Not Meatless Monday

In fact, our dinner last night was the direct opposite of Meatless Monday:  Australian Beef Pie!  We first had Australian Beef Pie from Michele's Pies, a local pie place from which Mama buys sweets and savories.   Yum!  Salty, cheesy, beefy.  (I know, look how far from vegetarianism I've fallen.)  I got the recipe from the chef Michelle Stuart's cookbook, Perfect Pies, and had all the ingredients to make it last night.

Well, not all.  Not a cup--a CUP--of McCormick gravy mix.  Eww.  So I made my own beef gravy, but thicker and tastier than usual.  And it worked.  Not quite the same as the mini-pies from the shop, but Sis raved.  And everybody liked it.  It's a bit salty and beefy (maybe I could cut it with potatoes or veggies, but that might defeat the purpose), so I think it will have to go into our once-in-a-very-blue-moon rotation.  Maybe for ANZAC Day or something.

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My Australian Beef Pie
adapted from Michele Stuart's Perfect Pies

1 cup onion, chopped
1 lb ground beef
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 pie crust
1 cup beef stock
1 tablespoon oil, plus more for saute
3 tablespoons flour
salt, garlic powder, Worchestershire sauce to taste

Preheat oven to 425F.

Saute onion in skillet until tender, around 8 minutes.  Add beef and cook until browned, about 10 more minutes.  Strain mixture to remove excess liquid and oil.

Meanwhile, make gravy by browning flour in oil.  When roux is brown, add stock.  Bring to boil and remove from heat.

Stir beef mixture into gravy and then add cheese.   Taste and season with salt, garlic powder, Worchestershire sauce.   Pour mixture into pie plate and cover with pie crust.  Make several marks with knife or fork to vent.

Bake at 425F for 15 minutes, then reduce to 375F and bake for 35-45 minutes or until bubbling.

Mommy Hungry

Meatless Mondays: Mistakes

Okay, I'm not very good at organizing around this Meatless Monday thing. But, I suppose it's still in its infancy over here. Case in point: we're having baked chicken for dinner. I bought the chicken on Saturday and didn't get it into the oven in time for dinner on Sunday, owing to the fact that I took an unplanned long afternoon nap (isn't that delicious?). So now it's Monday. We can't have the chicken tomorrow or Wednesday, as we have plans. And it won't keep until Thursday. I also don't want to freeze it. So, chicken tonight it is. And "meatless" some other day this week. It'll be good, though, because I'm making slow cooker macaroni and cheese!

The Egg-and-Flour Miracles

It's not spring by any stretch of the imagination, but we've been having an egg marathon over here, making several delectable delights featuring a magical combination of eggs and flour. And depending, add butter, fruit, cheese, maple syrup, and/or Nutella, and you have something really special. All the recipes are very similar--more eggs than anything else, sometimes milk, a bit of butter, scant measurements of flour--skillet fried or baked, stuffed or sauced: Dutch Baby Pancakes, Swedish Apple Pie, crepes, and blintzes.

(And since today is Meatless Monday for us, egg dishes are perfect!)

Meatless Mondays: The Beginning

Even with a vegetarian in the family, we've been slow to sign on to "Meatless Mondays." Part laziness to try to appease my diametrically-opposed eaters, part not interested in foisting my vegetarianism on the kids or making it a "thing," we talked about it last night and are on board to help the planet and our bodies. All of us. Though, Bud initially misunderstood, thinking it was all meat on Mondays!

We brainstormed some ideas, lots of eggs and breakfast foods like pancakes and crepes and oatmeal. Sis doesn't eat sauce, particularly tomato, so most pastas are out. Bud doesn't eat any kind of potato. Neither likes any kind of layered dish or casserole. And I promised not to make them eat beans.

I have my work cut out for me.

But they're game to try, intrigued and curious, which is a good first step. Of course, I have tons of cookbooks and even more websites (like here) to check for recipes. And really, if all we do is end up eating fruit on Mondays (and yes, we're including lunch as well as dinner), it's good. So, tonight, we're having mac and cheese and veggies. And dessert--Swedish Apple Pie.

I'll keep you posted.