Friday, May 20, 2011

Ground Beef Shepherd Pie

i really need to jot this somewhere, n pity i didnt take any pic on the dish before being eaten. it always feels good to cook it right the first time, n nobody gets stomachache from it!

what i initially googled was some recipes on mashed potato gravy, but ended up with a simple baked mashed potato with ground beef. bila google lagi dan lagi, baru la dapat nama yang betul:

GROUND BEEF SHEPHERD PIE.

ada la rupa skt mcm gambar sebenar, tapi bukan. googled.

you'll need:

mashed potatoes

7 medium size russet potatoes (roughly almost 1kg) - skinned and quartered
4 cloves garlic
1 cup cream
1 heaping tbsp butter (missed this one!)
sprinkle of mixed italian herbs
salt, as needed

ground beef base

500g beef, minced
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
coarse ground black pepper and salt to taste

some grated cheese and breadcrumbs for topping.

to do:

1. preheat oven at 150C. Boil the potatoes together with garlic (or can roast the garlic with some oil instead) and mash together with cream, butter, salt and herb. set aside.

2. Saute chopped onion and garlic until fragrant, then mix in ground beef. Simmer on low fire til they turn brownish. Season with salt and black pepper. Transfer beef into casserole, spread around the base.

3. Top with mashed potatoes, and sprinkle breadcrumbs and grated cheese.

4. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the cheese tips turned brown.

Siap! Baked this for the potluck cum housewarming cum baby shower, and since ada byk budak2, this dish ialah yg paling senang makan, mashers for tots, beef for mums and dads too :D

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

:D

hoho this is the looooongggggeeeesssst stretch of absence from this page for me heh. lama gila tak tulis, rasa sgt rusty. no excuses , i know, but yeah, like some ppl like to say that annoys the heck out of me , whatever...

n whaddaya know, i've arrived at the last laps y'all! just 8 wks left til we can finally get to see our lil' one. ok ok, so we do get to peep at whatever the baby's doing every month n sometimes in the middle of the night i'm awakened by the baby's movement, smiling in the dark and secretly wishing i can keep feeling it in my tums, but everyone is very hyped up n anxious for the grand arrival. n me, being super-paranoid, am obsessing on every false/true labour signs i came across in articles / pregnancy tracker apps. not to mention the almost daily Braxton Hicks. dr kata anak panjang, maka agak kurang space agaknya, tu yg asyik mengeliat selalu, perut pun asyik kerassss je. the last time we saw the bean he's had his tali pusat near his face, his hands near his face, AND one leg up his face. kesian anak mama. sempit ye sayang? tak lama lagi dah nak kuar pusing la sesuka hati ye.

i just had the baby stuff for hospital bag packed up. baby bag is one cutesy bakul rotan courtesy from my MIL, yeay! comel gila, but i'm thinking of a way to line the basket so kain baju semua tak tersangkut. now just lapik dgn tudung yg tak penah (n tak boleh sbb susah gilaaaa nk bentuk)pakai. mama bag tak siap lagi, kemudian la ye.

checklist for baby bag:

baju: 3 pairs button tshirts n pants, 2 rompers

booties and mitts 1 pair, 3 pairs NB socks

3 receiving blankets, 1 pc muslin swaddle

4pc lampin

1 towel

4 barut baby

1 pk baby wipes

huggies NB diapers 1pk 12 pc

baby sebamed liquid wash

baby cotton buds

yet to be filled with:

baby massage oil, minyak telon, bedak, nail clippers, plastic and reusable bags utk uri dgn baju kotor.


being me, who likes to reaaadd anything and everything, am planning to jump on the CD(clothdiaper) bandwagon, which is a hot topic online nowadays. this, with full support from my mak who's gonna take care of me n baby masa pantang nanti. but still i'll be using dispos during the first few days on my mom's advice, at least until the baby poo is no more tarry like, or meconium as they call it. mainly because the tarry meconium mak kata susah skt nk tanggal unless pakai liner, n we had the huggies dispos for free anyway so we might as well use it first.

will be posting on inputs regarding clothdiapering later, toodles!