Let's Talk About Shepherd's Pie!

(Shepherds Pie/Cottage Pie Recipe by InternationalChef)

      I know what you''re thinking...You're thinking: "Wug, why are you talking about Shepherd's Pie when most people in your area are eating turkey today?!" ^_^
      Well, I'll tell ya!...The reason is because my husband made the best Shepherd's Pie ever last night!...Sooooo good!!...{Plus the fact that I don't celebrate Thanksgiving! Therefore, I'm not eating the traditional meal that everyone else is eating today...turkey...I'm one of Jehovah's Witnesses. (If you wanna know more about why we don't celebrate it, just email me and I'll talk to you about it.)}
       Hubby's recipe was not his own though. He made Rachel Ray's Southern Shepherd's Pie, with sweet potatoes instead of regular potatoes!! :-) ...
      

(Sweet Potato Flavor Oil by SaharasSupplies)

 

      If you've eaten Shepherd's Pie before, you know that it usually is made with lamb or ground beef, and has potatoes, onions, carrots, and sometimes corn and peas.
      But Rachel's recipe has other stuff!! :-) Besides being made with a combination of ground pork and beef, it also has cider vinegar, brown sugar, a banana, heavy cream, nutmeg, and flat-leaf parsley!
      And those still aren't the ingredients that gave hubby a mental struggle yesterday, trying to do this recipe justice! ^_^ The recipe also has parsnips!...

(Parsnip Seeds by seedslt)

 

      Now, I think I've told you all before about my husband's coordination challenges when it comes to cutting up stuff! Imagine him trying to cut up parsnips that look like carrots, but aren't gonna be shredded with a potato peeler, but rather, cut up with a knife!...into thin chunks!! O_O
      The green peas were no problem. They were frozen!! LOL...Open box...dump in bowl! ^_^

(Meteor Pea Seeds by thegardenstudio)

 

      But then there was the swiss chard!...*shaking my head*...Oh, the questions I got!!! ^_^ ...
 

(Swiss Chard Seeds by seedslt)

 

      But...he did it! He cut that Swiss chard up perfectly! ^_^

      After a little arranging of sweet potato mixture up on top, and popping it in the oven, out popped the most delicious shepherd's pie ever!! ^_^
      I did forget to tell you about the hilarious incident with the zesting of one orange though! ^_^ Let me just say that some things need a visual!...and I'm thankful his zesting of an unwashed dirty-peeled orange didn't have a visual!! LOL YUCK!!...But typical of my husband, he didn't waste time trying to scrub down to a perfectly clean orange peel...which he couldn't do anyway, because he had a thin-skinned, not correct to use to zest, kinda orange anyway!! LOL {If you need some instructions on zesting an orange, here's some help --> HERE! ^_^}
      He went back to the store and bought thicker, more dimply skinned, oranges...came home and washed them!! ^_^ THEN he zested one like a big old chef...boy-AR-dee!!! LOL In the end...YUM!!!...I just had a tiny bit for breakfast too! ^_^ Who needs turkey?!! LOL
       Have a good day, Everybody! :-)

Struggle To Raise Your Head

Now, who am I to say
the way that others ought to live;
But my pep talk, to help you through,
I'm  motivated, now, to give.

The struggles of this system
are an alert-to raise your head;
To put one foot before the other,
and not lay down like you are dead.

Many things are just not fair.
They seem to happen just to you;
But is crying and complaining
all that you can find to do?

Use the logic of your mom-
who made you finish every drop,
and think of others who were hungry
for the food you left for slop.

In other words, just say
to yourself-when feeling bad:
"Look at all the other struggles
that the ones I love have had."

It doesn't  make it go away.
It doesn't  make your trials less real;
But it may make you raise your head,
and how you think,-and how you feel!