It's cold, time for a hearty meal

It's been all types of frigid in DC for the past couple of weeks. 9 degrees in the Nation's Capital is just not right. When it gets cold its time for a hearty meal. This recipe I adapted from a couple of sources cooks.com, big daddy's house on food network but I have to put my own spin on things, a mini sheperd's pie which I jokingly referred to as a meat cupcake.

Mommy's Meatcakes

1 lbs of ground veal (you can use lamb or turkey if you're offended by veal, if you are get a grip its not that serious)
1 small tomato
1 large potato
3/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/4 cup of red wine
2 packages of grands buttery rolls (trust me use this kind)
1 tbsp of dried thyme
1/3 cup of milk
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup of chopped onions

Heat the oven to 350. Boil the large potato until cooked through. Add the wine, thyme, garlic and onions to the veal. Place in a hot skillet with a bit of olive oil. Cook until almost done then add the tomatoes. While the potato and meat is cooking open the roll packages and place each in a greased muffin tin. You should have 16 total. MAke sure the dough covers the sides. Place in oven. If you have baking beads then place them in each muffin ring (I don't know anyone who owns these so you'll have to do it the ghetto way). Bake for the allowed time checking every 5 minutes or so and sticking a metal spoon in the center of the biscuit to keep it hollow. Once potato is done cooking peel it and mash it with the butter, 1/2 the cheese and milk. Remove the biscuits from the oven. Scoop 1 large spoonful of meat mixture into each biscuit shell. Top with a heaping tablespoon of mashed potatoes and then sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese. Place back in the oven for about 2 minutes for the cheese to melt. Serve immediately. Eat it with your hands with a side of some other hearty vegetable like greens. Very good even the child was asking for seconds

Just try it you might like it

For Christmas I baked a cajun turkey. That's my thing, I do cajun turkeys because I loathe the taste of turkey and the only way I'll eat it is if I can't taste it. I removed the innards: liver, heart and gibblets. I love poultry livers and gibblets. But the heart, I'd never had the heart of anything. I was intrigued, after my many hours of watching No Reservations and Bizarre Foods I feel like I can eat just about anything and survive, hey Bourdain and Zimmern are still alive.

Much to the disgust of everyone in my house at the time (all of whom eat chitterlings and pig feet, go fig) I fried it up like a piece of chicken and ate it with some grits. I'm only 4 generations removed from being a country girl. It tasted good. It tasted just like the liver but had the texture of gibblets. The best of both worlds. Of course the only other person who would try it was my little one who thinks she's a little Zimmern. If it sounds weird or digusting she's all over it. She won't eat a donut but deep fried chicken hearts, she's all over that.

When telling my family about my new discovery everyone was typically grossed out but my mom brought up a good point, we eat a lot of things that look gross. I mean really lobster looks like a huge roach. But our culture tells us its good. We eat chicken embryos all the time, what's any grosser than that? And how many people know that McDonald's beef is actually kangaroo meat. My dad swears by this and if he's just been playing a life long joke on me, My apologies to McDonalds.

Trying new foods is one of the great things about living in Western world. I often go to the grocery store and buy things I've never had before and try to make things out of it. I would encourage eveyone to try something different that sounds disgusting. One can only eat so much chicken, potatoes and greens. Even if you don't like it, you never know until you try it.