Turkey Shepherd Pie

This recipe comes out of a random food craving for comfort food. Comfort food to me is anything that has potatoes and gravy. But, my waistline would not appreciate the fact that potatoes and gravy would cause me to buy new pants and hit the gym more than normal. I took the original recipe for shepherd's pie and modified it to fit a healthier version of the original. Here goes nothing

Turkey Shepherds Pie.

1lbs	Ground Turkey
3 cloves	Garlic
1 pkg	White mushrooms (Caps chopped)
2	Carrots (shredded)
1 c	Frozen corn
1c	Frozen peas
1 whole	Onion (chopped)
3 tbsp	Flour
2 cups	Chicken stock
1/2 tsp	Salt
1/4 tsp	Pepper
1 tsp	Dried thyme
1 tsp	Dried rosemary
4 tbsp	Vegetable oil
	Sweet Potato Mixture
1 1/2 lbs	Sweet Potatoes
1/2 c	Chicken stock
3 tbsp	Sour cream
	Salt and pepper to taste

Peel and dice the sweet potatoes and place in a pot of salted water

Bring the pot to a boil and cook until fork tender.

Once tender, with a handheld mixture beat the sweet potatoes, chicken stock, and sour cream until combined and fluffy.

Brown the ground turkey with salt and pepper until cooked thoroughly

Place in a bowl the turkey and cook the onions, mushrooms, and garlic until the onions are translucent, and mushrooms are not producing liquid

Add the ground turkey back in, and then add the olive oil and flour. Cooking that for a little bit to make the flour taste out.

Place in the chicken stock and stir until no lumps.

Add the carrots, peas, and corn

Add the seasonings to your liking.

Place mixture into an oven safe dish and then top with the sweet potato mix.

Bake until everything is warm and bubbly. 

Orange Pistachio Ice box Cookies

          Today has been a huge baking day in my house. When I say big, I am talking about 3 batches of my grandma's sugar cookies, 2 batches of chocolate chip cookies, and 1 batch of the orange pistachio ice box cookies.

          The inspiration for the orange pistachio cookies came from a 6 hour flight to Minneapolis from Alaska and watching the first episode of  Holiday Baking Championship on the Food Network. The original recipe for this cookie was just a regular ice box cookie that has been in my family and passed down for years.

Orange Pistachio Ice Box Cookies on vintage china

Orange Pistachio Ice Box Cookies

Zest of two oranges

1 1/2 tsp of orange extract

2 C Shortening (butter or Crisco)

1 C Brown Sugar (Packed)

1 C Sugar

2 Eggs

5 C Flour

1tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 C chopped pistachios

1.     Zest the oranges and set aside

2.     Cream the shortening, sugars, and eggs until pale yellow color

3.     Add in orange zest and extract

4.     In separate bowl place the flour, salt, baking powder and mix lightly

5.     Spoon the flour mixture and nuts into the wet ingredients.

6.     Mix until they are combined.

7.     Place on a sheet of aluminum foil forming a large roll.

8.     Stick in the freezer for about 12 hours.

Before baking pull out of the freezer. Slice them to the thickness you like and bake at 350 until edges are golden brown. 

Lazy Sunday Of Football and Trying A New Recipe

Today has been a balmy 32  degrees Fahrenheit in Alaska and where I grew up in North Dakota it was -22 Fahrenheit with the wind chill of -57 below., BURR!! I spent today going to the gym and trying out a new recipe.  The original recipe was found on Pinterest.  Here is the link to the original Jambalaya. I have modified it for healthy substitutions.

Peggy's Healthy Jambalaya
1 green pepper chopped
1/2 large sweet onion, chopped
1 red pepper cut
1/2 jalapeno
4 Turkey kielbasa, sliced
1 28oz can of Crushed tomatoes in the heavy sauce
2 chicken breast
2 cups of brown rice
4 cups of Chicken broth (I like mine a little soupier than normal, and you can use less)
3 teaspoons of Cajun Seasoning
Frozen Okra

Chunk the chicken, brown it, and remove and set aside

Put the Peppers, onion,  and kielbasa in the pot with a tbsp of canola oil. Cook until they are tender.

Put the chicken back in the pot and add the rice. Stirring it around so that the rice gets coated.
Then you put in the chicken stock and Cajun seasoning in and let it simmer for 45 min.

Once it has simmered for the time allotted, add the tomatoes and okra, stir together. Let it simmer

It turned out AMAZING, and it froze well for a leftovers.