Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

I found this recipe for cheesy vegetable chowder on Pinterest... made it tonight.  My 3 year old ate a bowl and a half.  My 6 year old was not as impressed, but almost an hour ago we figured out that she caught a stomach bug at school (not that she would have liked it anyway, it's hard to tell with her these days.)  I will eat it for lunch again tomorrow.

I took pics, but I am going to just link to the original poster's, I need sleep and left my camera downstairs.

Inkling's Autumn Vegetable Patties

Last week, I posted a challenge for myself of trying one new recipe each week, posting it, and then posting a review. Even though it's no longer autumn, I will be enjoying these with my family tomorrow night! They look delicious, just based on the ingredients, and I CANNOT wait to get cooking on these! I bought my sweet potatoes and spinach this morning (I'm doubling the recipe, because even if no one else in my family likes them, I will!) To make these, I had all but those veggies on hand, and so my "grocery period" expenses was a whopping $5.29 because the spinach wasn't on sale (next time, I'll buy the spinach on sale and keep it in the deep freeze until I'm ready to make these again!).

Autumn Vegetable Patties

Ingredients:
8 T. unsalted butter (I use less)
1 medium sweet potato, peeled and grated (about 1.5 cups)
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1 T. minced fresh sage (I used 1 tsp. ground and dried)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cayenne
1 package of frozen chopped spinach (or you can use fresh and cook it down)
1 15 oz. can cannellini beans, navy beans, any white bean, drained, rinsed, and mashed
1 egg white, lightly beaten (I used the whole egg)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup olive oil
1 cup sour cream

Instructions:

Heat 6 T. butter in skillet over medium heat and add grated sweet potato, cooking until lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup bread crumbs, sage, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne. Cook, stirring for one minute. Transfer to a large bowl and stir in spinach, mashed beans, and egg white. Season with Salt and Pepper.

Using your hands (I use a cookie dough scoop to help me), shape veggie mixture into 8 - 4" long oblong patties about 1/2" thick and coat in remaining bread crumbs.

Heat 2 T. oil and 1 T. butter in skillet over medium high heat, add four patties and cook turning once until browned on both sides. About six minutes per batch. Transfer to a serving platter and repeat with remaining oil and butter and patties.

To serve, season sour cream with salt and pepper and top each patty with a dollop of it.

Inkling did state that they didn't top them with the sour cream. I will top mine with sour cream, and will let you know on Saturday what the reception was!

Farmwife - I bet that if you didn't read the part about beans, you'd never know they were in there!!! I'll let you for sure.

Weeknight Shepherd's Pie

This is a big hit in our house right now! I like it because it's fast and easy, the kids like it because it's all the "good things" mixed up. BB likes it because it has gravy.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef (can use 2 C cooked stew meat if you like, the ground beef makes it fast!)
• 1 C frozen mixed veggies, thawed
• 1 tsp dried thyme (I used fresh last summer, and it was too strong, even cut way back!)
• 1/4 C half-and-half (I use whatever milk is on hand)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 C mashed potatoes (great way to use up leftovers, or a reason to keep instant around)
• 1/4 C chopped parsley (I use dried, because I'm too impatient to chop fresh)
• 2 TBSP butter, melted
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 C hot prepared beef gravy

Directions:

• Preheat over to 400 degrees F
• Grease a medium casserole or deep quiche dish
• Brown and drain ground beef, or cut stew beef into bite-sized pieces and place in casserole
• Top with veggies and thyme
• Mix half-and-half with salt, pepper, egg, and mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with parsley and mix.
• Spread potato mixture over beef, drizzle butter over potatoes. Sprinkle with paprika.
• Bake until filling is hot and top is browned, about 20 minutes.
• Top each serving with gravy.

It is, in fact, what's for dinner tonight!

Not too spicy black bean dip

Finding a new recipe is easy, it's the follow through that is hard.  (That's the story of my life.)  Well, I was craving beans, and don't come in between a pregnant woman and her craving.  That craving led me to this:

I perused some recipes online and then made this warm dip, based on a recipe for black bean hummus.

1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 tbsp water
1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
1 tbsp cilantro (fresh would be even better, but had dried on hand)
3/4 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small garlic clove
juice from 2 lemon wedges
Colby jack cheese (mozzarella works great, too)

Blend all ingredients together, pour into oven proof bowl.
Shred cheese (if it didn't come from the store that way) and sprinkle over top.
Sprinkle with black pepper.
Bake for 15-20 min at 350, until cheese is melted and dip is warm.
Serve with whatever you choose... tortilla chips, crackers, etc... and enjoy!