Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie is super easy to make, especially if you have potato flakes (make sure they're GF). This time I made them with some Worcestershire Sauce and something else (tomato sauce, maybe, I don't remember) that I've learned that my kids don't like so much. Their favorite is super easy:

Shepherd's Pie

ground beef, cooked (with dried onions if you like it)

frozen mixed veggies of your choice (we especially like peas and corn)

Hormel mini pepperoni (the key ingredient to make it extra tasty)

After you cook the ground beef, add in the veggies and pepperoni (and a shake or two of Worcestershire Sauce if you like) and warm through.

Make mashed potatoes, either from real potatoes or potato flakes.

Put the beef mixture in the bottom, then cover with potatoes and cook at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes.

If you like cheese (and can eat it), add it for the last 10 minutes to melt on top. I've frozen this before successfully as well. Just make double and save one for later in the freezer.

 

Rosemary roasted potatoes

This is one of the easiest sides to make. All you need is a few potatoes (red potatoes are great because you don't have to peel them), rosemary, garlic salt, and olive oil.

Dice the potatoes, then pour some olive oil over them, sprinkle some garlic salt and the rosemary (fresh is best, but dried works, too) over top and mix it up.

Put the potatoes on a cookie sheet (I like to line it with foil and spray with cooking spray for ease of cleanup), and either bake at 350 or 400, or broil, about 20-40 minutes, depending on how many potatoes you use and how crispy you like them. Stir at least once during cooking.

If I bake them, I like to broil for at least the last 5 minutes or so to add a little crispiness. I forgot to take a picture of the finished, tasty product because once they start cooking the smell permeates the house and everyone sits at the oven door salivating, so once they're out of the oven the thought of pausing to take a picture didn't even enter my mind. :)

Italian Crockpot Chicken

 

potatoes, cubed or in wedges
baby carrots
chicken
1/2 C. Italian dressing
2 T. Italian seasoning
1/2 C. Parmesan or romano cheese

Throw everything into the crock pot (potatoes and carrots on the bottom), and cook on low for about 6-8 hours. And enjoy. I love how fast and easy this is to prepare.

Cheesy Potato Casserole

1 package hash browns (Ore Ida is GF)
1 pint sour cream
1 can GF cream of chicken soup
1/4 C. butter, melted
1/3 C. green onions, chopped
1 1/2 C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
2 C. crushed GF corn flakes
2 T. melted butter

Mix the sour cream, soup, butter, onions and cheese together. Add in the hashbrowns, mix well, and put in a 9x13 pan. I decided to half the recipe today, since I didn't have enough sour cream, and with only 3 of us eating we don't need the whole thing.

Crush corn flakes. Or if you don't have GF corn flakes, you can use Corn Chex. They work just as well.

Put the crushed flakes in a baggie, add the melted butter and mix it all around, then spread on top of the potato mixture.

Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

We usually eat this with ham, but as we didn't have a ham on hand, we ate it with Oscar Meyer beef hot dogs. Soooooo good. Beef hot dogs are leaps and bounds better than regular hot dogs. We cut them up and mixed them in with the potatoes and they added a real tasty zing. Yum yum!

Potato salad

Luckily potato salad is naturally gluten-free. At least the way I've always made it:

Potatoes

Eggs

Pickles

Miracle Whip

Mustard

Pickle juice

Salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes until tender and eggs until hard boiled. Dice potatoes, eggs, and pickles, add miracle whip, mustard, and pickle juice to taste, mix together and add salt and pepper. Use more mustard than you think you should. Mustard and miracle whip are about equal portions. It makes it oh, so tasty.

I used 5 potatoes and 6 eggs. I think 3ish pickle spears. That'll make plenty for the 3 of us that can eat real food, with enough leftover for lunch for all of us tomorrow.

I think we'll have this with fried chicken tonight.