Ramen Rice

I have a growing stack of ramen noodle soup seasoning packets in my pantry. Seems I use the noodles in recipes {like this one} pretty often. But I hate to discard the seasoning and kept thinking I'd come up with a use for them. Well, I finally thought of one: rice. Duh!
It makes regular rice have a hint of yummy flavor. I wouldn't say it's revolutionary or anything, but it's good.

To make it, dump one cup of rice, two cups of water, a pat of butter and a ramen seasoning packet {I used the oriental flavor} into a pot. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer covered for 20 minutes or until the rice is done.

Homemade Greek Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

Since moving here, we've really missed the incredible restaurants we had back in Texas. {We didn't eat out much but when we did we had the most wonderful places to choose from. I won't even go into the poor excuse for Mexican restaurants here. My, we miss our TexMex.} One such place that I have craved many times since relocating is Niko Nikos. Good heavens are their gyros the best! Made fresh when you order, wrapped up in foil with a pile of seasoned fries and yummy tzatziki. They're so good and worth waiting in a line out the door for.

Since we only make it back home once or twice a year, my gyro craving has been left totally unsatisfied. I was determined to figure out a way to duplicate them here. Honestly, I was skeptical that I could even come close. I mean, how exactly do you make gyro meat at home. It's lamb and beef pressed together and roasted rotisserie style. I don't have a rotisserie and wasn't confident I could create the right meat mixture. But after a lot of research (and some great tips from Alton Brown), I've finally found just what we've been missing so much! So here's my gyro and tzatziki recipes. No fancy equipment required. And no waiting in line either.

Let's start with the gyros. Here's our ingredient list for the meat:
1 lb. ground lamb
1 lb. ground beef, 80% lean
2 heaping teaspoons oregano
2 tsp. marjoram
2 tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. ground black pepper
1 medium onion
3-4 garlic cloves, minced or crushed

First, chop the onion. No need for a fine dice here, just give it a rough chop. Dump the onion into a food processor.
Puree the onion for about 30 seconds, pausing to scrape down the sides.
Dump onion puree onto paper towel {I use two paper towels for this for added strength}. Squeeze out the onion juice. Discard juice or save for another purpose.
Put the drained onion puree back in the food processor. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until well combined. {Note: I have a rather small food processor so I couldn't fit both pounds of meat. Instead, I blended the spices with the lamb in the food processor and then in a bowl mixed the lamb mixture with the beef.}

Press the meat mixture into a loaf pan being sure to pack it down well. Bake at 350 degrees for an hour.

Remove the meatloaf from the oven and set on a wire rack. Now, place a layer of foil over the meatloaf and set something heavy on top. I used two quarts of chicken stock but a brick or a couple of heavy cans would also do the trick. The idea here is that you keep the meat pressed down tightly as it cools. Cool for 30-45 minutes with the weights. Remove weights and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight. {Chilling overnight isn't crucial but I think it helps develop the flavors.}

Remove from refrigerator and unwrap. Thinly slice the meatloaf. I use an electric knife
for this.
To brown the strips of meat, heat 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add several strips of meat in a single layer. Brown for approximately two minutes per side. Remove meat from pan to a plate covered with a paper towel. Add another batch of meat to the pan. No need to add more oil. Repeat in this manner until all meat is browned.

Now for the tzatziki sauce. Tzatziki is a delicious greek yogurt sauce. Mmm. I love this stuff.

Here's what you need for the sauce: 1 ¼ cup greek yogurt
1 English hothouse cucumber
2 cloves garlic
½ tsp. dill
2 Tbsp. lemon juice {or half lemon squeezed}
Generous pinch of kosher salt
Pinch ground pepper
Generous pinch of sugar

First, peel and seed the cucumber. To seed it, slice the cucumber in half lengthwise and scoop seeds out with a spoon.
Grate the cucumber.
Gather up the pile of grated cucumber in a tea towel or two layers of paper towels. Squeeze out the liquid and discard. Mix the drained cucumber with the yogurt and remaining ingredients.

Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight. Taste for seasoning. {I added a bit more sugar and salt.}
To serve the gyros, wrap in pita bread with tzatziki sauce, sliced onion and tomato. I use this recipe for pita bread as suggested by my friend The Prairie Girl. Click for the printable recipes: Lamb and Beef Gyros and Tzatziki Sauce.

Shepherd's Pie Recipe

Shepherd's pie is one of my favorite comfort foods to make. That, and chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes, fettuccine alfredo, and pot roast. I really like comfort food. I blame it on being raised in Texas. Texans are all about comfort foods.

I especially crave this stuff when I'm pregnant. My first trimester is always the worst, though I really try not to give in to the desire {too much!} to eat such calorie-laden foods. But the other night, I couldn't resist. The Good Doctor took me out on a date to a really great restaurant that had all sorts of deliciousness on the menu. And what did I go for? The grilled buffalo burger with fries. I felt like I was ordering chicken tenders at a Mexican food restaurant. It was a little embarrassing, but boy was it good! The Good Doctor had an amazing coffee-chili rubbed pork chop with smoked gouda mashed potatoes and peach chutney, which is what I would normally have gone for.

Anyways, back to the Shepherd's Pie. That is what this post is all about, right?
My mom made this a lot growing up and I loved it. Before I give you the step-by-step, here's what you'll need.

2 lbs. lean ground beef
2 cloves garlic
1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
1 Tbsp. worcestershire
1 tsp. beef bullion granules
2 Tbsp. flour
1 c. cold water
2 lbs. potatoes
1/2 stick butter
1/2 c. milk
2 heaping spoonfuls of sour cream
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

First, begin browning the ground beef in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the meat is halfway browned {see below}, add the garlic, soup mix, worcestershire and beef bullion.

Stir occasionally until the meat is thoroughly cooked and browned.In a pyrex measuring cup or small bowl, mix the flour with the cold water. Whisk well to combine. Then add to the meat mixture and stir well to incorporate. Cook a couple more minutes until the sauce thickens.Remove the meat from the heat.

Use your favorite pie crust recipe and blind bake it. You don't have to do this but I prefer to blind bake my crust because it ensures a crispy, flaky crust. underneath all that meat. To bake the crust, place a layer of foil and some weights {I use ceramic pie weights} inside the shell. Bake at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
For the mashed potatoes, I use 2 pounds of potatoes. I mix my boiled potatoes with 1/2 stick butter, 1/2 cup milk, a few heaping spoonfuls of sour cream, and plenty of salt and pepper to taste.
To assemble the pie, pour the meat mixture into the pie shell.Top with mashed potatoes.Place the pie on a cookie sheet and sprinkle the grated cheddar cheese over the top.

Bake the pie at 375 degrees for 40 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the pie is heated through.
It's done. Enjoy!

Herbed Garlic Bread

We love garlic bread and while we've definitely been known to grab a bag of the frozen stuff when we're short on time, it's the homemade kind that we love so much.

All you need is a loaf of french bread, a stick of butter, a couple cloves of garlic and some fresh parsley.
Let the butter soften or just pop it in the microwave a bit. Crush the garlic and mix it into the butter.Chop some fresh parsley, about a tablespoon or two, and combine with the garlic butter.
Slice the bread into 1 inch slices.
Take care not to slice all the way through so that the loaf stays together.

Smear the butter mixture on each side of every slice, about 1/2 teaspoon on each side.

Wrap the loaf in foil and bake at 400 for 10-15 minutes. If you have something else in the oven at the time, like a lasagna, just bake at that temperature and adjust the time. {350 degrees for 20 minutes works.}

Sorry I don't have any pictures of it fresh out of the oven. We took it to a friend's for dinner and all devoured it. Mmmm....garlicky, buttery goodness. Try it!

Homemade Bread

I've been on a homemade bread making kick lately. It all started with this bread on PW's site. Super easily and amazingly delicious. Then, I checked out The Bread Bible from the library. Whew! It was a world of education since I hardly have any experience making homemade bread. But I tried out the cinnamon raisin swirl from it today and it was worth the learning curve. The recipe made two loaves and I made one with raisins and one without. After only a few hours out of the oven, the first loaf was nearly devoured! All of us enjoyed it warm from the oven with apple butter.

So I think this bread making kick will last for a while. It's sort of addicting. Any good bread recipes or favorite bread cookbooks? Please share.

Muffin Tin Monday: Pumpkin Waffles

The theme this week was fall harvest. I decided to do breakfast instead of lunch and we made pumpkin waffles with a muffin tin full of yummy {not necessarily healthy} toppings.

You can't really tell, but I cut out the waffles with a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter.

Boo decorated the waffles with his toppings:

-orange whipped cream {unsweetened - to offset the sugar in the sprinkles and chocolate chips. This is the same methodology I use when I order a skinny Cafe Mocha with just a little whipped cream.}
-pecans
-bananas
-sprinkles
-chocolate chips

Here is the Spiced Pumpkin Waffles recipe I used from Country Living. They're delicious.

As always, check out other muffin tins from this week's Muffin Tin Monday at Her Cup Overfloweth.