PUMPKIN SHEPHERD’S PIE

This is a perfect holiday recipe for fall or even thanksgiving! Puts a perfect twist on your original shepherd’s pie and a little sweet with your salty. Fun to make and also looks super fancy!

Ingredients:

• Medium-Large size pumpkin
• ⅓ of a pound of ground beef
• 1 tablespoon of finely chopped onions
• 1 bag of peas and carrots
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 3 large potatoes
• Salt and Pepper

-Start by cutting your pumpkin about ⅓ from the top and scoop out as much seed and guts as u can. Next coat the inside of the pumpkin lightly with butter.

-In a separate dish mash up the potatoes and add salt, pepper, and/or butter, to your liking.

-Next is to sear the ground beef until browned with the onion in a sauce pan.

To put it all together layer your pieces together in any order you choose, potatoes, beef, and vegetables.

-Lastly, coat the top with butter and place the pumpkin in a pan large enough to hold the pumpkin but also fit in your oven, set to 350° place the pumpkin inside without the top for 45 minutes. Then recap the pumpkin and put back in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes checking carefully to make sure the bottom of the pumpkin holds.

–(“Shepherd’s Pie in a Pumpkin – COOKING.” A Crafts Community For Craft Ideas & DIY Projects – Craftster.org, 2 Nov. 2008, www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=276789.0.)

SOFT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

The perfect chocolate chips cookies. Passed in my family and perfected by my mom and I. These cookies will fall apart in your mouth and be the best tasting cookies you’ll ever have. Definitely worth the make!

Ingredients:

Wet

• 2 softened sticks of unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice
• ¾ (packed) brown sugar

Dry

• ¾ granulated sugar
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon (add more if wanted)
• 2 ¼ all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• ½ cup of quaker oats

Extras

• 3 cups chocolate chips of your choice
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts if you are a nut fan.

-Start by mixing all your dry ingredients in a bowl and place on the side. In my method I use a ‘magic bullet’ to finely grind up the oats, after measuring to ½. Next either in a food processor or a bowl (you will need an eggbeater), and mix all your wet ingredients.

-Slowly add in about ½ cup of the dry mix or more at a time until the mix is all together. Take all the cookie dough out of the food processor, if that is what you’re using, and scoop into a bowl where you’ll add your chocolate chips and/or nuts.

-On non-stick cookie sheets, spread your cookies evenly with about 2 tablespoons of dough for an average size cookie or more for a bigger size.

-Oven should be set to 350  degrees and about 7-7.5 minutes per sheet, checking for browning around the edge, if this occurs they are likely done.

–(Durante Family Recipe)