Egg Free Dairy Free Simple Shepherd's Pie

My family loves Shepherd's Pie and this is such an easy and fast way of making it.

Simple Shepherd's Pie

1 lb cooked ground beef or any meat desired
1 can beef gravy (I use Campbells)
1 can mixed vegetables or any desired
3-4 cups prepared mashed potatoes (to make it fast, I use Betty Crocker Mashed Potato Buds)

Combine the ground beef, gravy and vegetables. Transfer the mixture into an 8x11 or 9x9 baking dish. Spread the mashed potatoes evenly over the top. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until heated through.

Egg Free, Dairy Free, Nut Free Meme's Fruit Cobbler

My mom has been making this dessert since I was little. Now my girls love it just as much as me. You can use any fruit your family likes such as pears, peaches, etc.

Meme's Fruit Cobbler

1/4 cup dairy free margarine
1 can diced or sliced pears, peaches, etc., drained, reserving the syrup
3/4 - 1 cup sugar (depending on how sweet your fruit is and your taste)
3/4 cup soy milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour

Melt the margarine then place it in a 9x9 baking dish. Swirl the dish so that the margarine evenly coats the bottom. In a separate bowl, combine 2/3 cup of the reserved pear syrup, sugar, soy milk and vanilla. Add the flour then stir until thoroughly combined.  Spoon the batter evenly over the margarine. Use a spoon or knife to swirl the batter and margarine together. Arrange the pears evenly over the batter. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes.
*  Serve warm or cold.
*  Serve plain or topped with soy milk, soy ice cream or safe whipped cream.

Egg Free, Dairy Free Frozen Bread Dough Pizza

Jazlyn wanted pizza for supper, but I didn't have any of the refrigerated pizza dough or any Bisquick. However, I did have some frozen bread dough. It worked really well for the stromboli, so we decided to use it for the pizza. The crust turned out so perfect, a little crunchy and a little chewy. We thawed 2 loaves of the bread so we could make a "meat lovers" pizza on the pizza pan and a "veggie lovers" pizza on the baking sheet. I separated the leftovers into individual portions then wrapped them in foil to freeze for quick lunches later. They reheated great.

Update - I just made the pizzas again. This time I thawed 4 of the frozen bread doughs. I made 4 different varieties so that we would have plenty of leftovers to freeze. We made a pepperoni sausage, sausage olive, pepperoni olive and Hawaiian (crushed pineapple and diced ham).

Frozen Bread Dough Pizza

1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed and risen according to the package directions
Pizza or tomato sauce
Toppings desired such as pepperoni, sausage, ground beef, diced ham, diced peppers, diced onions,
        sliced black olives, pineapple chunks, diced or sliced tomatoes, etc.

Stretch and spread the dough out onto a sprayed pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread the sauce and toppings evenly over the dough. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes or until the crust is golden and the toppings are hot.

Egg Free, Dairy Free Funnel Cakes

While at Hersheypark, Jazlyn saw other people eating funnel cakes and asked me if I could make them for her. I love funnel cakes and order one when I take one of my other girls for an alone day there. Now both of my girls love them and I wanted Jazlyn to experience a funnel cake too. Over the last year, I've tried making them a few times based on my mom's recipe, substituting the eggs with various ingredients. They were good, but the taste and texture weren't the way I wanted them. I decided to try using yeast in place of the eggs. The result was a crispy on the outside, cakey on the inside perfectly flavored funnel cake. Jazlyn said she didn't want the traditional confectioner's sugar topping. Instead, she wanted to try dipping them in chocolate syrup like she saw at Hersheypark. I was so excited for hert to take her first bite. She absolutely loved them. My other girls loved them and also ate them dipped in the chocolate syrup. I, however, still ate mine with the traditional confectioner's sugar.

Funnel Cakes

1/4 cup luke warm water
1 tsp yeast
1 tsp sugar
3 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups soy milk, warmed slightly if cold
1 tbsp vanilla extract
Oil for frying

Thoroughly combine the water, yeast and sugar then allow the mixture to set for 5 minutes. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the soy milk, vanilla and yeast mixture then stir until thoroughly combined. In a deep pan, heat the oil to 365-375 degrees. Fill a Ziploc bag with the batter. Snip off one of the corners to form a small hole. Squeeze the batter into the oil. You can form circular patterns or whatever shape you desire. Fry for 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Use tongs to flip over the funnel cake then fry for an additional 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the funnel cake from the oil and place it on a paper towel to drain.
* If desired, you can scoop the batter then drop it into the oil to create more of a puffy round doughnut instead of the funnel cake strips.
*  If you have a funnel, you can drop the dough using it so that the funnel cakes are thinner and look more like the ones you would buy at a fair or amusement park.
* Wonderful topped with confectioner’s sugar, crushed strawberries, pie filling, chocolate syrup, applesauce, etc.

Frozen Bread Dough Cinnamon Balls

I love finding new uses for frozen bread dough. We've made stromboli and pizza. I decided to try and make some cinnamon balls for a fun breakfast. I thawed the bread in the fridge the night before. Before we started school the next morning, I asked the girls if they wanted to make something new. I had them roll the balls, dip them in the melted margarine then in a mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon. They had so much fun making them and the smell while they were baking was incredible. They were so good and reminded me almost of a Cinnabon.

Frozen Bread Dough Cinnamon Balls

1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-3 tsp cinnamon
3-4 tbsp dairy free margarine, melted

Form the dough into 1-2” balls. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon. Roll the balls into the melted margarine then into the brown sugar mixture. Place the coated balls into an 8x8 or round baking dish. Pour any remaining margarine and brown sugar mixture over the dough. Heat the stove to the lowest setting. Place the bread in the stove then turn off the heat. After 30 minutes, turn the oven to 350 then bake for 25-30 minutes or until cooked through. Cool for a few minutes before serving.
* If desired, drizzle with a confectioner’s sugar glaze while still hot.