Cottage pie and snowpocalypse!

We had a pretty wicked snow storm here on the East Coast this weekend. We got a total of 18" of snow when all was said and done. I took my munchie outside for his very first romp in the snow. He was more interested in eating it than playing with it, but he did quite enjoy the snow and was not a happy camper when I took him out to warm up.

A little picture of fun:

So with this giant mound of snow comes cold weather and nothing is better in cold weather than comfort food. In a New England winter comfort food needs to be hearty and delicious. My husband loves a good cottage pie. (Shepherd's pie if you add lamb). This one turned out really tasty this time and had the perfect amount of broth to it.

Cottage pie:

1/2 lb of ground beef
1 can of cream style corn
1/2 jar of Heinz beef gravy bistro au jus
2 tbsp of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp of liquid smoke
1 tbsp of garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Mashed potatoes to top

Add the beef to a large frying pan to brown. Add garlic powder, liquid smoke, salt and pepper and Worcestershire sauce and cook until there is no pink. Add the can of creamed corn and the gravy. Cook for one minute stirring occasionally. Add to a 3 quart casserole dish and top with mashed potatoes. If you like you can sprinkle with Italian breadcrumbs. Bake in the oven at 350* for 30 minutes just until the potatoes are browned up a tad.

For our garlic bread I used a kaiser roll cut in half which I spread with butter and sprinkled parsley and garlic powder on. I popped these in the oven for 10 minutes.

Simple easy dinner for a busy night that packs in the heartiness and taste my husband requires to get him through the day.

Munchie's first ambulance ride and a broken momma.

I am on a roll of not updating often again. Only this time I have a really good excuse: It is hard to type a bunch of words with one hand. Don't get me wrong I can do it, and I am fast but not enough so that I could update this.

A couple of weeks ago I took our dog Oskar out to the bathroom. When he was done I went to shut our door and my hand slipped off the center wood piece and went straight through the window. The place we rent was built in 1913 and our front door sticks really bad and is hard to shut. To my knowledge it is the original door. So super thin glass.

As you can imagine my first reaction was "Oh F*CK!" Literally, first words out of my mouth. Proceeded by a recurring line of oh shits. I immediately applied pressure regardless of the potential for glass being in and ran inside to call 911. Luckily munchie was in his room so I didn't have to worry about him getting glass on him.

Since we live just down the road from the rescue garage it was literally two minutes after my call that the paramedics accompanied by local police showed up at our door. Within seconds I was surrounded by seven people asking me if I was okay, if there were anyone else in the house, how I cut my arm, if I had hurt myself, if someone had hurt me. After the questions they took a peek and of course sent me straight to the hospital, also just down the road so I could get some stitches.

So munchie got to take his very first ambulance ride. He was in awe of the flashing lights and siren and the little bear they gave him for taking a ride. He was his normal calm self and when we got to the hospital he was flirting with all the nurses like usual. I had to call some friends to pull my hubby from work so he would know what was going on.

I wish I had a picture of what the wound looked like, it was gnarly but that was not on my mind at the time. In all I cut deep enough that bone and tendon were exposed. I had several bleeders that wouldn't stop and some tendon damage. When all was said and done I ended up with about two dozen stitches. Ten on top to gather the skin and the rest underneath.

I have lost a bit of range of motion and though I got my stitches out, they added some liquid stitches and steri-strips to hold it together for a few more days as the one part wasn't quite healed up enough. I will have to do some physical therapy and as of right now it is hard to tell just how much I will regain the use of my wrist. The good thing is I didn't hit the vein and aside from the gnarly scar I am going to have it is not as bad as it could have been.

So here is to a little more gap in my updates until I am fully healed and can function. Because you better believe I hired a housekeeper to do the cleaning since I can't do anything and the husband has been in charge of dinners. :-D I am kind of liking this "vacation."

Zuppa remix

Many years ago when I was a kid I remember going to Olive Garden for the very first time. It was delicious. Their Zuppa Toscana soup has been my favorite thing ever since. My dad loved it so much that he asked for the recipe. The local branch brought their chef out and he handed him a little piece of paper with the ingredients he was allowed to release. So here it is straight from the chef, except I added a few things this last time.

Zuppa Toscana soup:

2 3/4 cup chicken broth
1 medium russet potato
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cup chopped kale
1 pound Italian sausage

Things I added:

1 leek (only the white part, diced)
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
2 tablespoons of butter
salt and pepper to taste

Combine the stock and cream in saucepan over medium heat. Slice the unpeeled potato into 1/4 inch slices then quarter and add to soup. Add the kale. Grill or saute the sausage in another pot. When cooked and cooled add to soup. Add spices and leek along with butter and let the soup simmer for 1 hour; stirring occasionally.