Urban Kitchen

Today was an active day in the Urban kitchen! The Seago family from our church recently welcomed a new baby girl into their family! I italicized the word girl, because the ultrasound technician had told them that they were having a boy!

The Seago family lives in the next town over, about 15 minutes away, so I decided to deliver them dinner. All of the children have a severe soy allergy, so I had to get creative in the kitchen.  I realized that just about everything has soy in it! It's truly amazing. I decided to make a beef stew in my crock pot for the family of six.  I had to go to the health food store to buy a special broth for the stew that was made without soy.  I also decided to bake the kids some soy-free sugar cookies using a mix from Cherrybrook Kitchen, whose products I'm a huge fan of.

I also attempted to make a shepherd's pie for our family tonight.  Believe it or not, I had never made Shepherd's pie before! It involved several steps, but it wasn't too hard, and it ended up coming out really well!  

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 lbs ground round beef

1 onion chopped

2 cups vegetables - chopped carrots, corn, peas

2 lbs potatoes (3 big ones)

8 tablespoons butter (1 stick)

1/2 cup beef broth

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

INSTRUCTIONS

Peel and quarter potatoes, boil in salted water until tender (about 20 minutes). 

While the potatoes are cooking, melt 4 Tablespoons butter (1/2 a stick) in large frying pan. 

Sauté onions in butter until tender over medium heat (10 mins). If you are adding vegetables, add them according to cooking time. Put any carrots in with the onions. Add corn or peas either at the end of the cooking of the onions, or after the meat has initially cooked. 

Add ground beef and sauté until no longer pink. Add salt and pepper. Add worcesterchire sauce. Add half a cup of beef broth and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 10 minutes, adding more beef broth as necessary to keep moist. 

Mash potatoes in bowl with remainder of butter, season to taste. 
 Place beef and onions in baking dish. Distribute mashed potatoes on top. Rough up with a fork so that there are peaks that will brown nicely. You can use the fork to make some designs in the potatoes as well. 

Cook in 400 degree oven until bubbling and brown (about 30 minutes).  Broil for the last 10 minutes to brown the top.

Note: Do NOT broil if you're using glass bakeware such as Pyrex. Glass is not meant to be broiled, and it can crack if you try!  

I'm a big fan of Le Creuset.