prepare the potatoes. If using potato pearls, boil 4 cups of water and add to about 2 cups of potato pearls. Set beans and potatoes aside.

Pour 1/2 of the tomato mixture into a casserole dish. Then add the green beans, followed by the remaining tomato mixture. Spread the mashed potatoes on top and sprinkle with cheese to taste.

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until it bubbles. Remove from oven and cool before serving.

Thanks for sharing Cori!

Red Pepper Gouda Soup

This is one of my favorite recipes. We ate this soup at Gardner Village, and found a similar recipe online and tweaked it until we got it right. It is a little time consuming, but well worth the effort. Goes well with a baguette. Serves 4-6.

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons butter
4 red bell peppers, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
24 fluid ounces chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups shredded gouda cheese

DIRECTIONS
Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Place the red bell pepper, onion and garlic in the saucepan and sauté for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender.
Pour in the chicken broth, stirring well, reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes. Transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.
Return the liquid to the saucepan over medium low heat. Stir in the heavy cream, the ground black pepper and cheese, and allow to heat through, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Creamy Chicken Tacos

I know, the picture is crap. But the dinner was delicious!!! This is a favorite crock pot recipe that I have adapted. Jeff and I both love these tacos and today, the kids even ate them! How do you like my fine china? You can get that lovely Corell pattern still at Shopko. I got it when I went to college 10 years ago, and somehow it is still in my cupboard.

Ingredients:

4 frozen chicken breasts
1 jar of salsa
1 cup sour cream
1 can of corn, drained
1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed

tortillas
peppers
onions
cheese
lettuce

Directions:

Place frozen chicken breasts in greased crock pot. Mix sour cream and salsa and pour over the top. Add corn and beans. Cook on high for 5 - 6 hours. I like to take chicken out and cut into strips about 3 - 4 hours into it, otherwise, you can just shred chicken at the end. Serve in tortillas and top with your favorite toppings. These are really creamy, so you don't really need sour cream or guacamole, but add it if you want.

Like any Mexican dish, they are yummy with a side of refried beans and Spanish rice, but I thought I would be healthy today and go with broccoli. You can experiment with different types of salsa to give it different flavors. Today I used a peach pineapple chipotle salsa. It gave it a little bit of sweetness.

Okay, So It Wasn't Dinner...

It was dessert! Jeff is out of town so we had hot dogs for dinner but a great dessert. Michael is leaving tomorrow in his mission so the fam came over for homemade ice cream. I have to tell you this was the first time I have made it by myself and it turned out pretty good (it was a little runny). I got the recipe from one of my favorite fabric designers and bloggers, Heather Bailey. Click here for the recipe (on cute little cards). This is a picture of her ice cream, not mine!

The best part (which you can kinda see) was the sugared pretzels. I think they would be great for salads too!

Welcome Everyone!

I hope you all join me in the daily quest to answer the inevitable...what's for dinner? Some couples fight about money, in-laws, _ _ _...not in this house. We fight about what to eat! With 17 different food allergies and a lot of fussy eaters, it seems to be the hardest thing for me to figure out. Usually I give up and don't cook. I really want to stop this awful habit. I want to have a plan and cook a meal each night (even when my husband isn't home to enjoy it).

So I hope you will post and share pictures of your favorite meals, your everyday meals, easy and hard meals and the meals that you think are so basic that they aren't worth posting!

Hopefully you can all help me be a better cook and get some ideas for your own family!

Invite your friends to join us. send me an email to join and be able to post (carlie(at)babybintz.com)

Here's why I am starting this:

Dinner tonight w/husband was out of town: Mac and Cheese for the kids, Cafe Rio for me! Ya, I need help!