Tourtière (French Canadian Meat Pie) Wednesday, Dec 5 2012

 

 

Tourtière is the French word for meat pie. Tourtière is a very French-Canadian Christmas dish. Christmas would not be Christmas without eating this!! To me, it’s much more important than a turkey. 🙂 Every year, I make several tourtière, freeze them, and we enjoy many meals of it in December.

Here is the recipe I use. Scroll below for pictures of the progress! 🙂

Tourtière

1lb ground pork/beef*
1 onion, diced small
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp all spice
1/4 cup dried mashed potatoes, approximately
2 pie crusts (top and bottom crusts)

Place ground meat and onion in a pot. Add water until it covers 3/4 of meat mixture. Simmer an hour. Place in the fridge overnight to cool off (which hardens the fat), then skim off the fat. Reheat meat mixture. Add seasonings. Stir in dried mashed potatoes to thicken the meat mixture. Spoon into pie crusts, cover with additional crust. Cook at 350F for 45min to 1hr, or until crust is golden brown.

Cook before freezing.

To reheat: place frozen tourtière in a pre-warmed 350F oven. Cook for one hour until warmed all the way through. To prevent the crust from getting darker, you can place a piece of foil on top.

*Traditionally you would use all ground pork. Personally, we don’t eat a lot of pork, so we use ground beef. Just as yummy! 🙂

 

Big pot full ground beef, minced garlic, and chopped onions! This will make several pies (multiple times the recipe!)

 

 

Add water to the ground beef/onion/garlic mix. (I sometimes add grated potatoes to my mix…)

 

Simmer meat mixture for an hour.

 

 

Refrigerate overnight, skim off fat, reheat mixture, and pour into unbaked pie crusts.

 

 

 

Put top crust, then bake according to directions above. Freezes well (once baked) to reheat later!

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Homemade Salami Friday, Sep 21 2012

Years ago, my Mom found a recipe for homemade pepperoni, and we made it quite regularly. We loved eating it plain, on crackers, or on pizza.

About four years ago, I decided to try a couple variations of it, a summer sausage and a homemade salami from Tammy’s Recipes. I fell in love with the salami recipe, and that’s the main one I’ve been doing every since.

So, if you’re looking for healthy homemade meats for easy lunches (great with cheese slices and crackers), to send on school lunches, or on pizza, make sure to try this yummy recipe! 🙂

The only thing I do different, is that I like them to be cracker size, so I make 10 rolls from the recipe instead of 3 like the recipe says. 🙂

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Easy Mexican Lasagna Wednesday, Jul 11 2012

Today, I bring you yet another recipe by Kaillie Fagan! I appreciate the several recipes she has submitted to be published here. They look easy, and yummy! This summer is a busy time for my family and I, and it’s great to post a few recipes by someone else. 🙂

Easy Mexican Lasagna

9 tortillas
1 lb ground beef
2 cups of shredded cheese
1 can of black beans (drained and rinced)
2 cups of strained diced tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp salt and oregano
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup salsa

Heat oven to 350F. Spray rectangular baking dish. Cut 6 of the tortillas in half, and then 3 in 2 inch strips.

In a small saucepan,bring strained tomotoes, garlic,salt, oregano, and chili powder to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a large non stick frying pan cook ground beef. Strain it and set aside.

Add oil to frying pan, cook onion until softened (3-4 minutes). Add black beans and corn. Return beef to frying pan. Stir one cup of salsa. Mix it well.

Place the tortillas in a way that the bottom on the pan is covered (should take 2 tortilla and 3 strips). Top with ¼ of the cheese and half of the meet mixture. Repeat tortilla layer, cheese and meat mixture. Top with remaining tortilla and salsa. Sprinkle remaining cheese. Bake for 20 minutes, until cheese is melted. Slice and serve with sour cream.

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German Pizza Monday, Feb 6 2012

This is a nice recipe because it only takes one frying pan/pot. It’s one of those very basic meat and potatoes type of casseroles, done on the stovetop. I think it would be a good one to do while camping next summer, actually.

Thanks to my friend Glenda for sharing the recipe. 🙂 It’s from one of her Mennonite cookbooks. I’d give credit, but I don’t know the name of the cookbook. So thanks to the Mennonite lady who included it in the cookbook. 😉

German Pizza

1lb ground beef (I used cooked, diced chicken I had on hand)
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper (I used red since that’s all I had)
1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1/2 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp butter
6 medium potatoes, peeled and shredded
3 eggs, beaten
1/3 cup milk
2 cups shredded cheese

In frying pan, cook ground beef, onions, green peppers, 1/2 tsp salt and pepper; drain. Reduce heat to low, melt butter. Spread potatoes over melted butter and sprinkle with remaining salt. Top with beef mixture. Combine eggs and milk, pour over all. Cook covered, on medium heat, until potatoes are tender, about 30 minutes. Top with cheese; cover and heat until cheese is melted. Cut in wedges or squares to serve.

We ate ours with ketchup on top. 🙂

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Taco Meat Seasoning Wednesday, Jan 25 2012

I love homemade anything. Same goes with taco seasoning! I never bought it when we first got married because it didn’t fit our student budget. One day I had tortillas at a friend’s house, seasoned with taco meat seasoning… oh! It tasted like heaven compared to plain old ground beef thrown in a tortilla. 😉

Then I noticed that MSG triggers some of my frequent headaches/migraines, and most taco seasonings in the store contain MSG. Thankfully, I found a homemade recipe for taco seasoning that I love!

I mix up this batch, put it in a labelled container and it’s as easy to use as an envelope of store-bought taco seasoning! Yum!

Try it out in the above pictured Taco Lettuce Wrap! Yum!

Taco Meat Seasoning

1 1/2 Tbsp corn starch
4 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp seasoning salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry minced onion
1/2 tsp beef bouillon powder
1/4 tsp ground red pepper

Mix all ingredients together. When ready to use, sprinkle some to taste on top of cooked ground beef, add a little bit of water, simmer until most of the liquid has cooked away. You’ll be left with a slightly ‘saucey’ taco meat!

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Pakistani Kima Friday, Jan 6 2012

My friend Glenda and I were exchanging recipes a while back. She gave me this recipe and said it was very good. The name sounded unique, the ingredients a bit odd, and I never made it. Then we visited again. And SHE made it for US! The first bite had my tongue wondering what in the world was in this dish. Each bite that followed made me love the recipe more! 🙂

I made the recipe within a week of coming home, as we quite enjoyed its flavour! If you want to try a recipe that only requires staple ingredients, but is very unique, this is it! I will be making this again for sure. 🙂

Pakistani Kima

3 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1lb ground beef
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
dash of each: pepper, cinnamon, ginger and tumeric
2 cups cooked tomatoes (I used an entire 28oz can of diced tomatoes)
1 cup peas or green beans
2 cups potatoes, diced

Saute onion and garlic in butter. Add ground beef and brown well. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cover and simmer until potatoes are cooked, about 25 minutes, stirring frequently.

Serve over rice. Garnish with coconut.

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Lentil Chili Friday, Oct 14 2011

I’m always on the lookout for new recipes that use beans and lentils. They are so healthy for us, reduce our meat intake (which is a good thing!), and stretch the food budget. I was excited to come across this lentil chili recipe over at Raising Olives. I tried, using soy protein instead of ground beef, making it a completely vegetarian chili. It is very different than a traditional chili, but tasted wonderful! We ate ours over brown rice and really enjoyed it. I will definitely be making this again, and again, and again!

Go ahead and try it! 🙂

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Homemade Hamburgers Monday, Oct 10 2011

The recipe for hamburgers is identical to the one for meatballs, just omitting the milk. In the above pictured hamburger patty, we also added some ground zucchini. After all, it’s zucchini season, it adds veggies to our meal without the toddler knowing it, and stretches the meat a little further! Why not?! 🙂

Homemade Hamburgers

1 lb ground beef
1/2 cup dry bread crumbs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 egg

Mix all ingredients. Shape mixture into hamburgers the size you want. Remember that when you cook them, they will get thicker and shrink in size. We like to eat ours on regular homemade bread, so we share them accordingly!

Bake them as desired: in a frying pan, boiled in the oven, or on the BBQ!

As an option, top with your favourite BBQ sauce while cooking or afterwards.

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Sloppy Joes Monday, Sep 12 2011

These sloppy joes are definitely one of my go-to meals. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it tastes great! My 3-yr old likes them, my husband loves them, that’s all I need to make me happy! 😉  I often double-triple the batch and freeze some for quick meals on a busy day. I put less ground beef than the recipe calls for, and more beans, just because I tend to think we eat too much meat and not enough beans and legumes. 🙂  In the above picture, I also added zucchini chunks! It’s definitely a great recipe just as it is though.

Sloppy Joes

2 lbs ground beef
1/2 cups diced onions
1 can tomato soup
1/4 cup ketchup
1 Tbsp vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic
1 can beans (optional)

Brown ground beef and onions. Add remaining ingredients and simmer 5 minutes. Stir often, as it sticks easily! Eat over a slice of yummy homemade bread (ok, I guess store-bought would work too, but I’m partial to homemade!). 🙂

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Ground Beef, Rice and Beans Wednesday, Aug 3 2011

I grew up regularly eating an easy lunch of ground beef and rice (and onions). It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s yummy, it’s filling, and it’s healthy. 😉  We eat it with soya sauce over it. Now, when I make it for my little family, I’ll play around with it, adding black beans (as in the above picture), some mixed veggies, or seasoned rice (also pictured above).

I don’t have an exact recipe for you for this one. How much rice does your family usually eat as a side dish? Make a bit more since that will be the staple of this meal. Try some brown rice too, for extra nutrients! If you’ve tried brown rice before and didn’t like it, don’t despair! Just as there are many types of white rice, there are several types of brown rice. Some I love, some not so much. I always prefer the ones that take the full 45 minutes to cook, not parboiled which cooks faster.

While your rice is cooking, cook your ground beef and onions. I almost always have cooked ground beef in the freezer, which makes this a very quick meal as I just need to thaw out the ground beef.

If you’re adding mixed veggies, cook those too. (or use last night’s leftovers!!)

Then, using a big bowl, mix the rice, ground beef, mixed veggies, rice and whatever else you want! Serve with soya sauce and you’ve got an easy, yummy, and cheap meal!

Variation: Make this a vegetarian dish by omitting the ground beef and adding soy protein, beans, and/or pieces of fried tofu!

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