The Living Well Report

It had to happen one day. Between cold days, the need for a new recipe, and a love of pie crust, how I have not stumbed upon making shepherd’s pot pie is beyond me. Last week it came to be and was quite delicious! Not sure how you all make the classic comfort food, but this was my simple version: Bottom layer was lean cooked ground beef, seasoned with garlic, sweet onions, and yellow peppers. Over this was creamed corn. On top, homemade mashed potatoes. Enclose it all in a homemade pie crust, bake at 425 for 50 minutes or so, and dinner is ready!

Of course this pot pie could never truly top it’s cool cousin (chicken pot pie, of course), but that does not mean that it isn’t a perfectly good substitute on a cold wintery day. And those days are rapidly approaching!

It works. It’s easy. It’s a great addition to your fall apple dessert recipe ensemble! I used a basic apple pie recipe from our favorite cookbook, the apple crisp topping recipe from the same fave cookbook, and 45 minutes later the entire house smelled incredible! I don’t think I have ever enjoyed hanging around more. Of course I did have the new Coldplay CD playing while also reading Beautiful Losers, drinking coffee, and smelling apple pie baking, so the whole combo might have boosted the “hanging around” element a bit. Still, I encourage you to try out this pie. And why not try hanging around while you’re at it? Who knows, you just might enjoy yourself!

I had some leftover cornbread hanging out on the shelf the other day and decided to try something new. Grilling it with a little butter, it made a delicious bun for turkey cheddar-cheese burgers! It was almost like a burger-corndog, minus the dog of course. I put some mayo, mustard and relish on it and it totally blew minds.

Woman’s Day is not a magazine to subscribe to for the articles, but for the recipes it is fantastic! I made this one the day I received the magazine and it was a great new treat. Using a pre-made pie crust, grilled veggies and feta cheese, this vegetable tart was easy to make and a welcome new way to enjoy pie crust! I will probably experiment with other veggie/meat/cheese/whatever combinations in the future, and if they turn out well, I will share the recipes here.

I have a new hot dog staple! Never a huge relish person, I tried some of this from Hannaford’s organic line of products, and found it to be very mild and a great addition to standard barbecue fare. It is sweet, slightly crunchy and slightly soft. My only complaint is that it is sitting in a vast amount of liquid, so you have to drain it quite well before putting it on your dog. But since most of us have cool sieve-spoons, this is not a problem. It is also a great addition to burgers, tuna-fish sandwiches, and anything else you may want to try out.

This was a spontaneous cake effort on Jason’s part one morning when we had some over-ripe pears to use somehow, and a craving for something sweet. With an apple cake recipe, we substituted the sliced fresh pear, added some peanut butter chips for total craziness, and loaded up on the icing once it was out of the oven. Experimentation pays off – it was moist, delish, and fun to make!

If any of you are familiar with fast food dollar menus, this burger will be familiar to you. We have attempted to re-create one of our favorite $1 burgers, which consists of burger with barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, and an onion ring on top. When you have got a gas grill, top-quality angus beef, aged cheddar, awesome barbecue sauce, organic onion rings, and whole wheat burger buns, you are going to turn out a burger that no fast food chain could ever dream of making! Do yourself a favor and make one of these burgers once or twice over the summer, and don’t forget the lemonade!

And their love child is totally edible. As with the pie battle royale, my sister and her boyfriend showed off their cooking talents with a new dessert bar. The bottom layer is basically a chewy oatmeal cookie. Over that is a thick layer of sweet pumpkin, and a bit of oatmeal streusel is sprinkled on top. These gooey bars were even better the next day!

When it comes to pie contests the real winners are the eaters. And in this case between homemade graham cracker pie with real pudding vs. boxed pudding, the vote was unanimous: homemade pudding rocks out! Alas, I can’t share exactly what was in the winning pie because it was made by my lovely sister and her charming boyfriend. But what I can tell you is that the crust had loads of cinnamon in it, which puts graham cracker pie over the top for me. The fresh strawberries added a nice summery flavor as well. Treat your family and friends to some fresh pie soon!

Though they are a little time consuming, nothing beats waking up to warm delicious cinnamon buns! Of course if you are the one making them, you can’t very well wake up to them, but you could surprise someone very dear to you. And that someone very dear to you would be most appreciative (if they’re not something is seriously wrong with them). There is an assortment of cinnamon bun recipes on www.allrecipes.com, so check some out and choose one that looks good to you!