Cream Biscuits

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. (For our family, I multiply this recipe by 3.)

In large bowl, combine:

2 c. flour

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt.

With wooden spoon, stir in:

1 & 1/2 c. heavy cream

Stir just until mostly mixed, then turn out onto lightly floured countertop & knead until smooth. Press dough flat until 3/4 inch thick.

***I used to then cut biscuits out, with biscuit cutters, but recently started just cutting squares. It uses the whole dough and then you don't have the re-mixed more tough biscuits from the 2nd kneading/pressing.*** But if you like nice circle biscuits, feel free. I also like doing little "biscuitlets" (smaller biscuits to go along with soups, or for large groups) with smaller cookie cutouts.

Place onto parchment-lined baking sheet & bake until golden, approx. 15 minutes. Quick and tasty!

Shepherd's Pie

1 pound, or more, of cubed beef

1 pound, or more, of trimmed, cubed lamb

salt & pepper

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

2 onions, minced

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 Tbsp tomato paste

1 garlic head, minced

2 Tbsp flour

2 & 1/4 c. chicken broth (or 2 & 1/4 c. water w/ 2 chicken bouillion cubes)

1/4 c. dry red wine (we never have this, and thus never use it)

1 tsp. worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. minced dill

pinch of rosemary

Season meat w/ salt & pepper. Heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat, and brown beef in a dutch oven. Remove beef to metal bowl, and brown the lamb in the dutch oven w/ more oil. Remove lamb. Then add more oil, and cook carrots, onions, and salt until softened (approx. 5 mins). Stir in tomato paste & garlic, then add in flour & cook 1 minute. Whisk in remaining ingredients, and return lamb & beef to the pot. Scrape up any browned bits, and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce heat, and let cook approx 25-30 minutes.

Serve over mashed potatoes.

(You can do the whole, in a dish, over the mashed potatoes thing... but I'm too lazy. :) It's tasty just like this. And it goes great over rice if you have leftovers.)

Cream Sauce (to serve over steak)

We don't eat steak often, but when we do, I like to serve it with this cream sauce. It's easy enough to make, and it's made at the very last minute, once you have juice from the steaks to add in.

1 minced garlic head (yes, the whole head)

1 & 1/2 c. water w/ 1 beef boullion cube, and 1 chicken bouillion cube (or broths can be used in place of these ingredients)

5 Tbsp brandy (we never have, and thus never use, this part... I use pan drippings for this liquid)

1/4 c. heavy cream

3 Tbsp. unsalted butter

Instructions:

Remove steaks from pan, and put on plate (tent them with foil so they will remain hot while you whip up this sauce).

Reserve a Tbsp. or more of pan drippings from the steaks, and briefly sautee the garlic, less than 30 seconds. Add the water w/ boullions, and simmer about 5 mins. Stir together and add cream. Add in 1 Tbsp butter at a time, whisking to thicken. Then, remove from heat, add salt and pepper to taste, and serve over steaks.

Chicken Teriyaki

Another family favorite-- mmm mmm mmm!

(Note: This is the amount I make, to feed our family of 6 eaters, plus have a little leftover for the next day. Quantities can be easily halved or cut into thirds for smaller families.)

1-2 pounds chicken thighs, chopped roughly into 1-inch cubes

Vegetable oil

1 & 1/2 cup soy sauce

1 & 1/2 cup sugar

6 Tbsp mirin/white wine (if you don't have this, as I never do, I sub in a splash of lemon vinegar)

2 Tbsp grated ginger

1 garlic, chopped fine/minced

1 & 1/2 tsp cornstarch

roughly 1/2 a tsp of red pepper flakes, give or take, according to your taste

Instructions:

***(as a sidenote, you'll want to start up your rice first, before you even chop the chicken. By the time it's done cooking, your chicken will be ready too.)***

Chop up the chicken. Nearly cover the bottom of a frying pan with vegetable oil, then add in chicken, and brown over medium-high heat. You want the chicken to be cooked, but still tender. Once chicken is cooked, add all other ingredients, in the order they appear above, to the frying pan, combine, turn down the heat, and simmer. Let thicken slightly, and then serve over rice.

Easy & delicious!

Cream Sauce for Ikea Meatballs

This recipe uses a few simple ingredients and perfectly compliments the frozen Ikea meatballs. Plus, the kids loved it! Success!

Quick, Easy, and Delicious: Bowtie Lasagna

Here's another recipe via Pioneer Woman:

Billed as a "16-Minute Meal", BOWTIE LASAGNA lives up to the 16 minute promise. Even overseas! :)

Here are the things I changed:

*Because we don't have pre-made jars of marinara sauce available to us here (except at extremely high prices!!!), here's what I did to make the sauce: Instead of dumping in a jar of pre-made marinara sauce, I added an entire garlic head worth of chopped garlic (I like garlic!), and then added in about 1 & 1/2 cups of tomato paste, 1 & 1/2 cups of water, 10 leaves of chopped fresh basil, 1 & 1/2 Tbsp sugar, and garlic salt, pepper, and salt to taste. So, essentially, I made my own marinara sauce in the dish.

*In place of the sour cream, I used ranch dressing. This isn't an overseas change, just a personal preference. It worked great.

This is a yummy, easy recipe!

Chocolate Fudge Ice Cream Pie

I made this recipe this afternoon, for my oldest son's 8th birthday celebration. YUM! Can't wait to eat it--


(1) Make graham cracker crust... (or buy one)-- I use a graham crackery-cookie we can find here, mix it up with about 1/2 cup of butter + a few Tbsp sugar and let that set for a crust.
(2) Make fudge sauce-- (I used the fudge sauce called for in this recipe)

• Combine & heat the following over medium heat until boiling: 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, dash of salt, 1/2 cup water, and 60 g. chopped chocolate (2 bakers' squares)
• Add 1/2 cup half & half (I used 1/4 cup cream, 1/4 cup milk), & 1 tsp vanilla. Blend until smooth and thickened.

(3) Add half of that fudge sauce to the bottom of the pie shell, and put in freezer until slightly hardened, about 30 minutes.
(4) Add 1 Liter (or 1 quart-- or 1/4 gallon) of softened chocolate ice cream on top of the fudge sauce-covered pie crust and spread across the dish.
(5) Freeze until ice cream is harder, then sprinkle the top with cropped candy bars of your choice. The pie could stay in freezer like this for at least several days.
(6) Just before serving, drizzle remaining fudge sauce over each slice.