Shepherd's Pie Eggrolls

Every year for my birthday, Schmambs makes me dinner.  How is that different from every other night?  For starters, I get to choose the menu.  The best part about Schmambs is that she will cook anything my little Asian heart desires, even if she's never made it before.  Last year was easy.  We had a Thanksgiving Feast since she makes this amazing bacon turkey.  This year, I had Shepherd's Pie on the mind after stumbling across a recipe for a Sweet Potato Chipotle Sheperd's Pie from the Deen Brothers (you know, Paula's boys).  Not a fan of sweet potatoes, I thought it would be fun to have a traditional Shepherd's Pie.  Then, since Schmambs and I have been brainstorming eggroll recipes for the fast approaching football season, we thought we would try Shepherd's Pie Eggrolls.  And to make it that much better, we were going to add bacon to the mix.


Schmambs has this amazing ability to multi-task.  If it were left to me, I'd probably burn the house down.  This is probably why I leave all the more elaborate dishes to be made at Schmambs' rather than when I'm home alone.  She had the bacon cooking while she browned the ground beef.





After the beef was browned, she drained it and mixed in some whole kernel corn and fresh chopped celery.  A typical Shepherd's Pie calls for carrots, peas, and onions.  Schmambs cut up an onion and tossed it in the skillet to be cooked before adding it to the beef, corn, and celery mixture.  Schmambs isn't a fan of peas (I don't love 'em, but don't mind them) and I am not particularly fond of cooked carrots, so we decided to leave those out and substitute with the celery.

   

Once the onions were done cooking, she added them in as well.

Are you drooling yet?  Remember that bacon that Schmambs had been frying?  It was now time to add that crispy bacon.  To ensure a piece of bacon in every bite, Schmambs chopped all the strips up before throwing it in the beef mixture.  In a traditional Shepherd's Pie, the beef mixture is covered with mashed potatoes.  We couldn't leave those out.  Instead of slaving away at mashed potatoes from scratch, we took the shortcut and made instant mashed potatoes.  We're not proud of it, but the project was already labor intense and hungry stomachs needed to be fed.  And to be quite honest, they weren't all that terrible when combined with all the other ingredients and fried.

  

Then comes the fun part of putting the eggrolls together.  Despite all the eggrolls we have made in the past, we are still trying to perfect the rolling process.  Some come out too fat.  Some resemble blobs more than eggrolls.  The insides of the Shepherd's Pie eggrolls look a little something like this.  Oh yeah, did I mention that we threw some cheese into the mix too?  This cheese happened to be a Mexican blend from Jalapeno Nachos we made the other night.  I would probably recommend a Cheddar cheese if you were going to try making these at home.

We used a package of eggroll wrappers and decided that we probably had enough eggrolls to feed an army and we would save the remaining mixture to make more eggrolls another night.  Schmambs heat the oil up and in went the eggrolls.  Pop pop pop went the oil.  Sizzle sizzle sizzle went the eggrolls.  Before long we had a pile of piping hot Shepherd's Pie eggrolls ready to be consumed.

A traditional Shepherd's Pie has the beef in a gravy.  Since we were making it in eggroll form, we didn't want too much liquid in the filler since that gives the eggrolls more opportunities to leak when we're frying them, so we decided to dip them in gravy.  Nothing hard.  A package of Brown Gravy from McCormick's and call it a day.  We were famished by the time we finished that I wanted to get a picture of the final product and dig in, so regretfully, I do not have a picture of the eggroll with all it's gravy goodness, but it was delicious.

B.L.T.'s

So, I know this blog is supposed to be about foods 'Beyond Bacon' but every now and then, it's good to get back to your roots.  Also, Schmambs & Company were about to embark on a 10 day vacation and had bacon that needed to be used before they left.  So we had good ol' fashioned B.L.T.'s.

To get things started, one needs bacon.  What's a B.L.T. without any B?  So Schmambs cooked the bacon while her hubby sliced the tomatoes.  Me, being the mooch that I am...well...I just sat at the kitchen table waiting for everything to be ready.  At least I contributed my good company!

I will be the first to admit that a plate full of cooked bacon usually does not last very long in my house.  Thankfully, we were not eating at my house and therefore, the bacon stayed on the preparation plate until the sandwiches were ready to be put together.  We used a pretty basic make-it-yourself method since it was about 90 degrees inside and outside and it wasn't fair to make one person sweat to feed everyone else.  Thanks to Will, we had a nice neat stack of tomatoes ready to be piled high.  I'm not a fan of juicy tomatoes (I like mine firm) so I just scooped off the seeds and the ooey gooey in the middle.  And the lettuce was basically a 'you tear it, you eat it' type situation.

I found that each person likes to eat their B.L.T. a little differently.  Myself, I like it simple.  Just the B, the L, and then the T.  No mayo since I am not much of a fan.  Schmambs & hubby enjoy tossing a little salt & pepper on their B.L.T.'s.  The pepper to bring some flavor out in the bacon and the salt to bring a little extra out on the tomatoes. Schmambs also seems to like loading on the L because her sandwich looked about twice the size of mine - and with a lot more green!  I'm not a big fan of whole wheat bread since I find that it is drier than white bread, so I thought I would dab a little bit of mayo on to see if it helped give a bit of moisture.  It did.  I then got intrigued and tried the salt & pepper too.  One of the best B.L.T.'s I've had in a while.  Some people would say you don't need the salt since you already have enough from the bacon, but I think that the salt isn't for the bacon aspect, but definitely gives the tomato a little more umph.  

Moral of the story?  B.L.T.'s are the perfect dinner when you need to get rid of some bacon on a really really really hot day.

Schm-Asian Smorgasbord

Schmambs was at the Asian Market.  Schmambs' husband is away on business.  It's just us girls. This means a Schm-Asian Smorgasbord dinner!  I will be the first to admit, despite being born and bred Chinese (Taiwanese, to be exact), I have complete assimilated into the American culture.  Thankfully I have Schmambs, who is blonde haired and blue eyed, to help keep me in touch with my Asian roots.  She even has a bamboo steamer!  Not able to commit to any real theme to dinner, we had a little bit of everything.  Having had it at dim sum last, sticky rice was on top of the list.  Wrapped in bamboo leaves, the nice salty treat can be enjoyed 'as is' or, as I enjoyed it as a child, dipped in sugar.  That method, however, is intended more for sticky rice that is meant to be eaten as a desert rather than the salty version intended as the meal.

The kido had requested dumplings, so Schmambs cooked up some chicken and shrimp dumplings.  The variety was good since this chick doesn't eat seafood.  As a child, my mother taught me how to mix a dipping sauce, so everytime we have dumplings or shumai, I am the designated sauce mixer.  The sauce consists of soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.  The ratios are up to the eater.  I prefer more sesame oil since I like the flavor and I think it helps to balance out some of the salt in the soy sauce.

And as the vegetable of the evening, we have what we think is Chinese broccoli.  We had eaten it at dim sum and Schmambs had seen it at the Asian market and thought she would be adventurous and try cooking it at home.  It ended up being quite delicious and dare I say, the star of the meal?  Schmambs boiled it for a bit while I played sauce mixer with some oyster sauce, soy sauce, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.  The oyster sauce was too thick and blobby to use by itself, but when we added soy sauce, the salt content almost had us choking.  So to even it out, the rice vinegar and sesame oil were added to bring more flavor as well as more liquid without increasing the salt content even more.  It turned out surprisingly tasty with even a little kick to it.

Dinner ended with chocolate and green tea mochi, but those weren't out long enough for pictures before we gobbled them up.

French Dip Sammies

In middle school, I read a book by Julie Reece Deaver where the main character was having lunch with her aunt and they were eating French Dip Sandwiches.  I always wondered what was in a French Dip Sandwich.  Fast forward 15 years.  Schmambs is in my life and she loves to cook for her family.  Lucky for me, I fall under that category.  And lo and behold, she makes French Dip Sandwiches.  Imagine that.


The other week, she decided she was going to make them.  Never one to turn down a homecooked meal, I happily accepted her invitation.  When I arrived, the rump roast had been in the slow cooker all day and she was getting ready to start putting everything together.  First step is to cut the rolls horizontally and top with cheese.  Schmambs layers the cheese on quite generously.  Then she throws everything in the oven for a few minutes to get the cheese all melty and gooey.

While the bread and cheese were doing their thing in the oven, Schmambs removed the rump roast from the slow cooker, leaving behind the salty, but delicious au jus.  Schmambs sliced the rump roast and since I didn't have anything better to do than to play with our food, I stirred the au jus around.  If you look closely, the au jus is swirling counter clockwise.  I asked Schmambs, "Do you think the au jus swirls in the opposite direction in Australia?"  She just rolled her eyes and continued slicing.

Once everything is all said and done with, the meat is heaped upon the melty cheese on the toasted bread and served with a side of au jus for dipping.  There is something about exceeding my recommended daily sodium intake with a meal so delicious that always has me going back for more!  

Double Decker Tacos

Schmambs needed ideas on what to make for dinner.  "Tacos!" I said.  She said she needed something that hubby could take to work and eat for lunch.  "Taco Bake!"  My mind had one track, and that track was tacos.  I was struck by the craving the other night when trying to figure out what to eat.  Instead of fulfilling the craving, I opted to go somewhere that had a drive-thru.  Lame for settling, I know.  I think Schmambs got the message because she suggested double decker tacos and asked if I wanted to go over for dinner.  I figured if she was planning on making tacos, then it was an invitation I couldn't refuse.

Tacos are pretty easy.  Most pre-packed/pre-mixed taco seasoning packets have directions on how to make the taco meat.  Use one packet of seasoning per pound of meat.  We used ground beef, although you can always substitute ground turkey or ground chicken.  The first step is to brown the beef.

    

The next step is to drain the oil from the beef.  In the midst of chit chatting, entertaining a six year old, and trying to get everything prepared and ready for dinner, we forgot to drain the beef before adding the other ingredients.  Oops.  So we added Ortega Taco Seasoning and 3/4 Cup of water for each packet of taco seasoning (we used two packets) to the meat.  But it wasn't that bad!  See!

    

Now that the meat was taken care of, it was time to prepare the shells.  The best shells, in my opinion, for the double decker taco is Old El Paso Stand 'n Stuff Taco Shells because it gives you more shell to wrap the tortilla around.  Plus it stands.  Enough said.

               

Obviously in order to have the tortilla stick to the crunchy taco shell, it needs an adhesive.  In this case, it's beans and cheese.  Schmambs choose to use Ortega Refried Beans.  I'd show you a picture of the actual beans, but it kind of looks like mush and I want to make you hungry, not lose your appetite, so I've included a picture of the can.  Look at how pretty the beans look in the picture on the can!  Once the beans have been heated up and spread evenly over the flour tortilla, Schmambs sprinkled some cheese over the beans to provide an extra layer of adhesive.  Pop it in the oven for a few minutes until the cheese is melty.  Then you stick the crunchy taco shell in the middle of it all to make the double decker.  And since the Old El Paso Stand 'n Stuff Taco Shells have more shell to them, there's more room for the yummu fillings that make a taco a taco.

    

Schmambs had chopped up some lettuce before I arrived.  She used romaine which give it a nice crunch (aside from the crunchy taco shell).  She had also diced up some tomatoes which is one of my favorite parts of the taco!  So much so, that Schmambs' hubby caught me methodically adding tomatoes to strategic areas of my taco so that I could get a piece in every bite.  To top everything off, there was sour cream.  

    

Usually Schmambs would have guacamole kicked up a notch with Tabasco brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce, however, the avocados weren't ripe and she was fresh out of Chipotle Pepper sauce.  Didn't matter since everything was absolutely delish.  Unfortunately, because of the beans and the cheese and the tortillas being slightly bigger than the crunchy taco shells, I had to assist in keeping the final product together to get the final picture.

Bacon Chipotle Cheese Burgers

"I was thinking of making BLT's for dinner.  Interested?"  This was not the text message I wanted to receive from Schmambs on a day where I already had dinner plans.  It was hard turning down bacon.  Even harder to turn down Schmambs since we hadn't seen each other in a couple of days, which is somewhat unsual.  Not to be knocked down, she waited a couple hours before sending another text.  "Bacon Chipotle Cheese Burgers tomorrow night.  You in?"  Oh SNAP.  This woman knows how to play dirty.  She knows my weakness, which is nice for my tummy, but not so much my arteries!  How can you turn down not only BACON but CHIPOTLE CHEESE as well?  You don't.  It's just unheard of.  

I missed the preparation segment, but I got there just in time for the "it's almost cooked and ready to eat" part.  So while I don't have any recipes to share with you today (I'm almost sure Schmambs plans on taking the recipe to the grave), I do have some delicious Bacon Chipotle Cheese Burger pics for you to feast your eyes on.

The adults got nice big juicy burgers and the kido got the mini burger (on the bottom left).  Can you just smell the beefy oniony melty cheesiness?  The house smelled like these burgers for the next few hours.  It was wonderful.

The plate of bacon that we used to top the burgers.  (I couldn't resist taking a picture of it in all its glory.)  If you can believe it, all the strips were present and accounted for when the burgers hit the table.  Willpower is a tough thing.

Schmambs made all the veggies look so pretty.  I wonder if she believes that if it looks good, she'll get us to eat our daily serving of vegetables.  I don't need pretty bribes.  I love my roughage and tomatoes!  In hindsight, I am regretful that I didn't put more tomatoes on my burger.  Next time.

My burger before I closed it up and sunk my chompers into it.  Beef patty topped with Cabot Chipotle Cheddar Cheese, a strip of bacon (I had to leave some for the others!), ketchup, lettuce, and tomato.  Mouth, be prepared to party.

Buffalo Chicken Eggrolls

I realized the other day that it's been a while since I've posted.  With Schmambs having made the transition from Stay-At-Home Mom back into the working world and transitions at my job, there haven't been as many opportunities for home cooked meals.  It took a nudge from my friend (and fellow foodie) Nicole at High Heel Photography to remind me that I have readers out there who miss their fix of delicious goodies.  So I'm back and hopefully going to be posting on a more regular basis.  At some point I'm going to have to learn to cook myself, right?  Schmambs can't feed me forever!

If you remember, Schmambs and I came up with the brilliant idea of Thanksgiving Eggrolls last year.  I dubbed them "Schmanksgiving Eggrolls" and they were filled with chicken (yes, we cheated a little because we didn't have turkey on hand) and stuffing and mashed potatoes and celery and topped with cranberry sauce.  Ohmygoodness, I'm drooling just remembering them.  Well, since that was such a success, we thought it would be fun to stuff those crispy wrappers with some other yummu filling.  It was still football season, so Sunday's were still Buffalo Chicken Wings day's.  It was decided unanimously.  We were going to make Buffalo Chicken Eggrolls.

When I arrived that Sunday, Schmambs already had all the ingredients mixed together in a bowl.  We had decided on chicken (obviously), hot sauce, celery, and shredded Mozzarella.  Now, I know Buffalo Wings are usually eaten with Bleu Cheese, but in an effort to ensure that everyone would eat and enjoy (namely me, the picky eater) the eggrolls, Mozzarella it was.  Plus, it was being used as more of a bonding agent.  There would be Bleu Cheese Dressing (or Ranch for the picky eaters) for dipping.

Making the filling is the easy part.  Then comes the tedious task of making each eggroll individually while frying and making sure they don't overcook and (and quite possibly burn the house down).  Good thing we had four hands between the two of us.  Schmambs and I rolled together for a while until it got down to the last few and she started the frying process.  

We ended up with a good amount of eggrolls.  I think more than we expected/could handle in one sitting.  We knew we would probably end up snacking on cold eggrolls later that night.  Afterall, we are only three adults and a six year old.  Eggrolls don't look like they'd be filling, but after about 2 1/2 - 3 eggrolls each, we were suffering a bit of a bellyache.  Good thing we were all smart and were wearing our elastic waistband pants!