Cream Dried Beef on Toast (aka Chipped Beef on Toast, or Shit on a Shingle)

When I was little, my Mom used to make this for breakfast every year on Easter. I would get so excited to get the egg hunt over with so that we could eat! I couldn't get ahold of my Mom for her recipe, so I had to improvise it on my own. I thought it tasted almost exactly the same, so I guess I got it close enough. This was a HUGE hit with my boys. My husband said, "Oh, yum!" FOUR times during the course of his meal and my monkey ate almost all of his. Enjoy!


Cream Dried Beef on Toast:

1 jar dried beef, rinsed and diced
6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 cup butter (you can use a butter substitute, I did)
1/4 cup flour
approx. 6 cups of skim milk
1 cup whole milk (to make it creamier)
salt and pepper to taste

1) Melt butter in a large sauce pan over low-medium heat. Wisk in the flour and let it cook for a minute or two, stirring constantly (if your roux constantly tastes gritty or like flour, you're not letting your flour cook long enough).

2) Slowly add in the milk, a little at a time, stirring very often until thickened. Allow the sauec to thicken before pouring all of it in. You may need more of less than recipe calls for, depending on thickening.

3) Add in the dried beef and allow flavors to combine for about 5 minutes over low heat, stirring often. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4) Add eggs and cook additional 3-4 minutes, allowing flavors to combine.

Serve over toasted bread. Enjoy!

Sydney's Bruschetta

We just got back from Italy last week and while we were there, we fell absolutely in love with the bruschetta. In the UAE, we cannot compare with the quality and freshness of the ingredients we found in Rome's food, but I wanted an easy and still tasty way to make this appetizer. What I came up with was definitely good. Using as many fresh ingredients as possible is the key to making this dish perfect.



Sydney's Bruschetta:



3 vine-ripe tomatoes (the fresher, the better)
Good quality olive oil
1 teaspoon good Balsamic vinegar
salt, pepper, and basil to taste
fresh, crusty bread, thickly sliced


Seed and chop tomatoes. In a bowl, combine tomatoes with vinegar, a drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Add basil to taste. Do not go overboard on the spices, let the tomatoes be the star.

Toast bread and then drizzle with plenty of GOOD olive oil. Spoon the tomato mixture onto the bread and heat under the broiler for 2-3 minutes or until heated through. Serve immediately.

White Chicken Chili

Ok, so I am not normally a chili fan, but my husband is, so I feel bad if I don't cater meals to him sometimes. Luckily, I found (and changed, of course) this recipe so that it is now a family favorite. It is a Crock Pot recipe (so I love it), it has shredded chicken (so Kaden loves it) and it is spicy and beany enough that Stu loves it too. We all ate the leftovers for lunches and cleaned our bowls every time. Give it a try!

White Chicken Chili:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cans of Great Northern Beans (white beans)

2 cups of chicken broth (low sodium works)

1 cup chopped white onion

2 cans chopped green chilies (I couldn't find any here so I just used a few teaspoons of the paste)

red pepper flakes to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Toppings:

Sour cream

Shredded Cheddar cheese

1) Place the chicken and chicken broth in the Crock Pot and cook for 5 hours on low.

2) Shred the chicken with two forks in the Crock Pot. Add the remaining ingredients and cook for 2 more hours or until the onions are softened.

3)Serve with a dollop of sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. We also got out the tortilla chips the next day for lunches and they were awesome too!

Enjoy!