adapted from Food Network “Mummy Boome’s Traditional Shepherd Pie”

meat filling:

• 2 3/4 lb. 85% chopped meat (I used Nature’s Promise or Whole Food’s grass fed beef)
• 5 organic carrots, small dice
• 3 organic celery stalks, small dice
• 1 large onion, small dice
• 8 garlic cloves, chopped
• kosher salt and freshly cracked pepper
• almost all of a small can of organic tomato paste
• 1/2 cup organic beef broth or stock
• 3 tablespoons organic worcesteshire  sauce (Annie’s)
• 2-3 cups organic frozen peas

mashed potatoes topping:

• 5 lbs. organic russet, idaho, or yukon gold potatoes
• 1 1/2 to 2 sticks organic salted butter
• about 1/2 cup  organic whole milk
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Pour a few tablespoons of  organic olive oil (you can find organic extra virgin olive oil at Costco) in large sauté pan.  Add salt and pepper.  Sauté  onion, carrot, celery till soft and just starting to brown.  Add garlic, and sauté a few minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix in.  Add the meat, salt and pepper, and break up with fork as you brown. Add the worcesteshire sauce and the beef broth.  Mix and add the peas.  Taste for seasoning. Transfer meat mixture to large baking dish- at least a 9 x 13 (I have one which is a little larger). Refrigerate.

Make your mashed potatoes.  I peel 5 lbs. and cut them into medium pieces, cover with water and bring to a boil.  Boil over medium heat until soft.  Drain in colander and then put back in pot over low flame for a minute to get rid of excess water in potatoes.  Turn flame off.  Add butter, kosher salt, and a little fresh cracked pepper.  Mash, and start adding the whole milk until nice and fluffy.

Spoon the potatoes over the top of the meat.  You should have a hefty amount of potatoes topping the meat.  Refrigerate until dinner time.  Then preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake for about 35-45 min. until hot.

Note:  If you are not baking this right away, and you don’t have time to make the mashed potatoes right away, refrigerate the meat mixture  until you have your mashed potatoes.  I have refrigerated this for up to a day before I made the potatoes.  When I make the potatoes, I let them cool to warm and then I put them on top of the meat (which is cold from being in the fridge).  Then I put the dish back in the fridge till I’m ready to bake it. If you are baking it right away, then just it won’t matter if the potatoes are still hot when you put them on the meat.

The menu:

brisket, turkey, stuffing, corn pudding, mashed potatoes, brenta, asparagus, coleslaw, homemade cranberry sauce, macaroni and cheese casserole, homemade chocolate chip cookies, homemade oatmeal cookies, Judy’s birthday cake, apple-cranberry pie. 

 Everything was made by me except for the turkey which my son in law’s mother and step father brought. 

The food was truly delicious!  The brisket was incredible!!! The huge macaroni and cheese totally went as did every chocolate chip cookie.  The following recipes can be found on this site:

brisket, macaroni and cheese, corn pudding, my grandma’s brenta (Jewish hash browns), birthday cake (vanilla sheet cake with chocolate icing- incomparable!!!!, mashed potatoes, my grandma’s stuffing

For the cranberry sauce, I used 2 bags of Ocean Spray cranberries, and I followed the recipe on the bag.  For the cole slaw, I used 2 bags of Dole coleslaw, and I followed the recipe on their site.  For the pie, I basically adapted Ina Garten’s apple pie recipe adding 1 cup of cranberries.    

I had a great time getting ready for the dinner with my daughter, just loving every second of the preparation as I was busy in her kitchen while she took care of the kids.  For some reason I just love more than anything cooking and baking just knowing my kids are somewhere very close - as in the room or the next room.

I’ll be posting the recipes I used that are not yet on this site- the twice baked potatoes, the apple cake,  and the beets.  The rest of the recipes are already on the site.

• 12 plain croissants (I bought mine at Costco) (let sit unwrapped for a few hours before you use them)
• about 15 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 stick butter
• 7 large eggs
• 2 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 1 cup sugar

Directions:

Generously grease a large 10 by 13 pan- sides and bottom- with butter.  Tear croissants into 1 inch pieces- maybe about 4 or 5 pieces for each croissant.  Put all pieces in prepared dish.  Then sprinkle the chips all over.  Toss lightly with your hands or move the some of the top pieces so that some of the chips slip through. 

Prepare the custard by melted the stick of butter in the microwave in a mixing bowl large enough to eventually fit all the custard ingredients.  Let cool a few minutes or stick in the fridge to cool for about 5 minutes.  Then, add the sugar and mix.  Add the cream, and then the eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon.  Whisk till  blended well. 

Ladle the custard mixture over the croissants and chocolate chips.  Push the croissants down lightly with your hands to submerge as best as possible in the custard.  Cover with aluminum foil.  Refrigerate until ready to bake. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bake (still covered in foil) in center of oven for about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.   Uncover and let cool for a few minutes and serve with fresh whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. 

***If you are baking this at home and then bringing it with you, put it on a half sheet pan after it comes out of the oven, keep it covered with the foil until you serve it. 

1 1/2 pounds organic chicken cutlets

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil mixed with 1 large or 2 medium garlic cloves grated

pinch kosher salt

pinch of red pepper flakes

sprinkling of dried oregano

about 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese mixed with about 1 cup Italian bread crumbs with a few twists of freshly grated black pepper

Put the chicken cutlets in the oil and garlic mixture with the salt, red pepper, and oregano.  Then dredge in the bread crumbs and cheese mixture.

At this point, you can fry the cutlets, or bake them.  If you bake them, you have to bake them at a high temperature to brown them.  I fried them, and that worked out well.

 Ingredients:

Ingredients:

2 quarts whole milk

1 pint heavy cream

1 teaspoon kosher salt

4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

for seasoning later:

kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper

2 scallions, both green and white part, minced

about 2 tablespoons minced  fresh chives

1 tablespoon fresh dill, minced

the zest of one lemon, and its juice, too

Instructions:

In a heavy six quart pot, pour the milk, the cream, and the 1 teaspoon salt.  Over medium heat, bring to a full boil, stirring every few minutes to prevent scorching.  When it comes to a boil and bubbles all over, add the lemon juice and turn off the flame.  Let sit for a minute until the mixture curdles and the curds separate from the whey (the liquid).  Set a sieve over a deep bowl and line the sieve with 2 layers of cheesecloth.  Pour the mixture through the sieve.  Let sit for 20 minutes.  Then turn the cheese in the cheesecloth into a bowl.  Cover and put in fridge to cool.  After about 30 minutes, take out and add all the seasonings above:  the dill, scallion, chive, salt, pepper, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Mix gently with rubber spatula, and refrigerate until you serve with crackers or on toasted slices of baguette.

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream (I used Wegman’s, as it has no added stabilizers)

1 cup whole milk (or half and half- I used organic whole milk, and I loved the results!)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Optional: If making the chocolate chip, you will need about 10 oz. bittersweet chocolate chips (I use King Arthur Flour’s- they are amazing!)

This makes about 1 quart of chocolate chip or just plain vanilla ice cream.

Steps: Pour the 2 cups of cream into a medium saucepan and add the sugar. Warm over medium heat, stirring, about 2 min., until the sugar is dissolved.Remove from heat and add the milk and the vanilla extract. Chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator in a glass bowl, for at least eight hours or overnight.When ready to churn, pour the mixture into your prepared ice cream maker. Then freeze in your ice-cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions. I have a Cuisinart, and I churned the mixture for about 45 min. to 1 hour.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup orange juice
3/4 cup sour cream or plain yogurt (I used organic Wegman’s plain yogurt)
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups semi-sweet or bittersweet mini chocolate chips (I used King Arthur Flour‘s bittersweet chocolate chips, which are not mini chips, but are smaller than standard chocolate chips)
1 tablespoons flour

Heat the oven to 375 F and spray mini muffin tins with cooking spray (this recipe made 30 mini muffins). In a large bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl combine the melted butter, vanilla, orange juice, sour cream or yogurt, and eggs.In a small bowl toss together the chocolate chips with the 1 tablespoons of flour until they are well coated.Add the wet ingredients into the dry and stir just until the dry ingredients are moist.  Add the chocolate chips and fold to incorporate.Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the center of the muffins springs back when lightly pressed, a toothpick comes out clean, and the tops are just starting to turn golden brown. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make this, I put about 1 tablespoon of butter in a small nonstick frying pan and melted it on a medium flame.  Then, I put some leftover brenta (about 1 to 1 1/2 cups) in the pan and flattened them to cover the bottom of the pan.  Then I cracked 2 extra large organic eggs on top of the brenta.  I broke the yolks a little, then I covered the pan, and cooked over a medium high flame until the eggs were cooked.  I served and ate immediately, sprinkling with a little kosher salt and some fresh black pepper.  This Is as yummy as can be. 

The next time I do this, I may sprinkle some grated extra sharp cheddar on top of the eggs as they cook.  I’m also thinking about making this dish but in a larger quantity for my family or to bring to school for one of our teacher breakfasts.  I’d do it in an oval baking dish, and bake it in the oven on a high temperature - of course add more of everything- maybe about 4 cups of the brenta, 1 dozen eggs, and about 1/2 cup shredded cheddar over all.  I’ll keep you posted once I do this for more people than just myself.