Ahh my intrepid readers

Good Sunday to you all.  (or Monday depending if you're on the other side of the Date Line. )

I'm slacking.  Yeah.  I should be cleaning my house but I'm putting up another blog recipe/entry while having my morning coffee.


Here's a cheap and easy dish that's a staple around here:

Corned Beef Gravy.

Peel and cut and boil a few potatoes.

Then, get a can of corned beef (I use Hereford brand but whatever floats your boat) open it and dump it into a frying pan.  Turn on the element to around Med-High heat and start mashing it down with a fork while the potatoes are boiling.  while this is going on, mix up roughly 1/2 cup flour to 2 cups of water really well...like no lumps or anything.

When the potatoes are done, drain some of the water into the frying pan with the corned beef...add some seasonings if you want, garlic/onion powders, steak spice, pepper (no real need for salt.)

Now,  give your flour/water mixture a stir, and slowly pour in to the hot beef/water mixture while stirring constantly,  it should thicken up pretty well.

Serve over the hot potatoes (smash em on your plate a bit and put butter on them first if you want)  and with some bread and butter.

The gravy freezes/refrigerates  well so all you need to do is put it in individual containers.  So there you go a $2 can of corned beef can feed you for a bit.

Pirogies!!

Here's something for pretty much everyone.  Home made pirogies.

I know you all have probably bought the frozen variety, mostly due to convenience, but, if you have a bit of time on the weekends or something, you can make your own, and actually put what you want in them, instead of dealing with the store supplied fillings.

What you will need:

Dough:

2 cups flour
a tsp of salt
enough water to make it into a pliable dough

Now mix all these together...the water is subjective so just add a little at a time until it forms a dough.  Then knead this dough. and let rest

Filling:

1lb of potatoes, peeled and mashed.

Now what I like to put in it is a mixture of stuff

I take some bacon, cut it up and fry it until crisp with some minced onions so they caramalize.  Then I mix in with the already hot mashed potatoes, some garlic spread,  the bacon, the onions, a bit of grated sharp cheddar cheese, and a dollop of sour cream and some minced chives.

Now,  Roll out the pirogie dough on a floured surface so it's about 1/4-1/8" thick..not too thick but not too thin.  Take a glass or a small plastic cup and cut out circles.  Put a tablespoon of your potato mixture in the middle of each of the circles, then take your finger, put it in some warm water and trace the outside of each circle before folding them in half and pinching the pirogies shut.

Cook in boiling water until they float.  If you want,  you can freeze them for later, or toss in butter/bacon/chives and serve with sour cream!

Moar foods

Here's a recipe out of that nice cookbook my mom gave me, that I actually DID try, because no one in this house is allergic to tuna.

It's cheap, it's pretty awesome too.

It's called

Tuna Fish Loaf.  *yeah similar to meat loaf but made with tuna instead*

2 cans of tuna packed in water (drained)
1 can of cream of mushroom soup.
1/2 cup of milk
2 1/2 cups of bread crumbs
2 eggs, beaten
and of course seasonings.  I used oinion powder, salt, pepper, garlic powder, a titch of cayenne and some dried parsley for color.

Soak your bread crumbs in the milk combine and mix thoroughly with soup and beaten eggs.  Bake in a GREASED loaf pan (this is important or the stuff won't come out..or non stick..but even then if you grease it it'll get all nice and crispy on the outside)  at 350 for about 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and it's all set.

So there you have it, it's cheap, it's good.  No I don't have pictures of it because I made it a while ago, I probably will make it again next week though.

Served it with some steamed carrots and home made rolls.

Well that was upsetting P

Someone on facebook decided to pretend to be the midwife that was present at my sons birth.  This person also tried to beg for money because they "got mugged at gunpoint in Malaysia"  Umm ok.  I asked a few questions before I even started to believe this person was my former midwife.  You know, questions based around my sons birth.  (No I won't give them out here)  Anyway this person didn't answer a single one of them correctly, and gave the name of a supposed social studies teacher, That I never ever had.  So yeah,  blocked and reported.

I also told the REAL midwife about the jerk that's trying to pretend to be her.

Good try though,  I might have been born at night..wait no I wasn't.  Anyway,  That scammer has learned that not everyone is a bloody gullible moron.  I also sent a message to those this fraudster friended saying that this wasn't the real deal.

So yeah.  GG scammer GG.

Heh

I'm gonna try my hand at making scotch eggs tomorrow.  I'm boiling the eggs right now, so they can cool off in the fridge over night.  I have some sausage meat and some bread crumbs all ready.  I've heard some good things about these...figure trying *one* won't hurt.  But will I be able to stop at one?  Bah if I can't I'll just give the rest to my daughter for her lunch or something.  She needs the calories.

BAH

My inlaws have a condo in Ottawa and they have one crazy view from there.  Almost penthouse.  I mean their view is phenomenal.

Of course it sucks when someone in downtown Ottawa gets a little trigger happy.

Driving connundrum

For all you people who are just tuning in.  I'm an (almost) 32yo stay at home mom.  I have had my learners permit for driving, for about a year now.  I have been taking defensive driving lessons since September,  give or take.  Now,  my instructor wants me to practice on my husbands car, since well it's the only car we own right now, and it's going to be the one I will be driving.  (Not rocket science)  Well, he is justifiably nervous.  I'm learning in a Honda Civic,  we own a 2000 Mercury Cougar.  V6 vs a 4 Cylinder. Both are Front wheel drive and automatic, so not much difference there, just a difference in horsepower and obviously handling.

How the heck can I get him to understand that I might be a driving noob, but I really do need the practice in the car so I can get used to it.  He refuses to call my instructor to get the "You know she's really NOT that bad" speech.


Trust me, if I didn't HAVE to get my license, I wouldn't be.  I'm just sick of walking to take/get my kids from school, my husband's job takes him away quite often, so I need to be able to get groceries.  Not to mention appointments and all that.

Trust me, I understand his reluctance.  It's HIS car.  He bought it before we were married, it's his first real car.  He's justifiably attached to it.  I wish we could afford a second, not so nice car, like..a Dodge Aries K, or a Neon or something stupid like that, so if I do hit the ditch,  it won't be such a nut punch to him.