Mini Stout Pies and colcannon

Happy St. Patrick's Day, almost. Today I decided to make mini stout pies to bring to work for dinner and then colcannon as the side dish. Colcannon is just a traditional potato dish with greens and butter basically. It was super easy to make.

The mini pies are delicious, but you have to make sure you have a way to to cute out an 8 inch circle. I mean, most people probably have 8 inch circle cookie cutters but I do not. So, I had to use the lid of a glass which was probably like 4 inches maybe. That caused my pies to be tiny, like appetizer sized. I don't mind that, I actually really like finger foods and tiny pie-like-things. Unfortunately, the recipe calls for just one box of refrigerated pie dough. If you are going to make tiny appetizers, you'll need two boxes instead. I still have a bunch of meat and veggie filling left because I wasn't aware of this. I mean, the filling is good so I'm still probably going to eat it was potatoes or something, but if you are going to have a St. Paddy's Day party these would be adorable additions in the tiny size.

Also, next time I make them, and there probably will be a next time, I would brush part of egg mixture over the little pies to give them a golden color. They were lacking that. It doesn't diminish the taste, but it looks really yummy.

The colcannon is super easy to make, really really easy. It's like mashed potatoes but with more veggies, so it's a little healthier than just mashed potatoes. It's a nice new twist.

Here's the recipe, I originally got this from Pillsbury, but it comes from Inspired Taste:



Mini Stout Pies

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

6 oz lean (at least 80%) ground beef

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup diced onions

1/2 cup diced carrot

1/2 cup Green Giant® frozen sweet peas, thawed

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

3/4 cup stout beer

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon sugar

1 box Pillsbury® refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

Directions

1 In 10-inch skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add beef; season with 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook 3 to 5 minutes until browned, stirring frequently to break up beef. Add onions and carrot; cook 3 to 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in peas, thyme and garlic; cook 1 minute.

2 Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in tomato paste. Add flour; cook and stir 1 minute. Add beer; cook and stir 1 minute or until beer thickens. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and sugar. Season to taste with additional salt. Remove from heat; cool 10 minutes.

3 Meanwhile, heat oven to 375°F. Line cookie sheet with foil.

4 Unroll pie crusts on work surface. Using 4-inch round cookie cutter, cut 8 crust rounds. Or if you are making the appetizer version, as many as you can with two boxes of pie crust (4 crusts in all.)

5 In small bowl, beat egg and water with fork until well blended. Brush small amount of egg mixture around edge of each crust round.

6 Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons cooled beef mixture onto half of each crust round. Fold untopped crust over beef mixture (pies will be full). Press edges with fork to seal. With knife, cut 3 small slits in tops. Place on cookie sheet.

7 Bake 18 to 24 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes before serving.

If you’re not a fan of beer, substitute with beef-flavored broth - But then you have Guinness leftover to drink, so the beer is totally worth it.

To reduce the fat in the pies, replace the beef with ground chicken or turkey.

Here's the colcannon, originally from Simply Recipes:

Colcannon Recipe

• Prep time: 10 minutes
• Cook time: 25 minutes

For a variation, sub out half of the potatoes with parsnips. Can add chives, leeks, or bacon too.

Ingredients

• 4 russet potatoes (2 to 2 1/2 pounds), peeled and cut into large chunks
• Salt
• 5-6 Tbsp unsalted butter (with more butter for serving)
• 3 lightly packed cups of chopped kale, cabbage, chard, or other leafy green
• 3 green onions (including the green onion greens), minced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1 cup milk or cream

Method

1 Put the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water by at least an inch. Add 2 tablespoons of salt, and bring to a boil. Boil until the potatoes are fork tender (15 to 20 minutes). Drain in a colander.

2 Return the pot to the stove and set over medium-high heat. Melt the butter in the pot and once it's hot, add the greens. Cook the greens for 3-4 minutes, or until they are wilted and have given off some of their water. Add the green onions and cook 1 minute more.

3 Pour in the milk or cream, mix well, and add the potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium. Use a fork or potato masher and mash the potatoes, mixing them up with the greens. Add salt to taste and serve hot, with a knob of butter in the center.

Lent: Homemade Soft Pretzels

These little soft pretzels are possibly the best snacks ever. And the don't involve meat, so they kind of fit in the Lent category. They would be perfect for tailgates, sports gatherings, appetizers, road trips or just to have around the house to snack on. The process is simple enough, just a bit time consuming, but they come out so well that it is completely and utterly worth it.

Want to hear the best part? You can customize them if you want! I made these with a friend and we brainstormed different ways to make them unique. Here are our ideas for variations, and then the recipe will follow. If these don't work out perfectly don't be mad at me, I haven't tried them all yet.

Pizza

Add garlic powder and parmesan to the egg wash mixture. You could sprinkle the top with any cheese you'd like (I'd go with mozzarella or parmesan) before putting them into the oven. Provide pizza sauce for dipping them into and possibly even pepperonis that you can stick onto them.

Amusement park or ball park

Make them exactly the same but provide nacho cheese sauce for dipping

Italian

Add garlic powder and grated Romano cheese to the egg wash mixture. Provide olive oil with pepper in it to dip them in.

Greek

Add garlic powder and feta to the egg was mixture. Provide Tzatziki sauce to dip them into. Or I guess you could dip them in hummus.

Dessert

If you use butter instead of egg and then sprinkle the whole thing with cinnamon, you can have a sweet pretzel!

I know some of that sounds weird. These are delicious with just the Kosher salt on top, so there's no need to fiddle with them, but if you are having a themed party some of that might be cool.

Here's the recipe from Pennies on a Platter:

Homemade Soft Pretzels

4 Tablespoons butter, melted 1 Tablespoon sugar 2 teaspoons kosher salt, plus more for topping 1 1/2 cups warm water (110 to 115 degrees F) 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast 22 ounces (about 4 1/2 cups) all-purpose flour Vegetable oil (nonstick) spray, for pan and bowl 10 cups water 2/3 cups baking soda 1 large egg yolk, beaten with 1 Tablespoon water (for egg wash) In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, sugar, salt and water. Sprinkle the yeast on top. Add the flour and mix with the dough hook attachment on low speed. Once the dough comes together, increase the speed to medium and mix for another 4 to 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl, wipe the bowl and then spray with the vegetable oil. Return the dough to the bowl, turning once to cover both sides with the oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for approximately 45-50 minutes, or until doubled in size. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly spray with vegetable oil; set aside. Bring the 10 cups of water to a boil in a large sauce pan or stock pot, then add the baking soda. Meanwhile, turn the dough out onto a slightly oiled work surface or pastry mat. Divide into 8 equal large pieces (about 4.5 oz each) or 30 small pieces (about 1.2 oz each) and shape into balls. Roll each dough ball into a rope (24 inches long for the large pretzels or 10-12 inches long if making the smaller pretzels.) Holding the ends of the rope, cross them over each other, twist one turn, then press onto the center of the rope, to form a pretzel shape. Place onto the parchment lined baking sheets. Working with one to two pretzels at a time, boil each pretzel for 30 seconds. Use a large slotted spoon or spatula to remove from the water and return to the pan. Brush the top of each pretzel with the egg wash then sprinkle with kosher or pretzel salt. Bake in the preheated oven until dark golden brown (approximately 12 to 14 minutes for 8 large pretzels, or 10 to 12 minutes for 30 small pretzels.) Allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 5 minutes before serving. Recipe Note: If you do not plan to consume pretzels the same day, then I would suggest freezing them immediately after they hit room temperature. The more fresh they are when you freeze them, the better. Throw them in a freezer bag and freeze up to 1 month. Reheat in the oven at 350 degrees for 5 to 10 minutes (until heated through). This is what I do, and they taste just as fresh!

Macaroni and Beef with Cheese

Essentially, what I made was Hamburger Helper without the box. The recipe came from Michael Ruhlman's blog and it is actually incredibly simple. I used a box of those rigatoni whole wheat noodles instead of macaroni because I'm cheap and didn't want to buy more pasta. If I make this again, I'll probably just use actually macaroni. Also, I would change the recipe to add some cheese right into the mixture instead of just on top. I'd mix it in before you bake it.

I have really tiny pots and pans apparently, so cooking gets difficult when I am supposed to put large amounts of ingredients into one pot. As a result, I didn't let the meat and tomato and spices simmer for an hour. That would have greatly enhanced the taste. And don't be afraid to add spices to the meat and then the tomato mixture to simmer. It'll soak in. I neglected to do this and everything turned out a little bland. One full box of mac is going to be too much but if you make the whole thing you can put as much as you want in without over doing it, and then make a cold pasta salad with the rest. That's what I did. I'll include that recipe next.

I bet this could be made a little healthier my using the whole wheat pasta, low fat cheese and ground turkey. You could also add other veggies in besides just an onion if you wanted.

Simple Macaroni and Beef with Cheese

1 large onion, diced

1 tablespoon canola oil

salt to taste

optional seasonings: black pepper, oregano, cumin, coriander, chopped garlic, hot smoked paprika, chilli powder—whatever you’re in the mood for (I just used black pepper, garlic and a tablespoon of fish sauce, which gives it depth)

one 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, pureed in the can with a hand blender or in a blender blender

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 box macaroni

1 cup each grated cheddar and mozzarella cheeses

Sweat the onions in the oil with a three-fingered pinch of salt. Add the beef and cook it, breaking it up as you do. (Because my beef was very fatty, I cooked it separately and added it to the pot along with the tomatoes. Also an option, but uses an extra pan.) Add another three-fingered pinch of salt or two, along with any dry seasonings you want. Add the tomatoes and any fresh seasonings you may be using, bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook for an hour.

Cook the macaroni in boiling water till it’s half done. Drain it andadd it to the tomatoes. (I wanted this to stretch into two meals, so I used the whole box, but if you want your dish to be very tomatoey and beefy, you might want to add only half the macaroni). Stir it into the sauce. Taste it. Add more salt and other seasonings as needed, and cover. When it’s cooled and the pasta has absorbed the tomato juices, transfer it to a large baking dish and cover it with foil. It can sit out for several hours like this, be refrigerated for up to two days, or frozen a few weeks.

Sweat the onions in the oil with a three-fingered pinch of salt. Add the beef and cook it, breaking it up as you do. (Because my beef was very fatty, I cooked it separately and added it to the pot along with the tomatoes. Also an option, but uses an extra pan.) Add another three-fingered pinch of salt or two, along with any dry seasonings you want. Add the tomatoes and any fresh seasonings you may be using, bring to a simmer, then reduce the heat to low and cook for an hour.

Bake it in a 400 degree oven till it’s piping hot (about 45 minutes if it’s cold to room temperature). Just before you’re ready to eat, remove the foil, cover macaroni with the cheese and broil till it looks beautiful.

Raspberry Cream Cupcakes

This recipe came from Your Homebased Mom and I made them for Valentine's Day to bring in to work. They were really good for being so simply. Really, the topping was just powdered sugar and that worked out really well. The only thing I had an issue with was the cream filling. I think next time I will use Whipped Cream and just added the berries to it to see how that works out. It should be fluffier, less work and probably less calories too. I'm sure for everyone that didn't mess the cream filling up, this was delicious. I think I added too much powdered sugar or something and it go thick, so my filling ended up just being a kind of icing. Still good, but not as fluffy and when it was icing-like I couldn't get as much onto the cupcake. Anyway, try these out, they're pretty and allow you to add any kind of berry to the cream. I used frozen mixed berries I just put in a pot on the stove and then mashed. But really you could do anything fresh or frozen.

OH, Oh, and the chocolate decorations are super easy to make. The hearts stay together the best out of experience. I tried to make the ends of arrows ( get in? like Cupid?) and I tried to make XO ones and ones that said LOVE. The "love" one stayed pretty well but everything but the hearts are brittle and basically fall apart. That just gets frustrated.

Raspberry Cream Cupcakes

1 white cake mix (I like to use Duncan Hines Moist Deluxe)
1 1/3 C water
3 large egg whites
2 TBSP unsalted butter, melted
2 tsp almond extract
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 (6-ounce) containers fresh raspberries, or one bag of frozen raspberries, thawed and drained
1 C heavy whipping cream
1/3 C powdered sugar, plus additional for dusting

Makes between 18-20 cupcakes. Line muffin tins with liners. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In your mixer beat the cake mix, water, egg whites, melted butter, and extracts in a large bowl for 2 minutes, or until the batter is well blended. Place about 1/3 C of batter in each cupcake liner. Should be about 2/3 full.

Bake the cupcakes until they are very pale golden on top, about 15 minutes. Cool the cupcakes completely.

Using a fork, coarsely mash 1 1/2 containers of raspberries in a medium bowl.In your mixer beat the cream and 1/3 cup of powdered sugar until firm peaks form. Fold the mashed raspberries into the whipped cream.

Remove the muffin papers from the cupcakes and cut the tops off of each cupcake, about 1/2 inch down. Spoon the whipped cream mixture onto the cupcake bottoms. Place the cupcake tops on the cupcakes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with the remaining berries if using fresh.

Shepherd's Pie

I made this recipe last night and I must say, I was really impressed with myself. It came from this blog, Recipes Under 400 originally.

Granted, my mashed potatoes would have come out a little more mashed if I'd had, you know, a masher or a hand mixer. But whatever, it came out delicious. I know it says weight watchers, but don't mind that. It is really really tasty. I ended up not having all the spices so I substituted everything I didn't have with garlic powder. I know that sounds weird, but garlic powder can go in literally anything as long is it's not a dessert. Try this baby out, it has tons of veggies and stuff so it keeps you full and makes a lot, and it isn't absolutely terrible for you. Also, if you want to be a little more of a fatty, you can add some cheese over the taters. I mean, add reduced fat cheese and then maybe you won't feel so bad.

Weight Watcher’s Shepherd’s Pie

• 2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1/4 cup nonfat sour cream
• 1 tablespoon reduced-calorie margarine
• 1/8 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 cup onion (chopped)
• 2 medium carrots (diced)
• 2 medium celery ribs, diced
• 1 lb uncooked ground turkey breast (or morningstar farms recipe crumbles)
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, chopped or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 cups canned chicken broth or 2 cups beef broth (or vegetable for vegan)

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
   
2. Place potatoes in a large saucepan and pour in enough water to cover potatoes. Set pan over high heat and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium and simmer 10 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender.
3. Drain potatoes, transfer to a large bowl and add sour cream and margarine; mash until smooth, season to taste with salt and set aside.
4. Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.
5. Add onion, carrots and celery; cook until soft, about 3 minutes.
6. Add turkey and cook until browned, breaking up the meat as it cooks, about 5 minutes.
7. Add flour, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper; stir to coat.
8. Add broth and bring to a simmer; simmer until mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.
9. Transfer turkey mixture to a 9-inch, deep-dish pie plate. Spread mashed potatoes over top and using the back of a spoon, make decorative swirls over the top.
10. Bake until potatoes are golden, about 30 minutes.
11. Slice into 6 pieces and serve.

Six servings, 275 Calories each

Gumbo

I totally cheated on this recipe. Seriously, it was the easiest and most delicious, possibly most fattening thing I've made so far. All you need to get is smoked sausage, I use Conecuh sausage that's made in Alabama, and it is unbelievably good. Then you just buy a box of gumbo mix by Zatarain's and read the instructions. For real, this is perfect. I actually had frozen okra hanging out in my fridge so I made that and put that in the mix.

I didn't actually realize that okra is slimy when you cook it, but really, slimy as in slime comes off of it. You can see the slime. It's like in the Princess and the Frog when she complains because she's slimy, but really she's secreting mucous. You know what I'm talking about? If you don't, go watch the movie, it's amazing. Actually, she makes gumbo in the movie now that I think about it...

The finished product was so so so good. I'm thinking of adding corn or peas next time with the okra, it just added so much to it. Try it out, you won't regret it.

Bacon Crescent Wraps

This recipe, found on The "Unworking" Mother blog, produces really delicious bacon-y treats. Unfortunately for me, mine turned out looking nothing like pinwheels. They actually were described at work as "bacon cookies." Which sounds gross, but considering they were always supposed to be savory it actually ended up being decent.

For the Alabama v. LSU game all my coworkers that worked late brought something and these were my contribution.

If you want them to look pretty, I'd recommend putting the rolled dough with filling in the refrigerator before you try slicing it. I just think my dough got too warm and I was too lazy to wait for it to cool off.

Bacon Crescent Wraps

Ingredients:
1 3 oz package of cream cheese, softened (or just just 1/2 a block - 4 ounces)
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup real bacon pieces
1 8 ounce package crescent rolls
2 tablespoons chopped onion

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cream cheese, bacon, onion and pepper. Separate crescent rolls into 2 rectangles. Pinch seams together. Spread cheese mixture on each rectangle. Roll up, starting at the longest side and seal. Cut each roll into 16 slices. Place on baking sheet with cut side down. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Notes:
For parties - I always double this recipe, sometimes I triple it - they go fast.
I usually buy bacon pieces in the jar (for salads). This saves time and mess from having to cook bacon.

Garlic, spinach and egg whites frittata

I made this to bring for lunch this week. It was delish. I added feta on top and it looks really fancy but in reality it was one of the easiest things I've ever made. It's kind of like a quiche without the crust. Which is the best part of quiche but also probably the most fattening part.

I'm only talking about fattening because technically I'm doing Weight Watchers right now. I'm not doing a very good job though because, not joking, I've gained 4 pounds in the 2 weeks since I started. Now, tell me how that makes sense? At least you can't tell, and to be honest, I don't need to do Weight Watchers I just wanted to learn to eat more healthy.Which...I guess I'm not learning. Maybe by the end it'll be better.

Back to the frittata. Here's how you make it.

Garlic, spinach and egg whites frittata

Ingredients:
2 cups Baby Spinach, fresh,
1 medium Onion chopped
1 to 2 tsp Olive Oil
Garlic, 2 to 3 cloves peeled & finely chopped (use less if you are not a garlic fan)
1 cup of egg whites (about 6 large eggs worth)
splash of Milk (I guesstimate 2 tablespoons)
12 - 15 grape Tomatoes sliced in half lengthwise
1/4 - 1/3 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
2 oz Pancetta (2 slices Boars head pancetta) torn into small pieces
1 tbs *Balsamic Vinegar

Directions

In non stick pan, warm the olive oil. Add the Garlic and sautee for about a minute. Add the onions and continue. Once the onions are translucent (but before they are golden) add the pancetta. Cook all until onions are deep golden. Add balsamic vinegar. Cook another minute then stir in Spinach and cook until it is wilted. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile in bowl mix egg whites & milk. Add salt and pepper to taste (I also add some freeze dried basil)

Assemble

Place spinach onion mixture in bottom of 9 inch glass pie plate that is coated with non stick spray. Top with the egg/milk/seasoning mixture. Drop in the grape tomato halves, distributing them evenly. Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan.

I just mixed Parmesan from a bag in, but then again, I'm lazy.

bake at 375 for 15 to 20 mins, or longer if you like it more golden.