Well, it's been a while

Hi, my name is Nia and I've neglected my blog.....

Life has been utter chaos. Between epic trips, multiple weddings, moving and life in general, I have neglected my poor blog. Hopefully with our move and things settling down for the first time this year (how wild that the holidays would bring peace instead of chaos!) I can keep up with this thing a lot better!!

Tuesday night's dinner

Tuesday night I tried something completely new. I took some left over mashed sweet potatoes and made pot pies. They were quite yummy :) I'm going to include the basic recipe at the end of this post....again, my amounts for ingredients are eyeballed, not measured, so don’t take them as gospel!

I was surprised how easy it was, even if it was a bit time consuming. I think if you used left over mashed potatoes (like I did), pre-made gravy and pre-made biscuit tops, the time will be reduced by quite a bit. I have wanted to try to make potpies for a while, but the majority of the recipes I have found use canned soup of the "creamed of *insert type here*" variety, with the key word there being "cream." I'm lactose intolerant; I avoid milk and most dairy if possible. I've learned what I can and cannot handle, and cream is on the "never eat again as long as you live" list. As I read more and more recipes, I started to get and idea of what a potpie is. A creamy, veggie and meat (or not) filling, with a crust on top. Why not take the mashed potatoes for the creamy aspect and add gravy for the savory? Seemed like a good idea...and it tasted like one too!

Please be patient with me while I get on a writing schedule for this. Enjoy the recipe, and if you have anything you want to add to it post it! If you have any questions about my recipe please drop me a line!

Eat Happy!

Recipe:

Sweet Potato Potpie (serving: 4-6 people)

• 2-3 cups mashed potatoes
• ½ cups carrots, diced
• ½ cups celery, diced
• ¼ cups corn (canned or frozen)
• 1lbs ground meat (ground turkey, beef, diced mushrooms, seiten…we used ground turkey)
• Any other veggies you want to add
• Gravy (2-3 cans? I made my own from my Cooking Light cook book)
  
• Puff pastry (I used a recipe for Quick Buttermilk Biscuits)
  

~Preheat the oven to 400 degrees

~Sauté the veggies in a pan until tender. Pour the veggies into a large bowl

~Cook the meat until done. Add to the bowl with the veggies

~Add the mashed potatoes, stir until combined

~Add gravy until wet (this is my addition, I haven’t tried this part yet…I added gravy on top the first time)

~Fill the crocks

~Cut the puff pastry larger than the crocks, so that it’ll drape over the crock; this way if it shrinks in the oven it won’t shrink too much

~Bake 15-20 minutes, depending on the size of your crock. If it’s larger, add more time. Check until it is bubbling (you can carefully lift the tops to check); if the tops are getting too brown, you can put them on a lower rack and cover the top with tin foil

Aesthetics:
~If you want brush the pastry with a beaten egg; it’ll give the top a golden brown

~Cut slats in the pastry; they’ll look cute when the pastry bakes