Scandinavian, British, Irish Shepherd's Pie

The title of this recipe reflects my mixed genealogy 😉 

I have distant, foggy memories of my father's tiny, very English-Welsh Grandmother making something similar, which is fitting since her maiden name was Shepherd. 

I love the concept of Shepherd's Pie, but decided to take creative liberties with each layer. The meat layer  is a big version of my Scandinavian mom's meatloaf recipe. I made meatballs and meatloaf, then froze them a week ago. For this English dish, I thawed, baked, sliced and cubed the meatloaf; using it as the foundational layer for this recipe; in a glass baking pan. 

For the vegetable layer, I partially cooked a pound of frozen green beans, with 1-1/2c frozen bell peppers added when 5 minutes of cooking time remained.

The garlic mashed potato, top layer, was an unpeeled, rustic medley of what I happened to have here. . .It's been a couple weeks since I shopped! 2 large Idaho potatoes, a big sweet potato, some tiny purple, red, and Yukon gold potatoes. Scrub them all, then dice them into fresh, cold, salted water. Stir, drain, rinse, then add new fresh, cold, salted water. For garlic potatoes, add 6-8 peeled, sliced cloves now.

Simmer over low heat, only until the potatoes are fork tender and crumble a bit. Mash, add 4oz. butter -I used a soft-spreadable blend of EVOO, butter and sea salt- add fresh ground black pepper, a tiny sprinkle of cayenne, just a little garlic salt, Rough mash all this with a hand masher, adding just enough half and half, sour cream, or heavy cream to make it soft and cohesive, but not loose.

Since each of the 3 layers is cooked separately, once assembled, sprinkle on a cup or so of shredded, sharp cheddar cheese, bake 20 minutes and serve. Mine went together today. I'm chilling it, covered, overnight and it'll be ready to pop into the oven after church tomorrow.  Shown here unbaked.

A half hour before serving, heat in a preheated 350° oven for 20-30 minutes, just to bubble the entire thing all the way through and melt the cheese. Let stand 5 minutes then cut into squares to serve. 

A fresh green salad or some coleslaw would pair nicely with this, to cut the richness of the dish. This will reheat well and taste great the second or even third time you serve it. . .Lin

Venison Meatloaf (gluten-free)

1c crushed quinoa corn tortilla chips

1c milk, coconut milk, or half & half

2# lean ground venison

2 eggs

2T A-1 Sauce

1 sm.-med. onion

1/3 lg. green pepper

salt and fresh ground black pepper

Combine the chips and milk in a mug or small bowl, forming a gloppy mixture, it shouldn't be dry and crumbly, add more milk if needed. Add this to a medium size mixing bowl with the first group of ingredients. Mix well, clean hands work best.

Form into a loaf or loaves, and bake now or refrigerate for up to 24 hours before baking at 350° for 50-60 minutes.

This goes well with baked potatoes and fresh steamed green beans, or mashed potatoes, gravy and corn. . .or just about anything you can think of for side dishes. Chill uncut meatloaf. Slice thin onto some buttered, crusty Italian bread for a sandwich the next day with Sriracha-Mayo! Mmmm! Meatloaf is one of my favorite comfort foods 😊

I was so hungry yesterday I forgot a final photo. I reheated this for breakfast this morning! I made a sauce of mostly mayo, almost as much horseradish mustard, 3T each of ketchup, steak sauce and sweet pickle juice. Mmmm. . . Lin

Breakfast - Not Breakfast Food

I'm not a big fan of classic breakfast food. . . This is chopped Egg Bake and leftover Meatloaf. Scroll down for both recipes. . .

Another sprinkle of grated cheese on the Egg Bake, Sciracha on the Meatloaf and microwaved for a minute. Mmmm - It's what's for breakfast today. I want to clean and rearrange my deck on this gorgeous morning, so this little bowl, will keep me going until dinner!

Regarding usual breakfast foods, I do love some plain Greek yogurt, frozen berries, golden raisins, chopped nuts and Bare Naked, Fruit and Nut Granola or one from our local Co-Op. I love bacon! I love my Egg Bakes. Also, I do have a recipe for whole grain pancakes rattling in my head. (I have pure Maple Syrup you see!) These will contain rolled oats, unbleached wheat flour, a ground flax seed mix, corn flour for sure, and maybe coconut flour or hazelnut flour. Eggs, coconut oil, coconut-almond milk with a splash of vinegar to turn it into Coconut-Almond Buttermilk😊So, if that sounds good to you, stay tuned! Happy Tuesday Everyone! . .Lin

Lamb, Turkey and Beef Meatloaf-Meatballs (gluten and dairy free)

This is yet another variation on my mom's special meat loaf recipe.  I'm not sure just yet if this will be meatballs or meatloaf.  Probably meatloaf since, as good as these sound to me over spaghetti, with a tomato cream sauce, I don't think I want all that gluten right now.  In a big glass mixing bowl, combine the following:

• 
  1# each: ground lamb, turkey and beef
• 1½c chopped onion and sweet peppers
• 1T seasoned salt and pepper

In a 2c glass measuring container, whisk together the first two ingredients, then add the egg, oats and flax mix:

2 lg. eggs

1T± Sriracha sauce 

½c regular/plant 'milk' or half & half

1c quick rolled oats

¼c ground flax and other seed mix

When the egg, milk and oat mixture are well mixed, let it stand 5-10 minutes to achieve the proper level of 'gloppiness'.

Add this to the meat and chopped vegetables, then mix with a heavy wooden spoon or clean hands. When well mixed, form into meatballs or loaves. Bake at 350° on a parchment-lined jelly roll pan.

For meatloaf, bake for about an hour.  These looked pale after an hour, so I raised the heat to 375° for an additional 15 minutes.  Check to be sure the center is cooked.  Cool 5 minutes or longer before cutting.  Serve this with your favorite vegetable casserole.  Refrigerated leftovers will keep 4-5 days.  When chilled and sliced thin, this makes great sandwiches!  

Meatballs will take less time and should be flipped after half the cooking time.  Start with 20 minutes at 350°.  Flip them, then go another 10-20 minutes.  Check for doneness.  Serve these with your favorite sauce over pasta accompanied by a fresh tossed salad. . .Lin

Colorful Meatloaf

2¼# ground butcher's blend

(½ beef - ½ pork)

½ sweet orange pepper

½ sweet yellow pepper

2 stalks celery

1 med. onion

3 lg. eggs
1c rolled oats

10-15 oz. crushed tomatoes

1T Rosemary Seasoning 

(or your favorite salt and pepper based seasoning)

This is 'What's For Dinner' tonight

In a large bowl or pot, break up the meat then add the chopped vegetables and everything else in this group.  Using your hands or a big heavy wooden spoon, mix all this together for several minutes.  Form into however many loaves you want, bake at 350⁰ for 40-60 minutes.  I have a recipe in mind for this, for later, so I'm freezing 2 of the 3 loaves I made today.  These freeze well for another time or to give to someone who needs some home cooking. . .Lin

Forgotten Meatloaf and Vegetables

1# frozen chicken-beef meatloaf - thawed

frozen peas and carrots

small mixed potatoes

2T butter

seasonings

In digging around my freezer, I unearthed this piece of a meatloaf that was leftover and frozen when I made it in November of 2017.  This turned out so well!

Scrub and cut the potatoes small enough to cook the same time as the peas and carrots.  Put this in a pan with the butter and seasonings.  Simmer covered, to get the water out of the peas and carrots quickly.  Stir to keep everything from sticking.  Add sliced meatloaf for the last 5-10 minutes, cover and turn off the heat.

This made enough for 2 servings.  Leftovers are wonderful!  A Comfort Food Dinner ready in a very short time. . .Lin

Meatloaf Spaghetti Pie

cooked spaghetti

4oz. rough chopped spinach

1 jar pasta sauce

2 finely chopped carrots

5 chopped mini peppers

4 lg. garlic cloves minced

a little bit of chopped onion

10oz. meatloaf - chopped

Put the spaghetti and spinach in a 12"x9"x3" glass pan, in layers.  Combine the pasta sauce and the remaining chopped vegetables in a 2qt pot and simmer 15 minutes.  Add the meat, spread this over the spaghetti and spinach.  Top with a little grated parmesan cheese, bake at 350° for about a half hour.  Serve with a green (and purple 😊) salad. . .Lin

3-Meat Meatloaf

1# chorizo

1# ground lamb

1# ground chicken

½ lg. onion - chopped

4oz. tomato paste

1c quick oats

2 lg. eggs

salt & pepper

Mix everything together in a medium roasting pan.  Shape into loaves, top with a little ketchup and a sprinkle of green herbs.  Bake an hour at 350°.

Serve with a side of steamed vegetables, baked or mashed potatoes, or a spiralized vegetable casserole 😉 Cold meatloaf, cut thin, is great for sandwiches.  This freezes well too, if you decide to have one meatloaf now and save the other for later.  I've also crumbled this into a good red sauce, served over pasta for a quick dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce.  Have Fun - Be Creative - Happy Cooking! . . . Lin

Mmmmeatloaf! With Pork and Turkey and Lamb - Oh My!!

2 large eggs

2 grated carrots

1-1/2c rolled oats

1 med. chopped onion

1 14.5oz. diced fire-roasted tomatoes

1# each: ground pork, turkey & lamb

½t± ground red and black pepper

1-2t± fresh ground garlic sea salt

1t± dried-crushed rosemary

Mix everything together in a large bowl with your hands or a wooden spoon.  Let stand 10-15 minutes to blend all the flavors while preheating the oven to 350°.  Form into 2-3 loaves, which freeze nicely either at this point, or after baking.  Bake about 1 hour.  It's always nice to have a healthy-comfort-food meatloaf in the freezer to give to a friend when they're sick, or on a busy day when you don't feel like messing with food prep.

Meatloaf is great with mashed potatoes, gravy and vegetables, baked potatoes and fresh green beans - or - as shown here, with chopped kale and assorted baby potatoes, steamed together, covered, in a little water until it evaporates.  Finish with fresh ground sea salt & garlic, fresh ground pepper and a little sour cream, on the stove. . .Be Creative - Happy Cooking! . . .Lin

Tri-Meat Loaf and Sour Cream Cabbage

1/2 lb. 'Butcher's Blend' - ground beef and pork

1# ground turkey

1/2 lg. onion - chopped

1/2 pkg. Stove Top Stuffing*

8oz. tomato sauce

1 jumbo egg

Combine all well, in a large bowl, with a wooden spoon.  Form into a long loaf or two smaller loaves in a 9x13" glass baking pan.  Bake at 325-350° for one hour.  Serve with or without ketchup or barbecue sauce.  The stuffing adds a lot of flavor.  *If you'd rather make this gluten free, use a cup of quick cooking oats instead of stuffing.  Add seasoned salt and pepper. . .Lin

1 sm. heavy head of green cabbage

1/2 lg. onion - chopped

1-2T butter

salt, ground garlic and black pepper

1c. sour cream

Core and slice - cube the cabbage.  Add the onion, butter and seasonings, along with a little bit of water.  Cover and cook for an hour.  At the end, stir in the sour cream and reheat before serving. . .Lin

Beef-Turkey Gluten-Free Meatloaf

2 lg. eggs

½c ground flax seed

¾c old fashioned rolled oats

milk – coconut or almond

1 med. onion – chopped

1¼# lean ground beef

8oz. turkey Italian sausage

salt and pepper

In a medium-large bowl, combine beaten eggs, flax, oats and enough milk to make it a little bit sloppy. Next, add onion, meats (remove casing from sausage) and seasonings. Mix all together well – clean hands work best. Form into 1 or 2 loaves. Let rest an hour or so, for all the flavors to blend and dry ingredients hydrate. Bake at 350° about an hour. Great with baked potatoes and fresh, steamed vegetables. . .Lin

Meat Loaf Pasta

¾# meatloaf

½ med. onion

1T ground rosemary

1t ground garlic powder

1t ground onion powder

8oz. tomato sauce
8oz. sour cream

1c cooked elbow spaghetti

Combine all and serve as a main dish with steamed vegetables. Wonderful flavors. . .Lin

Heart Healthier Meatloaf

1# Italian seasoned ground pork

1# ground beef chuck

1# ground chicken

2 large or jumbo eggs

¼# saltines (soda crackers)

1-1½c milk

1 large onion – chopped
1t sea salt & ½t ground black pepper

Mix all ingredients together well, probably with clean hands, in a BIG mixing bowl. If you're having company for dinner, divide the meat into 2 loaves and bake at 350° for an hour or a little longer, in a 9”x13” baking pan. Otherwise you can bake one now and freeze the other for later. Serve with your favorite vegetables and baked potatoes. . .Lin