Birthday Biscuit Shepherds Pie

Now if you're one of those people who need an exact recipe, you're poop-outta-luck on this one.

I started with the Betty Crocker biscuit recipe and an oven preheated to 450. And I started to change it because I didn't feel like measuring.

INGREDIENTS for the BISCUIT crust 

- About 1/2 cup unbleached white flour

- About 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

- About 3 tablespoons sourgum flour

- Almost 1/4 cup flax meal

 - About 1.5 tablespoons baking powder

- Not quite 1/3 cup lard (I got mine straight from a local butcher)

- A little more than 1/3 cup almond milk

- 1 big pinch salt

Combine. I didn't even use a spoon. I used my hand.

I sprinkled cornmeal into the bottom of a 11 x 7 Pyrex dish. Pressed the biscuit crust into it. Thin layer.

In my cast iron skillet, I browned some hamburger. Husband picked out some Chunky Steak and Potato Soup at Target  (on sale, plus employee discount, plus a Cartwheel, plus RedCard!) to use as a sauce. It is his birthday after all. I added the soup and some leftover tomato sauce.

Then veggies: a head of broccoli (chopped tiny), some frozen cauliflower and peas, about a cup of corn frozen from last summer (gotta use it up). 

When that started bubbling, I poured it on top of the crust. I layered sliced white potatoes from a can on top of that. Sprinkled paprika on top and lots of herbs from the garden (chives, basil and parsley).

Bake for 25 minutes. Uncovered.

Pre-birthday post

Tomorrow is my little girl's ninth birthday! In the space between this post and the previous, we went to Washington, D.C., for a networking event so I didn't really plan much. On the fly last night, my stepmom and I started planning a surprise barbeque tomorrow night (since my stepmom and I both work until 4). If you see the wee one, don't you dare tell her!

We have nearly no food in the house and the bank has somehow totally confused our checkbook. My stepmom said she's been craving her mom's macaroni salad and she has 100 hot dogs left over from a special event she hosted at the office. My daughter wants a watermelon for her birthday. With those elements available, it seemed obvious to have a barbecue.

I had some Bush's vegetarian baked beans in the cupboard and then we went to Wegmans for the watermelon and a cake. I picked a strawberry chiffon cake because it just sounded like the perfect summer cake for my summer baby.

I also got some vegetables to cook on the grill tomorrow: artichokes, red pepper, green pepper, potato, carrots and pineapple. I have it chopped and "marinating" in olive oil, four color pepper, garlic pepper and a touch of pineapple juice.

I spent $91 at wegmans but I think I got some great stuff:
- Wegmans honey apple oat bread, $2.79
- sour cream $1.09
- Chobani Flipz, 6 at $1.29 each
- Alexa multigrain onion rings, $3.19
- Alexa crinkle cut salt and pepper sweet potato fries, $3.19
-Wegmans spinach and feta pierogies, $1.99
- Wegmans steam in bag artichokes and asparagus, $3.99
- sweet peas, 99 cents
- frozen juice concentrate, $1.99 and $2.09, three total all 100% juice
- wegmans chunky pizza sauce, 3 at $1.19
- cool ranch doritos, $2.50
- tomato sauce, 16 ounce can, 3 at 55 cents
- tomato sauce, tiny can, 3 at 3/99 cents
- canned artichoke hearts (plain) $2.99
- mandarin oranges in pear juice, 2 small cans at 89 cents each
- canned crab meat, $2.39
- club pack of 2 baguettes, $4
- strawberry chiffon cake, $13
- 5 lbs idaho potatoes, $1.99
- kale, $2.49
- green pepper, 94 cents
- one pound organic baby carrots, $1.29
- red pepper, $1.96
-eggroll wrappers, $2.99
- broccoli slaw, $2.50
- 12 ounces of raspberries, $3.99
- 2 lbs strawberries, $3.99
- watermelon, $4.99 

Birthday

Breakfast: cake
Lunch: Wegmans classic escargot
Next stop: purple cow ice cream

My birthday dinner

For my birthday, I wanted pancakes. I chose Perkins for two reasons: 1. They have several flavors of syrup to liven up my soft food diet and 2. My husband and I hung out at Perkins a lot when we were dating in college. Not much else was open in the middle of the night.

I ordered a ham and bacon omelette, knowing they diced their ham tiny. The bacon was rather large and caused issues. Even though my extraction has healed nicely, I keep forgetting I have broken teeth yet and every time I try to chew I hit one of them. Argh!

The pancakes very much hit the spot and I washed it down with Cherry Coke. It was my birthday after all. Just having plates in front of me was sooooo emotionally soothing.

Tracy's Yellow Cake

My friend Tracy said yellow cake is her favorite. So, I tried to hook her up.

From:
http://bakingbites.com/2005/10/happy-birthday-to-me/

Yellow Sheet Cake

2 ½ cups cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 ½ cups sugar
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9×13 inch sheet pan with parchment paper, or lightly grease it with shortening or oil (butter will produce a harder “crust”).
Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add sugar and, using the paddle attachment, mix on low speed to blend. Cut butter into 4 or 5 chunks and drop into the bowl with the flour. Blend on low speed until mixture looks sandy and no large chunks of butter remain, 1-2 minutes.
In a large measuring cup, combine eggs, milk and vanilla. Beat lightly with a fork until combined. With the mixer on low, pour 1 cup of the egg mixture into the bowl. Turn speed up to medium and beat for 1 ½ minutes. Reduce speed back to low and pour in the rest of the egg mixture. Continue to beat at low speed for an additional 30 seconds, until liquid is fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and beat for a few more seconds, if necessary.
Pour into prepared 9×13 pan and spread batter evenly with a spatula. Tap gently a few times to eliminate any bubbles.
Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes, until a tooth pick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Let cool for 30 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack to cool completely. You can leave it in the pan if you’re serving it casually.
Serves 16 (or 12 birthday-sized pieces)

I really followed this one and made Betty Crocker's chocolate icing.

That I deviated from the recipe...
Chocolate Frosting (from Betty Crocker)
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
(I didn't have unsweetened so I used semisweet)
2 cups powdered sugar (I reduced to 1 and 1/3 cups because of the semisweet chocolate)
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons milk

Combine butter and chocolate until well mixed. Not when hot. Stir in sugar. Beat in milk and vanilla. Use enough milk to make desired consistency.

I also gave Tracy some Heath baking bits to sprinkle on top. Turns out Heath is her favorite candy.

The cake didn't cool before she had to leave so I sent her on her way, with the cake in the pan, icing in a separate container and the Heath bits.