Gamer Girls and Taters Precious!

So I am a geeky gamer girl.  Board, console, tabletop...I love them all.  Fortunately, so are a lot of our friends.  After about year of being totally immersed in the land of Borderlands 2, my husband picked up Diablo III for Xbox.  Welcome to our newest obsession.  I simply love the fact that I can play video games for hours with him, and we both love it.  In fact, it is one of our favorite ways to spend time together.

Yeah, I just admitted to being a couch potato.
I know...it'd be healthier if we went for a hike together.
If I'm going to do a load of walking, I'd rather it be on a beach during sunset with waves crashing at our feet.  Like on our favorite beach in the world:

*mental shake*

Back to planet Earth.

As any hardcore gamer knows, sometimes you just don't have hours to spend in the kitchen making dinner.  Hence, this blog.  My goal is to share recipes that are quick, easy, sometimes actually not bad for you, and that will cater more to the cook who isn't trying to be the next food star.  Just real food, made easy...and on a budget.  You see, that's one of my other great loves in life:  saving money.  I take being thrifty very seriously, and I am on a mission to keep my husband's and my grocery budget under $100 for a whole month.

When I was a little girl, my parents used to make something that we called Hamburger Casserole.  My husband refers to it as Shepherd's Pie, although it doesn't really give justice to what the actual Shepherd's Pie is.  I have no idea where this particular recipe originated from, but I can't take the credit for it.  I can only pass it on.

Grab a few potatoes and dice them up.  Place them in salted water to boil until tender.  I like to keep the skins on for my mashed potatoes for textural issues, but you certainly don't have to.  You can tell they are done when you can pierce them easily with a fork.

Just a little Cooking 101 from Smeagol.  Nothing to see here.  Let's move on.

Meanwhile, dice a small onion and add it to a half a pound of ground beef. 

Don't like chopping onions?  Grab a bottle of dried onions and pour some in a bowl.  Reconstitute them with a bit of water for about 5 minutes and use those instead.  

Brown your beef and drain it, then return it to the pan along with 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, a can of (drained) green beans and a can of tomato soup.  Again, feel free to doctor this with anything you wish.  Use a can of mixed vegetables, or several smaller cans of different veggies.  Use frozen or fresh veggies, but make sure you boil them to be tender before using them.  The most cost effective is usually store brand green beans, though I always pay a bit extra for the reduced sodium variety.

Mix that all together and then transfer it to an 8x8 baking dish.  You don't have to spray it with nonstick spray, but I do simply because it's easier to clean later.   You're welcome.   ;-)

Grab your potatoes and mash them with 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup milk, and 2 tablespoons of butter.  Grab a spoon and give them a taste. Add a little salt or pepper, crushed garlic or garlic powder, or even shredded cheese to them if you like. Just make sure they are yummy and don't taste like cardboard!  It ruins it, precious! You can sub instant potatoes, cauliflower mash or creamed sweet potatoes if you like!

Finally, spread the potatoes over the top of the beef mixture.  Baked uncovered for 30 minutes.  Make sure you let it rest for at least 5 minutes after taking it out of the oven or you're gonna burn your tongue!

(yeah this pic isn't pretty, but I was scarfing it down so fast I almost didn't get an "after" picture.)

This recipe makes 6 servings or 4 very big servings.  Serve to your starving hubby, your gamer friends, your normal friends (heh), your family, or even just your own hungry tummy.  Double, even triple the recipe if you have a large crowd or just a large appetite.  It freezes wonderfully if you ever have leftovers.  You can also make it ahead and put everything in a freezer safe dish after assembling it and freeze it without baking.  Then let it thaw and cook it as per original directions.  Well covered leftovers should last in the fridge for 3-4 days.  It's even good cold...but I'm strange and like most leftovers cold right out of the fridge anyway.
Am I the only one like that?
Surely not.

Hamburger Pie

Ingredients

• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 pound ground beef (or turkey)
• 1 can green beans, drained
• 1 can tomato soup
• 2 cups prepared creamed potatoes
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons butter

In a heavy-bottomed pan, brown the ground beef and the onions together.  Drain and return to pan.  Add green beans, pepper and tomato soup.  Stir together and then pour into 8x8 baking dish.  Boil potatoes until tender.  Drain, then add milk, sour cream and butter.  Mash together until creamy.  Top meat mixture in pan with potatoes, spreading from edge to edge.  Bake at 350­° for 30 minutes.  Remove from oven and let it sit for at least 5 minutes before serving.