Deanna's Daughter

I have no idea where this recipe is from, but when I googled it, it appears as though this was the source.  Since we always have dates in the house, I thought I’d give it a try – and they were very tasty, especially served warm with a frittata for breakfast.  The girls tried them because they had dates in them.

Walnut-Date Muffins

3/4 c. each regular flour and whole wheat flour

1/3 c. packed brown sugar

1 1/2 t. pumpkin pie spice

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. milk

1/3 c. molasses

6 T. canola oil

2 eggs

1 c. finely chopped walnuts

1 c. pitted and chopped dates

Preheat the oven to 400 and spray a 12-muffin pan.  In a large bowl, combine the flours thru salt and set aside.  In another bowl, whisk together and milk, molasses, oil and eggs, and in a third bowl combine the walnuts and dates – chopped dates are very sticky so take the time to separate them a bit.

Add the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined and then fold in the walnut-date mixture.

Evenly fill the muffin cups and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until the centers are set – I found that 18 minutes was perfect.

For whatever reason, I had 2 bags of carrots in the fridge and almost nothing to make lunch with, so I decided to give this Campbell’s soup recipe a try.  Everyone agreed that it needed to be posted, so here it is.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

2 c. coarsely chopped carrot

3/4 c. each coarsely chopped onion and potato

1 T. olive oil

1 box (900 mL to 1 L) chicken broth plus 1 undiluted can (10 oz/284 mL) chicken broth

1 1/2 T. fresh ginger, finely chopped

freshly ground black pepper

1 T. fresh cilantro

In a large saucepan over medium heat, cook the carrot, onion and potato in the oil until they soften slightly, 5 to 10 minutes.  Stir in all of the broth, the ginger and a good grinding of black pepper and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes until the vegetables are all tender.  Turn off the heat and carefully, using an immersion hand blender, blend the soup to your desired smoothness.

Return the soup to the heat, stir in the cilantro and heat through.  That’s it – enjoy!

Wavey loves her mashed potatoes, something that my Mom is very aware of and so whenever Grandma gets to make the girl’s dinner, it often involves a dish with mashed potatoes, something like Shepherd’s Pie.  After her first couple of bites tonight this is what Waverly had to say, ‘Oohhh, this is good – did Grandma bring it over?’.  Thanks kid.

Shepherd’s Pie is a lot like any ‘pot-pie’ – it can be altered and arranged according to what you have on hand.  Cook the meat, add a bit of extra broth and seasonings, throw it in a casserole, cover it with vegetables and mashed potatoes and bake, with or without cheese.  Once again, I’m typing this out for me.  It also needs to be noted that my sister tried a version with ground turkey and it was great – I think I’d use sweet potatoes on beef and regular potatoes on turkey or chicken, but I’m sure any combination would be just as tasty.

Also, the ready made casseroles freeze perfectly and the last time I made this, I didn’t measure anything and ended up with extra beef, so I froze it and now all I need to do is cook potatoes for a fast meal and I don’t have another casserole dish in the freezer.

Shepherd’s Pie

1 1/2 lbs. extra lean beef

1 large onion, finely chopped

4 to 6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

salt and freshly ground pepper

1/4 c. flour

1 c. water

1 T. Better Than Beef Bouillon

2 to 3 c. of vegetables – I generally use peas, corn, par-cooked carrots and Lima beans

Enough yams or potatoes (1 to 2 lbs. depending on your casserole dish), cooked and mashed with milk or sour cream and some salt and pepper.

grated cheese for topping – I tend to use Parmesan on yams and old cheddar on regular potatoes

Heat a bit of oil in a large skillet and saute together the beef, onion and garlic with a good grinding of pepper.  I generally hold off on adding salt until after the bouillon has been mixed in.  Cook until the meat is no longer pink and the onions are softened.  Stir in the flour until there is no trace of it anywhere and then add water and bouillon, mixing well and bring it to a boil.  Simmer for about 10 minutes or so, adding more water if necessary and check the seasonings.

If your potatoes aren’t cooked already, have them going while you’re preparing the meat.

Preheat the oven to 350 and spray your casserole of choice.  When the meat is ready evenly line the bottom of the dish, sprinkle on your vegetables and cover with the mashed potatoes.  If you’re cooking this straight away, it will probably only take a half hour or so because everything is already warm, and if you’re using grated cheese on top, add it in the last 10 minutes or so.

If you’ve taken this out of the freezer, make sure it’s thawed completely and then cook, covered, for 45 minutes to an hour, taking the cover off to add cheese if you want for the last 10 minutes.

Very tasty, very convenient and an extremely flexible recipe.  Yum.