French Onion Shepherds Pie

So this morning my husband put in his request for dinner. He usually leaves it to me to figure out, so when he makes the decision I get all excited for not having to use valuable brain cells figuring out what's for dinner.
He wanted Shepherds pie, an easy thing to do. Some ground beef, some potatoes and veggies and voila, dinner.
I got a little creative and ended up with a fantastic version!
Enjoy!

1 pkg lean ground beef
1 pkg ground bison (it's good, beleive me!)
chopped garlic to taste (I used about 2 cloves)
1 1/2 cups of French Onion Soup (with the onions strained off if you have a small child with an aversion to peices of onion)
1-2 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups frozen veggies of choice
6 medium sized potatoes
1/4 cup (or more to taste) of Brie cheese
2 tbsp butter

1) Brown beed, bison and garlic together and drain of extra fat.
2) Peel and cook potatoes. Once cooked, mash potatoes and mix in butter and brie.
3) Strain onion peices from the soup and put into a pot on medium heat. Mix cornstarch with 1/4 cup of water and add to soup. Stir until thickened.
4) Mix onion soup, meat and veggies into the dish you plan on putting into the oven.
5) Top with mashed potatoes
6) Bake for 35 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Serve yum!
The kid loved it and the manchild had 2 servings before I finished one. Always a good thing.

Spicy Ginger Snaps

These little bad boys tend to me a fan favorite. Even the guy who hates everything homey and good told me that they're good. I always take it as a compliment. They are a spicier cookie and even the boy likes them.


3/4 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp fresh ground cardamom
1/4 tsp white pepper
1 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
white sugar to roll balls in

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1) Mix butter & sugar together until smooth. Add egg & molasses and mix well.
2) In a seperate bowl mix all dry ingredients together and whisk.
3) Add dry ingredients slowly to wet mixture and blend well.
4) Form into 1 inch balls, roll until completely coated in white sugar and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
5) Using a small square of parchment paper and a heavy flat bottomed glass, press down and flatten the balls into cookies. I use a Guinness pint glass and make the cookies about the same size as the bottom of the pint glass.
6) Bake 8-10 minutes (longer if you prefer a true snap cookie)

Makes about 3 dozen.