"Ghostly" Shepard's Pie

I was going to make Shepard's Pie anyway and I came across this reciepe so I tried it out *Yum* I did omit the garlic, eggs mixed in the potatoes, and onion, but other then that it was GOOD! Michael had his little cousin over for a sleep over and his cousin loved it! Michael ate a good amount of it, but Michael gets weird with his food sometimes, especially when he is excited and has other things to do!

1 lb lean (at least 80%) ground beef
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped (1/2 cup)
1 bag (12 oz) Green Giant® Valley Fresh Steamers™ frozen mixed vegetables
2 cups Progresso® diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained (from 28-oz can)
1 jar (12 oz) beef gravy
1 3/4 cups water
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 cup milk
2 1/4 cups Betty Crocker® Potato Buds® mashed potatoes (dry)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg, slightly beaten


1. Heat oven to 375°F. Spray 12-inch skillet with cooking spray. Add beef and onion; cook over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly cooked; drain.
2. Set 12 peas (from frozen vegetables) aside for garnish. Add remaining frozen vegetables, tomatoes and gravy to beef mixture. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are crisp-tender.
3. Meanwhile, in 2-quart saucepan, heat water, butter and garlic powder to boiling. Remove from heat; add milk. Stir in dry potatoes and cheese. Add egg; blend well.
4. Spoon beef mixture into ungreased 8-inch square (2-quart) or oval (2 1/2-quart) glass baking dish. With large spoon, make 6 mounds of potato mixture on top of beef mixture to resemble ghosts. Place 2 reserved peas on each mound to resemble eyes.
5. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until potatoes are set and mixture is thoroughly heated.



The picture on the site I got this from looks like this:


Mine looked like this:

First Grade Dinner

Michael got to put in a request for what HE wanted for dinner on his first day of First Grade! TACOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wasnt that bad...actually turned out pretty good (I made a different way then normal - which has always been the El Paso Taco Kits LOL)

I bought a BIG thing of taco seasoning...so I would just have it incase the want for tacos arised all I would need to do was to buy tortillas *which is hardly ever since we keep them in the house* Sour cream and cheese.

So I browned the meat, added seasoning per the directions *plus a tad bit more*
Then a friend made some for us at work one day and she mixed in refried beans to her taco meat - what a neat concept (well they do it at Taco Bell dont they?)

So then I added a can of Bush's fat free refried beans to the seasoned meat.

let it cook, and put it in tortillas, with Sour cream and cheese *we dont require tons of things on our tacos LOL*

He loved it this way!

I mean he loves them anyway but this way he ate TW0!

Asparagus & Pesto Pasta w/ Salad

I read a post today on DFWareamoms.com and someone wrote that they made Pesto pasta with chicken...got the wheels in my head turning...I didnt want to make chicken, and I couldnt get past the chicken in the can idea...so I was browsing the recipes.com site and found an Asparagus Pesto Pasta...I read it but didnt write it down...i winged it LOL

We went to the store I got the Pesto Basil Sauce it was found in the fridge section of the grocery store (you dont have to even cook it)

I got home fried some garlic and onion in a frying pan...with some oil...then added some asparagus when it was cooked, I removed it from the heat...adding the pesto sauce (since it says do not cook - I just added it to the hot asparagus, garlic and onion.

Boiled some spaghetti noodles, made some salad with Ken's dressing :) YUM!

Tossed the pesto mix with the hot noodles topped with Parm. Cheese!

Macaroni, Tuna Salad

This dish is so easy to make and so yummy to eat :) If you are in a cruch for time and money make this it is good for lunch or dinner :)

Box of Macaroni (I like elbow, but sometimes get the bow ties)
Mayo
Onion
Can of Tuna
can of peas(if you want them - if not that is totally up to you)

(some people like to put boiled eggs in it, but I dont, totally up to you if you want them in it)

So just boil the noodles, cool, and add mayo, chopped onion, and can of tuna, salt and pepper to season...use as little or as much ingredients as you wish :)

Put in fridge (I like to wait a few hours before I eat it and it always taste better the day after)

Lemon Chicken Piccata (Thanks Dream Dinners)

Yes we tried yet another dinner from Dream Dinners! (Dreamdinners.com) They have some in VA too!

This one was Lemon Chicken Piccata (soooo good) I think this was better then the Hawaiian Chicken and I thought that one was good too!

A plus was Michael liked this one as well! ate it all (and dont tell him but it had capers and artichoke hearts in it)

Not sure what the EXACT recipe was but the prep at Dream Dinners was less then 5 minutes!

and the cook time was about 30 minutes! Not bad at all!


Rachel Ray should feature this on 30 min meals because it was YUM!

(this is not a RR recipe - this is a dream dinner recipe and I am not sure if they got it from some where else but it is good)

I will be going back to Dream Dinners to make this dish soon!

I served with Rice (Jasmine Rice) and Garlic Bread, it was recommended that I serve with Brocolli and Garlic bread :)

Hawiian Chicken

Last week we were invited to Dream Dinners! Let me tell you this was an awesome experience! I am highly considering joining and making dinners! The food that I Prepped there and brought home to make was GREAT! I picked Hawiian Chicken (we could make a six serving meal, so I divided mine into 3 servings and switched my other half with a friend) Sooo easy! Just fried up the chicken, and added the mixture we made at Dream Dinners! Which I wish I remembered the recipe cause now I HAVE to go back! LOL but I dont mind a bit! The prices were great!

Here is what was for dinner...and Michael LOVED it which says alot! Since he is a weird eater :)

Michael Loves Spaghetti!

We had dinner with Mike's mom not too long ago, and she makes the very BEST Spaghetti Sauce, she made LOTS of it so we took some home to freeze! which is a VERY good idea, Make a lot of something and freeze it for another day, saves ton of time and like spaghetti sauce I think once it is frozen and recooked it tastes so much better :)
All I had to do was boil some noodles, re-heat the sauce, and since Michael LOVES Texas toast I popped a few in the oven...one box of Texas Toast last a while in our home.
Michael is a odd child and likes salad :) so we ate some salad with our dinner.

YUM!

With Michael's salad he had ranch dressing...but me I had this Ken's Steak House Raspberry Peacon dressing (mmmMMmm goood and the calories are not bad at all!)