Tuesday Night Dinner

[I looked up a recipe I could use left over mashed potatoes and gravy, green peas, and carrots. This one did it! Most of what went in this was taken from a previous meal and the carrots and cream cheese in the cake needed to be used from the fridge, too! ]

Shepherd’s Pie

½ recipe for Mashed Potatoes, p. 412 (I just used left over mashed potatoes from a previous night’s dinner and added some I made from instant potatoes)
2 cups cut-up, cooked roast beef, lamb, veal, or pork (I used a blend of cooked ground turkey meat and lean ground beef)
1 T. flour
2 T. fat or salad oil
Leftover gravy
6 small onions, cooked, drained (I sautéed three medium onions)
1 cup cooked, quartered carrots (I used sliced, steamed carrots)
1 cup of cooked or canned peas, drained
1 egg, beaten

Grease 1 ½ quart casserole. Prepare mashed potatoes. Start heating oven to 425 degrees F.
In bowl, lightly roll meat in flour until coated. In hot fat, in skillet, brown meat lightly on all sides. Add 2 ½ cups leftover gravy (or as much gravy as you have on hand, adding enough hot water to make 2 ½ cups in all; season to taste; thicken if necessary). Add onions, carrots, peas. Heat; then pour into casserole.

Fold egg into potatoes; arrange in ring on top of meat. Bake until gravy bubbles and potato rings I slight golden brown ---- about 10 to 15 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Pg. 255 from: The Good Housekeeping Cookbook

First recipe I made from this book since Mom gave it to me yesterday. It was her first (and only for awhile) cookbook. She used recipes from it to make pies and sell them to a local restaurant.

14-Carat Cake

This flavorful cake keeps 2 to 3 weeks in refrigerator if covered

2 c. sifted flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 ½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 c. sugar
1 ½ c. salad oil
4 eggs
2 c. finely grated raw carrots
1 (8 ½ oz.) can crushed pineapple, drained
½ c. chopped nuts
1 (3 ½ oz.) can flaked coconut (optional)
Cream Cheese frosting

· Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add sugar, salad oil and eggs; mix well. Add carrots, pineapple, nuts and coconut; blend thoroughly.
· Pour into three 9” round layer cake pans that have been greased and floured.
· Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven, cool a few minutes in pans. Turn out on racks and cool thoroughly. Fill layers and frost top and sides of cake with cream cheese frosting.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING: Combine ½ c. butter or margarine, 1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese and 1 tsp. vanilla; cream well. Gradually add 1 lb. confectioners sugar (sifted if too lumpy), beating well. If mixture is too thick to spread, add a small amount of milk.

Pg. 380 of: Farm Journal’s Country Cookbook