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A Crispness to the Air September 14, 2011

Posted by cirellih in Craving, Dinner, Food.
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It’s beginning to feel a lot like fall! A set of cool, wet, fall like days have set into Boulder. Today we even had misty Flatirons and rain!

This kind of weather means that warm, cosy food is definitely in order. I’ve been having several cups of tea at work… a must when you work at the bottom of the school with no windows. By the time I got home, there was not a question in my mind about the kind of meal that was in order. Chris had mentioned Cornish Pasties the other day, and we both felt it was the perfect night for them!

Pastie Filling:

  • 1/2 pound ground beef (we use grass fed)
  • 2 medium white potatoes
  • 1/2 medium onion
  • 1/2 cup chopped carrots
  • 1/2 cup peas
  • 1/2 cup beef gravy

For the Crust:

  • We used a pre-made crust, but you could definitely make your own!

Instructions:

  1. Peel, and chop the white potatoes. Cook them until they just begin to soften.
  2. Sautee the chopped onion until soft. Add in the ground beef and cook until done.
  3. Combine the potatoes, carrots and peas with the beef mixture.
  4. Preheat the oven to 450*
  5. Cut one of the pie crusts into two pieces. Roll them out into 8 inch diameter circles.
  6. Scoop about 1/2 cup of the beef mixture onto the lower half of the pie crusts.
  7. Fold the pie crusts in half, making a pocket. Make sure that the edges are pinched closed.
  8. Brush the crust with an egg wash.
  9. Bake the pasties for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.
  10. Let the pastie cool a bit before eating, and enjoy!

They were an absolutely delicious, hearty fall meal. Perfect to enjoy beside a fire!

The trolls thought that it was a good place to cosy up as well. They are so happy that it’s finally fall!

Dinner for a Busy Bee September 1, 2011

Posted by cirellih in Dinner, Food.
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I can’t claim that I was a particularly busy bee today, but Chris had an early morning and was working hard all day!

Dinner was almost ready when he got home! Honey Rosemary Chicken with broccoli, pan fried potatoes, and local swiss chard with caramelized onions. Pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself.

For the chicken:

Cook the chicken in a little olive oil until it is full cooked.  Take the chicken out of the pan and set it aside. In the pan, put two or three tablespoons of honey and a generous sprig of fresh rosemary. Let the honey mixture cook a little until if forms a nice glaze. Put the chicken back into the pan and let it get coated with the honey. Easy.

For the swiss chard and onions:

Cook the onions with ‘butter’ (I used vegetable oil spread and it came out just fine). Cook them FOREVER until they are browned, soft and delicious. Blanch the swiss chard in some boiling water until they are the texture that you like. Drain, then mix with the onions. I sprinkled mine with a little parmesan cheese. Delish!

The nice thing with a dinner like this, is that you can do as much or as little as you like. I had already caramelized the onions yesterday, so I didn’t have to worry about cooking them tonight. The potatoes took a little bit of patience, mostly trying to resist the urge to flip them before they are browned. You could just stick to the chicken and broccoli and call it a night!

Snow in Spring? This Calls for Stew! April 13, 2011

Posted by cirellih in Dinner, Food, Health.
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Really, Colorado? Snow?? In April???

Fine. Keep faffing about with the weather. I’ll go make a stew.

A delicious lamb stew at that. Combined with a hunk of nice, crusty sourdough bread there is nothing that combat cold weather better.

The Recipe:

1/2 lb lamb stew meat

1/2 cup baby carrots

1/4 cup peas

1 stalk of celery

1 onion, chopped

1 tbsp paprika

1/4 tsp dried thyme

3 cups beef stock

3 small potatoes

Put the carrots, onion, celery, lamb, thyme, paprika and beef stock into a crock pot. Put on high heat for 5 hours. When you are almost ready to eat the stew boil the potatoes and mash when they are ready. We thickened the broth a bit by taking some out and adding in corn starch. I like a little heartiness to my stew. At the very last minute, I added in my peas from yesterday’s dinner. What a great addition of color, texture and flavor. Mmm.

This was my easy take on Shepard’s Pie. No baking involved, but they flavors are all still there. As an added bonus, you can stick as many veggies as you like into a stew like this. I’ve made root vegetable shepard’s pies before, so squash or rutabagas would be a nice addition.