My husband, Paul, is from England.  He has a few favorites that I make for him. Last night I made a couple of dishes. One of them was Shepard’s Pie. Now, he is a pretty simple guy when it comes to his ingredients. So here is his favorite way that I make it:)   Oh, btw, it freezes/reheats really well!

OK, HERE’S What You’ll Need:

1 pound of beef (I use ground round)

1 small onion, chopped (I didn’t have one so I used dried onions)

salt, pepper, garlic powder

button mushrooms (about 4 oz sliced up)

brown gravy mix (follow directions)

Mashed potatoes  - I used about 1 1/2 pounds and used a lot of butter;)

Butter – we use Kerry Gold Irish butter. It’s soooooo good

Preheat oven to 375(f)

HERE’S What You Do:

Into the skillet - Ground Round (1 pound)

Season - salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried minced onion

Start your mashed taters - place in water with salt - boil (1 1/2lb)

Brown your meat

Get your baking dish ready - These are Paul's favorite for this dish;)

Cover the bottom of your baking dish(es) generously with beef

You can use either fresh or a small (drained can) of mushrooms.

**Ok this is where you can add other assorted veggies if you would like. Paul used to like corn in his but he’s kinda gone off it. Other veggies you common – corn and little green peas.  But my Englishman is simple:)**

Place sliced mushrooms on top of beef

Make your brown gravy - We use Bisto

Gravvvyyy

Pour your gravy over the beef and mushrooms

Going back to the potatoes - drain

Trick to great mashed potatoes is the butter - Kerry Gold!

add butter (LOTS of butter:) and mash

Potatoes on top - trail your fork to make ridges (they get crunchy:)

Bake until it bubbles around the sides (about 35 minutes). If it’s not brown enough on top, run it under the broiler until you get your desired color.

Done:) Nice and crispy on top!

Hello!! I’m back. Again.  It’s been quite a while since I wrote last.  Life in general just happens and things take priority.  Last year is a blur. The kids are now back in school and I have “retired” from the PTC after 6 looong years of being involved.

Jamie began Jr. High this year (7th grade!) MyMatthew is in 5th and Sare Bear is a 3rd grader:)  So far so good. Knock on wood! I am going to start back to school myself end of the month:) I’m excited but really nervous. I will be working toward my HTM degree (Hospitality and Tourism Management).  Paul is currently doing his own thing. He was laid off last September. He has been working on things he’s been wanting to do for a while. I think he’s planning on looking for a job at some point.  We had a great summer. It was nice that we didn’t have to schedule things around his work.  We were able to just up and go when we wanted.  I will miss that when he does go back to an office job.

Sarah had to sit out of ballet last year due to her school work just being so out of hand. She would come home with 6-8 pgs of homework at night.  It was horrible.  We just weren’t able to get homework done and make it to ballet on time twice a week.  We are hoping to get her back in this year (and add ice skating) but we want to see how things are going to work out with homework/schoolwork. I am hoping that her teacher will have her more structured than last year’s.  Last year, she was in a mixed class. 1st and 2nd graders.  This year, it’s just the 3rd grade.

MyMatthew is no longer doing soccer (we are completely out of the soccer organization now).  He began swim team last September and is just LOVING it:)  It’s unbelievable (to me) how he has progressed in a year. They are on break atm but will be starting up again next month.  He’s really looking forward to it.

Jamie is puttering along. He has been so excited about getting to Jr. High:)  He gets up and gets excited about going to school.  He’s out of the house before school even opens the doors for breakfast:) He really loves getting there, having his blueberry muffins and then going to the library:) Then at lunch, he gets a choice of what he’d like and that is also a huge thing for him:) It’s the little things that make him happy! This Saturday, he’ll start golf again.  He hasn’t done it in a while, but he’ll be able to start practicing with the golf team next year and then hopefully play on the team the following year.  Yes, it’s going to be another busy year!

Over the last several months, I have discovered Julia Childs. Not really discovered her but really started paying attention to her.  I have to say, she is pretty darn cool. I love her shows now. She tickles me because if she messed something up, she had no problem saying it/showing it and just tossing it in the trash and starting all over again!  She was very real.  I hope to bring yall some of her recipes that I have been making. Some of them are really complicated. I tend to stay away from those, like her Boeuf Bourguignon. However, today, I am going to show yall a recipe that I found at Pioneer Woman. It’s for Ribeye steak with a Burgundy Mushroom sauce.  It’s very good. Pretty simple and looks/sounds very impressive:) Enjoy!
OK, HERE’S What You’ll Need:

3 nice Ribeye steaks

1/2 cup butter

1 pound of button mushrooms

4 cloves of garlic

3 green onions cut up

1 1/2 cup of Burgundy (next time I’ll pull back on this a bit. Maybe 1 cup)

Salt and Pepper

1 Tbsp butter

Parsley (chopped up to make it pretty:)

HERE’S Whatcha Do:

Slice mushrooms (1 lb)

Slice up green onions (3)

To the butter add your mushrooms, green onion and chopped garlic (4 cloves)

Cook it alllll down until the shrooms are golden brown

1 1/2 Cups!!

Add and reduce

Almost there!

Add your parsley....

Set aside

Quick wash!

Butter to the pan

Ribeye!!

Cooked just the way you like with a little salt and pepper:)

Voilà!! Ribeye w/ Burgundy Mushroom sauce:) Bon Appetite!!

Good morning:)

Well, we have kittens!:) Friday morning, Angel had 5 of the sweetest little babies:) I thought it was weird that she was under Matthew and Jamie’s bunk beds. Then we heard her crying. Paul had to pull the bed out to get to her. He got her to the half bath where he had put a box for her, just in time! We have 2 black, 2 white/creamy, and one sweet little black and white one:) Angel is doing well. She’s a bit nervous but she’s a first time mommy.  She’s a very good mommy though:)I don’t know how we are going to part with any of them.

So did everyone have a good weekend? Our’s was good. Rained a lot though. Paul was off Friday. We had breakfast with Maria and did a little shopping. Thursday and Friday were absolutely gorgeous.  Saturday morning, Sarah, Monica and I had a ‘girls’ morning:) We picked Monica up and went to grab a coffee then it was off to get pedicures:) Sarah had a blast:) The place we went was really gorgeous. One wall was a waterfall. The ceilings were painted like the sky and they had beautiful chandeliers.  It was really very pretty and relaxing.  Sarah chose blue and I got Dutch Tulip:) She has a little flourish of black and I have pretty little flowers on her/my/our big toes:)  She saw a little friend there getting a mani-pedi:) So I am sure they will have a lot to talk about. Next time, maybe we’ll both do mani-pedis.  When we left the temp felt like it had dropped a good 20 degrees and it began to rain. It rained alllll night until yesterday afternoon. We even had tornado warnings out. Yesterday morning, I took Matthew, Jamie and 2 of Jamie’s friends to a Pokemon event. Then I took them to McDonald’s for lunch. The kids went to Aunt Kathy’s house to watch Mary Poppins yesterday afternoon. We picked them and Aunt Kathy up about 5 and we all went  to Bennigans for supper. So it was a very nice weekend:)

Today, I need to go run pick up things to make up treat bags for Math Bowl Team for tomorrow. They have their competition after school tomorrow. Jamie isn’t going to be on the panel. He’s missed to many practices because of migraines. He’s ok with that though. He’s just happy to be part of the team. He really enjoys Math Bowl. I’ve run the cleaning cycle on my washing machine and washed a couple of loads of clothes this morning; unloaded and loaded the dishwasher; tidied the front room/dining room and had my coffee. I need to keep the momentum going so I am off:)

Yall have a wonderful day!

take care,

~kat

RecipesUnlimited.com

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Sweet and Sour Green Beans

Slow Cooked Fiesta Corn

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Good morning!

The birds are just a singing singing singing this morning:) I’m hearing birds that I have not heard since last summer:)  We are up to about 54 atm (it’s 10:30 a.m. here).  Our high today should be in the 60′s:) It’s quite windy out though. Thankfully, it’s not making it colder. I sent Sarah to school in a dress with leggings under it and a sweater. Hope that’s going to work for her.  I called the school and asked them if they were going to send them out if they could put some rocks in her britches because the wind is gusting up to 35mph-she may blow away!

It’s so nice and peaceful atm.  But I’m sitting here looking at my tulips that Paul brought me. The white ones losing their petals unfortunately. The pink ones are still just a beautiful as they were. I think I may have to re-arrange today.

Oh! I lost 2 more pounds this last week *yay!*:) My total so far is -9.2 pounds:) *dances around so happy*:) I went and met Paul for lunch yesterday. We went to the Water Tower Place downtown. They have the downstairs that has Food for Life. I got this yummy Asian salad with almonds, walnuts, oranges, chicken, wonton crispies and plum dressing. Yum-O!. Not real sure how many points that was, but my weigh-in days are kind of a loose day for me. After we had lunch, we went to the American Girl place and picked up a birthday gift for one of Sarah’s little friends, Jackie.  Then it was off back home to pick up the kids. Sarah threw on her dance leotard and tights unde her clothes and it was a mad dash over to the party for an hour. Then we left here a bit early and made another mad dash to dance. Left there and raced over to church to Kids Club. By this time, Sarah was worn out and didn’t want to go so the boys stayed there and she came home with me. She never wants to miss Kids Club but I think she had just rushed rushed rushed and needed a break.

Well, I need to get up and get moving. Hope yall have a wonderful day:)

take care,

~kat:)

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Big Mouth Sandwich

Two Step Creamy Chicken and Pasta

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Good morning:)

Hope everyone is well this sunny March morning:)  We still have no kittens to report. I’m not even sure Angel knows that she is going to be a mommy. She’s still jumping around, romping with the Ford and Arthur.

I was in such a funk yesterday. And day before yesterday. And the day before that. And the day before that…. You get the picture. My sweet husband brought me home these gorgeous hot pink tulips and cream tulips (some actually have some hot pink running through them:) Very gorgeous:) I’m going to leave the picture for yall:)It really cheered me up. Amazing what flowers will do for you:)

Today, I have to get that bulletin board at school done. I still have loads and loads of laundry to do. I didn’t get the cat box cleaned out yesterday. DEFINITELY have to do that TODAY. Yuck.  I can’t wait until the weather gets nicer to where I can open my windows and doors. I want to clean my oven.  Think I just might be getting Spring Fever! Well, whatever yall are doing today, have a great day and I’ll speak with yall tomorrow;)

take care,

~kat:)

RecipesUnlimited.com

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Beef Bonaparte

Hot Dog Slaw

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My pretty flowers