Personal Shepherd's Pies

I'd made mini pot pies a while back (for St. Patrick's Day), but I hadn't tried them yet the low-carb way. This dish was one of the few ways my mom could get me to eat vegetables when I was a kid. Now that I'm older and FAR less picky an eater, I find myself making this dish on my own. On a chilly November night, I decided to make a few personal servings of Shepherd's pie, with some tweaks.

I switched out the ground beef for ground turkey, and instead of peas, I used carrots. I'm not a registered dietitian, but I'll take the carbs in some organic carrots over junk food any day. Plus, the carrots looked so bright and colorful in what can be a dreary-looking dish. I also added mushrooms to the mix to sneak in some more veggies.

I boiled some cauliflower for 8 minutes, then put it in my food processor along with some roasted garlic, salt, pepper, and a small knob of cream cheese. I used this as the topping instead of heavier mashed potatoes. Most of the time, when I sub roasted cauliflower instead of white potatoes, no one even notices! Much lower carb count, still delicious!

After 30 minutes in the oven (at 400), they were perfectly browned on the top, and delicious inside! I had some that night for dinner with a good friend, and will be enjoying the leftovers this week for lunch!

Mini Shepherd's Pies:

1 lb ground turkey

1/2 yellow onion, diced

1 cup mushrooms, chopped

3 large carrots, chopped

Worcestershire sauce

1 bag (16 oz) frozen cauliflower

Salt, pepper, roasted garlic cloves, or garlic powder

Sauté the carrots and onions until softened, set aside (I don't like burned onions!)-- Add ground turkey to pan, brown. Once it's almost browned through, add mushrooms. As turkey is almost cooked through, splash a tablespoon or two of Worcestershire sauce and blend. Add a dash of salt & pepper to the meat, set aside.

While browning turkey, boil the frozen cauliflower for about 8 minutes, until softened. Blend in food processor with salt, pepper, a clove or two of roasted garlic (or garlic powder), and an ounce of cream cheese.

To assemble pies: add 1/4 cup of turkey and mushrooms into a ramekin. Add layer of carrots & onions. Top with the pureéd cauliflower, and use a fork to make little peaks in the cauliflower.

Bake in 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until the tops are browned. Let ramekin cool 5 minutes, but still use caution when handling the dishes (pot holders are key). This dish gets even better the next day!

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Pumpkin Un-Cocoa

Tired of tea? Can't even consider another cup of cocoa? Or maybe you just want something a little different to warm you up in this cold weather? Here's an easy recipe that takes almost no time at all in the kitchen.

Gothamist featured this un-cocoa a while back-- originally from the Hungry Mouse blog (visit here!), and I made it recently. HOLY goodness. Try it. Takes all of 5 minutes to put together: milk, pumpkin purée, vanilla, spices, and the sweetener of your choice (I used Splenda, the original recipe calls for sugar).

In my world, whipped cream makes everything better (I also lightly sweetened this with a bit of Splenda) and topped with with a dash or two of freshly-shaved nutmeg. The Hungry Mouse author suggests spiced rum as well, but this is also delicious as is. Deeeelicious.

And kitty approved!

Original recipe here at The Hungry Mouse! Follow @Lkpnyc

Guest Post: Carpe Donut (VA)

Today's guest post comes from my lovely coworker, CJ. She's the one who first told me about Carpe Donut and their NYC cider donuts truck. She graciously volunteered to visit the VA outpost, near where her BF lives. She's a team player, that CJ!

Hi there, LKP's co-worker CJ here. As you read a few posts back, LKP and I had a delicious experience at the Carpe Donut truck in NYC. So when I next went to Charlottesville, VA, where Carpe Donut originated, I had to do a taste comparison.

My BF & I decided to get some cider donuts as our brunch before heading to a day of lunching & polo at King's Family Vineyard. We packed up a nice lunch for ourselves and set off to Carpe Donut. It was a small storefront, but easily fit the half-a-dozen customers looking for a yummy treat for breakfast.

We placed our order for a half-dozen and two iced ciders, then watched as the magic happened. We got to see our donuts roll off the line and fall into the cinnamon sugar deliciousness where the donut maker tossed them a bit more before putting them piping hot into the bag. He grabbed a jug of the homemade iced cider from the mini-fridge and poured what promised to be a delicious glass of cider.

Our plan was to eat them when we first arrived at the vineyard, but we certainly couldn't wait that long! So we shared one in the car (spilling a lot of cinnamon sugar in the process), but it was so worth it! As with the NY truck, the donuts were chewy and not dense like many other cider donuts. The cinnamon sugar is the perfect touch to create that apple cider taste.

Our iced ciders were cool, refreshing and delicious. We drank them down quickly as we made our way to the vineyard. Once at King Family Vineyard, we bought ourselves a bottle of Viognier and set up our table to enjoy more donuts. I found that the Viognier paired well with the cider donuts, it may be my new favorite brunch find!

Even after cooling down, the donuts were just as delicious. They had a well done quality that added to the taste instead of detracting from it and were still just as light & tasty as when freshly pulled from the sugar.

Polo, Anyone?

If you're in Charlottesville, I definitely recommend trying Carpe Donut and visiting King Family Vineyard for the polo game. And although we really had no idea what was happening in the polo match (all of my knowledge of polo comes from Pretty Woman), it was certainly fun to say we were there while sipping our wine & enjoying our cider donuts.

Carpe Donut

1715 Allied Street

Charlottesville, VA 22903

(434) 806-6202

http://carpedonut.org/ 

http://www.kingfamilyvineyards.com/ 

  Follow @Lkpnyc