Hamburger Casserole

Kind of like shepherd's pie, minus the veggies, plus cheese :) in other words, way better than shepherd's pie...

The Recipe:
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1/2 cup milk
1 pound ground round
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons minced onion (1/2 small onion)
1 large egg
prepared mashed potatoes, about 2 to 4 cups
3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
paprika, optional

1. Soak bread crumbs in milk

2. Mix ground beef, salt, pepper, onion, bread crumb-milk mixture, and egg

3. Spread in a 9-inch pie plate. Bake at 350° for 35 minutes

4. While cooking, you have time to prepare the mashed potatoes

5. Top with mashed potatoes, paprika if desired, and sprinkle with cheese

6. Return to oven for 10 minutes longer, or until cheese is melted and potatoes are thoroughly heated

Serves 4

My Experience:
Quick and easy to make! Not too many ingredients to have to worry about. You could probably replace the bread crumbs with crushed up soda crackers if you don't have any. Other than that, most people would have all ingredients on hand.

I like shepherd's pie, I love this awesome twist!

The Ratings:
My rating: 8/10

Roast Chicken

So I don't really have a recipe for this one. It was a guestimation and creativity on my part but I will give you the ingredients I used and cooking instructions.

The Recipe:
Paprika
Poultry seasoning
Parsley
Thyme
Rosemary
Basil
Chili powder
Olive oil
Small whole chicken

1. In a small bowl, mix the seasonings together. I would suggest equal parts of everything (less for chili powder if you don't like spicy/hot)

2. Using your hand, cover chicken with a thin coat of olive oil

3. Rub seasoning mix onto chicken to cover skin. Salt and pepper to taste

4. Preheat oven to 375F. Cook for about 1 and a half to 2 hours, until meat thermometer reads 180 in the thickest part without touching bone

5. Let chicken stand 10 minutes before carving



My Experience:
I made a similar recipe a couple months ago and can't find the recipe I used so I just made my own up and thought I would post it anyways.

If you try it, good luck. This one tasted really good and the left overs will make for great sandwiches.

The Ratings:
My rating: 8/10

Sausage Stir-Fry

Wanted to try something new with sausages and this is what I found.

The Recipe:
1 lb smoked sausage
5 carrots, cut in strips
4 celery stalks, cut in strips
2 onions, cut in wedges
1 stalk broccoli, strips and flowerets
1/3 cauliflower, in flowerets
1 red or green pepper, sliced
5 pkg Ramen noddles
Soy sauce or sweet and sour sauce

1. Cut sausage into 4 long pieces, then slice through to make pie shaped pieces

2. Saute sausage in large serving pan

3. Add vegetables and saute

4. Cover and steam

5. Meanwhile, boil 2 to 3 quarts water in a second pan and add Ramen noodles. Cook no longer than 5 minutes

6. Pour noodles in with meat and vegetables

7. Serve with soy sauce or sweet and sour sauce

My Experience:
I actually just used Italian sausages rather than the smoked sausage because that is what I had. I also boiled the sausages for a bit to tenderize the skin a little, then I sliced it and sauted it.

Also, I diced all of the vegetables rather than cutting in slices and I didn't measure the amount since I was only cooking for 2 and estimated what we would eat, allowing for a bit of left overs.

Instead of Ramen noodles, I just used penne since I had some in the cupboard and did not feel like going to the grocery store.

I used the soy sauce and it was really good. It was a nice change to my usual fried sausage with rice routine.

The Ratings:
My rating: 8.5/10

Maple Salmon

If you are a true Canadian, you love maple syrup and you may just love this recipe.

The Recipe:
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound salmon

1. In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, garlic salt and pepper.

2. Place salmon in a shallow baking dish, and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish and marinate salmon in the refridgerator for 30 minutes, turning once.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

4. Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, bake uncovered for 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork

My Experience:
Awesome new twist to baked salmon. It was easy to make and very yummy. Even my kitten loved the salmon.

I was concerned at first at what the maple syrup with soy sauce would taste like but it was fantastic.

When Sam found this recipe online and read me the directions, he had told me to preheat the oven to 200 (without reading the C part). This lead to a longer cook time (about half an hour) but it still turned out great. Probably would have been crispier if cooked at the 400F (I LOVE crispy salmon).

I also made steamed vegetables as a side (celery, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red pepper, onion) and used the left over marinate as a dressing for the vegetables to tie in the flavours together. It worked wonderfully. The other side was garlic rice to bring out the garlic in the salmon.

The Ratings:
Sam's rating: simple said it was really good (he isn't as into the blogging as I am lol)
My rating: 9.5/10