Every year, my mom makes a birthday dinner for each one of us. This year, I requested something different. Something from my childhood. Comfort food. Except my mom couldn’t remember how to make it, even though it was a regular meal at our house while I was growing up: Potato Pie with Hamburg Gravy.

Please note: this is NOT Shepherd’s Pie. Whenever we tried to Google or Pinterest a recipe, we always came up with Shepherd’s Pie. NO. The dish is similar but not the same thing.

My sister had modified the recipe for her family, although she hadn’t made it in years, so Mom further modified her version for my birthday dinner.

There are three key components:

• baking powder biscuits
• mashed potatoes
• gravy with onion and ground beef.

The way I remember the dish is with the biscuit crust, filled with mashed potatoes, then baked. When the pie was done, one ladled the gravy over it.

We ended up breaking open a biscuit on our plate, topping it with mashed potatoes, then with the gravy. It was so good. My daughter asked for the recipe a few weeks ago.

If anyone knows or remembers how to make the pie–is it only a bottom crust or both? How long do you bake it? –please reach out to me. This is an entree that shouldn’t get lost.

This meal started with this recipe for Mexican Slaw. A friend had made it on retreat and I loved it. I had made it for something–I can’t remember what now, but there were leftovers, so I decided to invent something to go with it.

Over the years, I have read and tried many recipes for “Mexican Lasagna.” I’ve even liked some. But on this night, I had to work with what I had on hand.

• Chicken  (a pound or so)
• 1 14-15 oz can corn, drained
• 1 14-15 oz can diced tomatoes with chili seasoning
• 1  14-15 oz can seasoned chili beans, drained BUT NOT RINSED
• 1 envelope taco seasoning
• 2 8″tortillas
• 8 oz shredded Mexican Cheese blend

The first thing I did was preheat my oven to 350F.

Then I sprinkled the chicken with about a tablespoon and a half of the taco seasoning and cooked it in a frying pan.

While the chicken cooked, I drained the can of corn. I mixed the corn with the can of chili-seasoned diced tomatoes (something my supermarket sells). Then I drained the can chili-seasoned beans–I think they’re pinto beans with chili seasoning. The key here is to drain BUT DO NOT RINSE. I almost always rinse canned beans, but not in this case. I added the beans to the corn and tomatoes, then added the rest of the taco seasoning packet.

Once the chicken was done, I shredded it with two forks and added it to the vegetable mixture.

I sprayed a square glass baking dish with cooking spray, then laid in an 8″ toritilla.

I topped the tortilla with half the veggie-chicken mixture, then covered with half of the shredded cheese, then repeated the process.

Bake in the 350F oven for thirty minutes or until heated through and the cheese has melted. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes, then cut into 9 squares (I have a large pizza cutter I use for this).

Serve with the slaw.

I have an unusual way of dealing with leftovers.

I turn them into tacos. Wraps. Quesadillas.  Actually I’m not sure what to call them, but my husband is always amazed at what a good idea these concoctions are.

I take a tortilla. I spoon the leftovers onto the tortilla, sprinkle with an appropriate cheese, then microwave for a minutes. Roll it all up and voila!

Example 1: my extended family served meatballs over the holidays, with plenty of leftovers for everyone to take home. We ate traditional meatball subs one night. Then I ran out of rolls. So I halved the meatballs and plopped them on a tortilla:

Then I smothered them with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Voila! Meatball quesadillas.

Example 2: With only two of us at home these days, I usually have leftover chili. So one night, I did the tortilla thing, but used shredded Mexican cheese (Mexican cheese is what my local supermarket changes calls a four-cheese blend of cheddar, Monterrey Jack, asadero, and quesadilla cheese–that’s what the package says.)

If I’m feeling particularly domestic, I’ll cook these in a cast iron frying pan to make them more quesadilla-like. My husband likes them just fine heated in the microwave. And there is no extra cookware to clean.

Various kinds of shredded cheese and a package of tortillas are “pantry” staples at my house. Cheese freezes beautifully.  Leftovers don’t get boring if you switch up how they’re served.

 

 

No recipe this month, but rather, an observation about food.

My local supermarket has a program where they’ll shop for you and deliver to your house. My main concern with concept has always been produce. I like to pick out my own.

I like fruits and most vegetables. However, I find vegetables a pain in the butt to cook. And fancying them all up with sauces and cheese and whatever tends to render the healthy aspect of eating them pointless.

But my biggest issue with produce is it’s propensity to go bad.

I food shop once a week. Maybe if I shopped daily, spoilage wouldn’t be an issue. When the children were small, my weekly menu was pretty much set in stone, with only a little room for deviation. Rotting food wasn’t a problem. Now that there are only the two of us living here and our lives are more flexible, me cooking a weeknight meal with the two of us sitting down together is a rare occurrence. So even though I know we should eat more fresh vegetables, I hesitate because I so often have to throw them away before I get an opportunity to cook them.

Yes, I know “they” are doing amazing things with frozen veggies these days, and yes, they are convenient. But some veggies simple don’t freeze well, no matter how amazing they are treated. Winter squashes come to mind. Greens are another.

I’m lucky. My supermarket sells fresh veggies that have been prepped: precut butternut squash, shredded Brussels spouts, chopped Asian “salad” (which is wonderful stir-fried). Doing the prep makes incorporating fresh vegetables into our diet easier.

Now if there was some way they’d stay fresh in the refrigerator.