HOMESTEADING: A day of Baked Veggie Macaroni with Mashed Potato Crust

Hi fellow STEEMians! For today's blog, I am presenting to you a recipe I just made out of random ingredients I found in our kitchen and our fridge. As you can read from the title, it says "Baked Veggie Macaroni with Mashed Potato Crust" and that's basically what I'm gonna make it. I know it might sound a little weird but you guys might want to give it a try. It's not bad anyway.

So here's the list of ingredients. (don't mind the tomatoes and broth cube. I didn't use them)

1. About 200 grams of uncooked macaroni
2. 5 medium-sized potatoes, sliced in sticks for it to be easier to mash
3. A can of mushrooms, drained and thinly-sliced
4. 2 cans of green peas (you can also use frozen peas)
5. 2 large onions
6. I whole clove of garlic
7. 1/4 cup of stolen from mom's fridge softened butter (you can use either salted or unsalted)
8. Salt and pepper to taste
9. Oil
10. Any ground meat you like. (I used corned beef here)
11. Native bell pepper
12. Carrots, cubed

So to start, boil a generous amount of water enough for your macaroni. Put on a little bit of oil and salt. You can chop your veggies while waiting. After the water has boiled, put on your macaroni and let it cook for about 10-13 minutes. Make sure it still has that rubbery-chew when you get it out of the casserole because you'll be cooking it again later. When it's already cooked, transfer it to a colander and let water run through it without throwing away the water you used. Why let water run through it? It's to keep the macaroni from being over-cooked by its own heat.

Put your potatoes in the casserole where you cooked your macaroni and let it sit there. Put it back in your cooker or stove after removing the pan with the cooked macaroni and veggies. Do this so you won't waste time waiting for it to boil.

In another frying pan, put oil in it a let it heat up in medium-high heat. Saute' first the native bell pepper. When it's around half-cooked, add your onions and garlic. Let them turn a bit brown.

You can now add your cubed carrots. Saute' them for around 5 minutes. After that, add your frozen or unfrozen corned beef. If your corned beef is frozen, cover it for around 5 minutes to let it break down. When it's not frozen anymore, you can add your cooled macaroni. Be careful not to mix it too much or the macaroni might break down to pieces. Add along the drained green peas. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.

Grease a separate ceramic pot with butter. Use a pot that's oven-safe. Make sure you grease it evenly including the rim. Put your cooked macaroni with veggies in it. Don't forget to even out the top and to lightly press down the macaroni so that it will hold when scooping after it's baked. I forgot to do this and ended up with a baked veggie mac that looked like it went through soil erosion. After doing so, top it with your thinly-sliced mushrooms. Make sure you distribute the mushrooms evenly all over the place and not just in one place.

When your potatoes has boiled and are soft enough to mash, remove it from the heat and put it in a separate bowl to mash it. Again, don't throw the water you used to boil it with. Mash your potatoes with a fork or anything you can use to mash it. Add the softened butter, 2 tablespoons of ground black pepper (I really like putting a lot of it) and salt to it. If your mashed potato is too dry, add a tablespoon of the water you used to cook it with. Gradually add water until you achieve that wonderful, gooey look like the picture below. Forgive me if I forgot to take a picture of my mashed potato

Photo courtesy from google

When your mashed potato is done, put it on top of your macaroni evenly with a spoon. When it's done, put it in the oven for 20-25 minutes at 230 °C or until crust is golden brown. You can bake it longer if you want. You'll know it's ready when it starts to smell like french fries!!! And who doesn't love fries?!

This dish is delicious and also nutritious. It is best served when hot. ;)

Thank you for making it this far. I hope you guys enjoyed reading my blog and the content itself.
If you have any comments and suggestions, don't be shy and write them down below. Thank you!!!

xoxo, Dianne