Pudding, Muffins and Errands

UPDATE ~ You might remember me saying that I had about 2 cups of leftover mashed potatoes and had thawed out some lean ground beef .... well, when I got home today I didn't bother going online to get any ideas.

Before I even read my comments and noted that Michele of *Cherish the Home* had the same idea, I made my own version of Shepherd's Pie, but baked it in the microwave!

In a bowel, I added a few drops of water to the cold mashed potatoes and microwaved them for a few minutes until they were hot and then I sort of re-mashed them.

While they were heating up, I fried the ground beef [NO oil added] along with 1 diced onion until browned and then sprinkled a bit of my Low-Sodium Taco powder mix across the meat, mixing well.

This is where I began to improvise ~ I then added a few generous squirts of ketchup, a bit of water, some black pepper, a few too many [less next time!] squirts of Worcestershire sauce and mixed together well. [this would all be done to taste and until it was the texture that you wanted]

I reheated the potatoes once again while I poured the meat mixture on the bottom of a pie plate. On top of that I spread the mashed potatoes [more would have been better!] and then sprinkled a mixture of grated mozzarella and cheddar cheeses over the top.

I put this into the microwave oven and cooked it until the cheeses on top had melted. We ate it along with dinner rolls, fresh yellow and green beans and had the tapioca pudding for dessert.

The reason it wasn't my 1st thought with those 2 ingredients is because I don't really like traditional Shepherd's Pie ... but the way I did this one, we all enjoyed it ~ it's going to be a *keeper* :o)

*The PHOTO is obviously baked in the oven because it has that delicious CRISPY crust on top of the cheesy mashed potatoes and I'm going to try it this way when we get a chilly day!




Last evening it cooled down enough to bake something tasty to have on hand for all those times when it's far too hot and humid to contemplate doing much at all :o)

I began by making a batch of *from scratch* TAPIOCA PUDDING. Using a microwave recipe made it so much easier with less worry about anything burning!

While that was being cooked, I took out the mashed banana that I had put in the fridge a couple of days ago and added the sugar, then mixed it together thoroughly.

By the time I hand-mixed the BANANA-WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFINS [recipe at the bottom], the pudding was ready to take out of the microwave to sit for a spell, thickening.

Then, into the oven I popped the 17 medium-sized muffins [not sure why it came out an *odd number*] and tidied up everything else.

By then, they were ready and if I may say so, tasty ~ I ate one a little later as they were cooling on the counter. The pudding was also yummy because I just had to lick the spatula before I put it into the sink to be washed :o)

I always put the used dishes and utensils to soak in the sink in hot, sudsy water while I carry on with baking because it makes the cleaning up afterwards so much easier!

Today promises to be a scorcher and I have a few errands to do as well as visit an elderly friend in a nursing home and then right from there, drive some friends to their doctor's appointment.

I'm trying to keep supper simple tonight ~ I have some leftover mashed potatoes and have just taken out a package of lean ground beef so I'll be checking out COOKS.COM to see what kinds of recipes it will give me when I type in those 2 ingredients :o)




BANANA MUFFINS [This is actually a recipe for a loaf but I use it to make muffins all the time]

2 large or 3 small/medium, very ripe bananas
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup oil
2 cups white flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt

MASH bananas and sugar together.

MIX EVERYTHING together BY HAND. [I always add a handful of walnuts at the least, then sometimes white or dark chocolate chips OR a handful of blueberries OR whatever I think might be a good idea at the time]

BAKE at 350 degrees for about 1 hour for a loaf and it varies depending on the size of my muffins ~ I set the timer for 20 minutes and then check them for doneness and either remove them or leave a little longer as needed.

Needless to say, if you make about 8 jumbo muffins, they'll take longer to bake than 16 or so medium ones :o)

ENJOY!