Happy Hump Day!!!

 Well, it's the Wednesday of my Spring break and naturally I have spent the week studying for comps, working on the numerous group projects I have due soon and last night we took on the yard, I miss the days when spring break meant "forget everything school related for the week." Getting older is not near as fun as I had pictured it to be. Speaking of getting older and gaining responsibilities, apparently when you buy a house, you have to keep the yard pretty, and keeping the yard pretty is one of those responsibilities I would like to give back. Perry promises one day when we win the lottery (the lottery we don't have in the state of Alabama) we will have a yard crew, either that or astro turf. So, we turned yesterday's WOD (CrossFit Lingo for Work Out Of the Day) into "get the ugly running juniper that had taken over the front yard out of there" for time. O.MY.GOSH. that stuff is indestructible and we ran out of daylight. Apparently we get to continue the fun for the next few afternoons, then we have to somehow get grass to grow and pray that the retaining wall stays put.... I woke up this morning and felt like I had done 500 pull-ups, yard work is no joke. Unfortunately, after all that exhausting work we had to come in and make dinner, which was our first epic fail meal. The deer burgers fell apart & our blender did not puree the sauce like I needed. It just didn't work like I thought. Ugh... On the positive side, my food processor was ordered yesterday and I can not wait for it to arrive! If only I had done a crock pot dinner last night, I seriously don't know what I would do without my crock pot. It needed some love, so it is working away making our dinner for tonight!
On Monday we had a Texas Hash that turned out really well. It has eggs in it, so my thinking is that if you added 1-2 more eggs than we used, it would have more of a breakfasty (yes, another made up word) flavor and could be made on Sunday night, divided into little portions and heated up each morning! Once again, this recipe was not pretty and obviously my photo taking skills (or the fact that I am using a point & shoot camera) do not make it look any better. But, who cares what it looks like, as long as it tastes good, right?
We used ground deer for our hash, I know not everyone has a downstairs freezer filled to the brim with deer meat so you can substitute any ground beef!

Texas Hash Casserole
1 lb. ground beef
2 sweet potatoes, shredded
1 onion, diced
6 eggs, whisked & seasoned with garlic & pepper before adding them to the casserole
2 garlic cloves, minced
6oz. can of green chilies, drained
1 tablespoon coconut oil (or any other kind of fat, like bacon grease)
14 oz. organic enchilada sauce
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. oregano
salt & pepper to taste.
(I never actually measure my spices, I just sprinkle them on until I think it looks/smells pretty - so feel free to add more!)

You need to use an oven proof skillet for this (I used a calaphon oven safe saute pan because my cast iron skillet was not big enough)

1) Preheat the oven to 450 - shred your potatoes and dice your onion and garlic.

2) Place your skillet over med/high heat and add your fat. When the fat has melted, add the onion and garlic.

3) When the onion begins to soften, add the beef and spice away. (make sure to break up the beef as it browns. I love my handy Pampered Chef mix and stir for stuff like this)

4) Add some more spices :)

5) Pour the shredded sweet potatoes on top of the meat and pat down.

6) Pour Enchilada sauce on top

7) Cover & let simmer for 8-10 min.

8) When sweet potatoes begin to soften, remove from heat and add the whisked eggs. Stir it all together.

9) Put the pan in the oven and bake for 30 min.

Be careful when taking the pan out of the oven & cutting your portion. I always put a pot holder over the handle so I don't accidentally grab the 450 degree handle and hate my life. Trust me on this one, those blisters hurt.....