The Food of the Irish

Luck of the Irish?

Did you see the Vegas post? Obviously I don't know anything about "luck."

Food of the Irish?

Now that's something I can handle.

I volunteered to make Irish Soda Bread for my Mama's annual St. Patrick's Day lunch. I carefully followed the instructions so I didn't make an inedible brick and actually produced something people could eat.



My Mama also tends to decorate for every holiday. A lot. And St. Patrick's Day is no exception.





That only show 1/100th of the number of decorations scattered about the house. There was this other decoration that my bro and sister in law lent her for the day.



A little leprechaun named Jackson. I mean, check out the reddish tint in his hair and those rosy cheeks. He's totally expressing his Irish genes.

We consumed Reuben soup, the bread, deviled eggs (w/green filling) and 2 green desserts for the holiday. Then I came home to the slow cooker corned beef (made w/Guinness) that had been getting delicious all day long, whipped up some thousand island dressing and assembled Andy's favorite sandwich.



It looked like the dogs were jealous of all the delicious food we were having. And last year I learned that I they always feel better when I put a hat on them. So I found the "old man" hat that Andy purchased in Ireland and went to it.



"So, how about that corned beef?"



"Ugh, Mom, I'm not ready for my close-up!"



"Seriously, are we done here yet?"



"Does this hat make me look smarter?"



I guess I do have a little Irish luck that let me balance that hat on Toby's enormous skull.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!

Fryday Funday

I read a few health and fitness blogs. They often post the healthy and creative meals they eat.

This post is going to be the opposite of that.

We attended a frying party - wherein all party goers brought something to throw in the deep fryer. Below is a sampling of what was fried:


Onion Rings were being prepped


Zucchini and Mushrooms


Macaroni and Cheese Balls


Crab Rangoons were being dropped


Twinkies - including a twinkie breaded in hush puppy batter before being fried


Snickers (fail)


Jalapeno Poppers


Baby

Just kidding. But that face is so cute I had to include it.


Shrimp stuffed with cream cheese and wrapped in bacon


Chocolate filled cupcake

Also fried: Pickles, Hush Puppies, Peanut Butter Cups, Bananas, Cake, Chickens, and probably something else I'm forgetting.

Health and Fitness? No.

Fun and Tasty? Most definitely.

Magically Delicious

Before I get on to the deliciousness of this Irish day, Gordie and Toby want to say Happy St. Paddy's Day:



I started with Gordie, because I knew he wouldn't try to eat the hat. Then I moved on to Toby.



I couldn't quite get the hat to stand up.



You get the idea though.

The real point of this post though, is to highlight these:



I got the recipe for Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey's Irish Cream Icing from the Smitten Kitchen. I followed it pretty much to a T, but I didn't have that fancy cutter to get the middle of the cupcake out. I used a knife instead, which worked just fine. I didn't just pick the recipe for the booze, I'd actually heard from a few people they were super tasty. The booze was just an added incentive.

After lunch at my Mom's house I am currently digesting Reuben Soup and Irish Soda Bread while this Guinness Corned Beef simmers on the stove top.

Remember, St. Patrick's Day shouldn't be all about the beer and shenanigans, the food should be appreciated as well.

Along with a small pinch of shenanigans and beer.

So Happy St. Patrick's Day and I extend the following Irish Blessing to all reading:

Wishing you a rainbow
For sunlight after showers—
Miles and miles of Irish smiles
For golden happy hours—
Shamrocks at your doorway
For luck and laughter too,
And a host of friends that never ends
Each day your whole life through!

Black Bean Pizza

I don't have a joke to begin this with. Actually, I do know some pizza jokes, but when I think of Pizza Humor, I think of Mike Birbiglia. I love Mike Birbiglia, and he loves pizza. So with that, check out one of his Secret Public Journal entries about Pizza Math.


Last week we went vegetarian and made a Black Bean Pizza.



It was actually super easy, and super delicious. I tweaked the recipe just a bit:

• I washed the canned black beans in water quite a bit to get the sodium off, and whilst doing this I threw some frozen corn into the colander.
• When I added the can of tomatoes I also threw in a can of diced green chiles
• I also added about a half a bag of taco seasoning to the mixture
• Cooking the pizza crust a little on it's own before hand is a must to avoid the dreaded soggy pizza crust. I think the addition of cheese before the sauted portion helps keep it firm too

We also added taco sauce to the top when we consumed the pizza, because it wasn't spicy enough on it's own. Next time I'll add diced jalepenos and see if that gives it some more oomph. Overall, this was a really good and somewhat healthy recipe. Definitely cheap since it uses a can of beans for the protein instead of meat, so I'm giving this recipe a B+.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

What did Mama Buffalo say to her son when he went off to college?

"Bison"

I've been cooking. I swear. Honestly. I just haven't been so good about documenting my cooking escapades via photos and this blog. I'm trying to improve though.

Last night we attempted a variation on this recipe:

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Howevever, I made so many changes, I'm going to write it up myself.



Ingredients:

• 2 grilled chicken breasts - cubed
• 1 T butter (melted)
• 1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot
• 12" whole wheat premade pizza crust
• 1/2 cup bleu cheese dresssing
• 1 cup mozzarealla cheese

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees and insert pizza crust. Cook for 5 minutes.
• While crust is cooking, mix together the butter, Red Hot and chicken
• Remove crust from oven and spread blue cheese evenly over crust
• Top with chicken mixture
• Sprinkle mozzarella over pizza
• Put pizza back in oven and cook 5 - 8 more minutes
• Remove and sprinkle some more cheese on top and let sit a few minutes before cutting

Andy and I both thought the pizza was delicious. However, Andy says he would have used ranch, but I enjoy the flavor of bleu cheese. Next time I will try with ranch just to compare. I will also omit the butter completly - I halved it from the original recipe but found it to be unnecessary (and not as healthy). Using FF ranch next time will also up the healthy factor.

I love this as a base recipe for a different and unique tasting pizza. It wasn't too spicy for me and wasn't spicy enough for Andy so he added more Red Hot to his. Overall I'd give this first attempt a B with the potential to become an A with a little more tweaking.

Oatmeal Crispies

Photo from thepioneerwoman.com

Have you already heard that one oatmeal joke? It was a lot of mush, so I won't bother telling it here.

Tee hee.

Ok, so I decided to be domestic and do wife stuff this weekend. This means I baked. Actually I did the dishes and 2 loads of laundry too. Andy of course did husband stuff while I did this. He bought a shop vac, napped on the couch for 2 hours and drank a beer. Good work, husband.

So I got this recipe from The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I actually really enjoy her entire website and was eager to try one of her delicious looking recipes. I picked this one because I just happened to have everything in the house (except for the pecans, but they were on sale at Meijer so I picked up a few).

And well, I didn't have shortening either, so I used one stick of butter and one stick of margarine. I don't think this hurt the recipe at all.

As far as other deviations from the recipe, I also cooked them for a bit longer. They suggested 10 minutes, which I did for the first cookie sheet full, but I didn't think they were well cooked. I left the next 2 rounds in for 15 minutes and got the fully cooked consistency I was looking for.

And while they were sitting on the counter cooling, of course Tobias stuck his big fat nose up there and snatched one when we weren't looking.

And of course yesterday after Andy took one from the case and didn't replace the lid, Toby plopped his front paws on the counter and snatched another.

Toby also sat by my side EXTREMELY interested in what I was doing the entire time I made the dough. I am very careful about not touching dog and then touching food I am preparing, so his big puppy dog eyes staring up at me made it hard to stay focused on the cookies. And his constant licking of the air. Followed by his constant licking of the side of my pants. Dog is weird. And hungry, apparently.

Anyways, I really liked the cookies and so did Andy (and Toby). And considering the ingredients were common, I'll most likely make the recipe again soon.

Apple Bacon Tomato Soup

What do you get when you cross a pig with a centipede?

Bacon and Legs!


I have been slacking on my recipe blogging (and just blogging in general) so I'm getting myself back on track with this delicious soup.



See how hearty and delicious it looks?

It sounds like a very strange combination when you look at the ingredients. I'm no chef, so I have no idea why these all worked together though to make a tasty soup.

Side Note: When I say "tasty soup" in my head I say it like Jules in Pulp Fiction saying "That IS a tasty burger!"

Side Note #2: It bothers me that in the Fergie song "Fergilicious" they say she's "T to A to S-T-E-Y girl you tasty." There is no E in "tasty", Fergie.

What was I talking about? Oh yes, the delicious soup. I followed the recipe but would add these notes:

- We bought stewed tomatoes and they were in big chunks, so I chopped them up before adding them.

- We used a red delicious apple and merlot for the wine

- The apples cooked for about 10 minutes before I added them to the big pot, and we let that simmer about 20 minutes before we couldn't resist digging in any longer. Not only does this taste great, it SMELLS great while cooking.

- Use turkey bacon to make it healthier. Unless you have a husband who accompanies you grocery shopping and starts whining like a 3 year old girl when you attempt to put turkey bacon in the grocery cart at Meijer on Sunday.

So I'd grade this recipe as an A. It was different, it was easy, it was delicious, and it was pretty darn healthy.

Pork Chops w/Raspberry Sauce and Baked Sweet Potato fries

I know you love my awesome jokes. Here's a new one. You're welcome.

Q. What do you call a pig that knows karate?

A. A pork chop

Which brings me to:

Pork Chops with Raspberry Sauce

These were FANTASTIC. I followed the recipe exactly but didn't have the fresh thyme, which was optional anyways. The pork was still a little pink, so next time I will probably cook about 6 minutes each side instead of 4-5. The raspberry sauce was so good with it - just the right amount of tart and sweet.

I baked some Sweet Potato Fries to go with it. No recipe really, I sliced up 3 sweet potatoes into thick sticks. I threw into a bowl and added about 1 or 1 1/2 Tbsp's of olive oil, a little pepper and maybe 1/2 Tbsp. of Cajun seasoning. I put them in the oven preheated to 400 degrees on a greased cookie sheet. They were done about 40 or 45 minutes later. Simple and delicious.

Chicken Breasts with Balsamic Vinegar and Garlic

Q. Why did the mushroom go to the party?

A. Because he was a fungi!

Q. Why did he leave?

A. Because there wasn't mushroom.


Ok, after you've picked yourself up off the floor from laughing at my hilarious jokes, let me tell you about my love for mushrooms. My favorite pizza growing up was ham and mushroom. My birthday meal of choice was always steak with sauteed mushrooms. However, I don't cook with them much, and was looking to change that with this little recipe.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I left out the flour. However, in the end I wished the sauce would have been a little thicker. So I probably shouldn't have left that out. You live, you learn.

While this was quite tasty, I have to compare it to one of my favorite recipes: Braised Balsamic Chicken I made this over a year ago and it turned out delicious. Now that I remember how much I love it, I'll be working it into a meal plan in the coming weeks.

Sausage Pasta

I'm way behind on recording my recipes here, so I'll just start adding a few. We made this tasty meal last week. This is the recipe we followed:

Sausage Pasta

I LOVED it. The hot, spicy turkey sausage is a must - otherwise I don't think it would have had enough flavor in it. We also used whole wheat pasta to make it as healthy/nutritious as possible. Although the healthy may have gone out the window when I applied a few hearty helpings of parmesan cheese.

I also compared this to a meal we made a few weeks ago following this recipe. It doesn't look like there is much difference in the two recipes, but the allrecipes one was a lot better - the onion, garlic and chicken broth gave it some much needed flavor flav.

Easiest. Dip. Ever.

I began making this dip at some point in college. I have no idea where the original recipe came from, but it's so flippin' easy I just have to share. I made this for my work's MSU vs. UofM tailgate party on Friday. Part of the work celebration was a "Decorate Your Cubicle" competition. I decked mine out in all the MSU gear I could find, and I got second place! Go State!



Mexican Layer Dip

1 can of refried beans
1 jar of chunky salsa
2 packs of cream cheese
1 tub of sour cream
1 package of taco seasoning
1 block of sharp cheddar cheese
1 block of monterey jack

Spread the refried beans along the bottom of a pan. I use 9x13, but you can use whatever you've got on hand. Spread to the thickness you desire. If you don't like beans, you can always skip them too.

Pour salsa over the beans and spread evenly.

In separate bowl, mix together the sour cream and cream cheese and taco seasoning. You can add vary the sour cream and cream cheese to get the thickness you desire, and also vary how much taco seasoning you use to vary the spiciness.

Spread the mixture on top of the salsa.

Shred the cheeses and put on top - viola! Easiest. Dip. Ever.

I like this basic recipe because you can vary it to your own personal tastes. My mother skips the salsa and beans altogether. You could add black olives on top or mix some green chiles or jalapenos into the creamy mixture to add some heat. Whatever suits you and your tastebuds.

Oh, and in case I haven't rubbed this in yet. . . .

GO STATE!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

Last night, I finally fulfilled one of my wifely duties. I baked. Andy granted me 100 wife points. But I also asked him to open a beer for me, so I think I lost some wife points then. Did I mention that while I was baking (and doing a load of laundry mind you) Andy sat on the couch and watched the Red Wings game? Yeah, apparently that's how he earns his husband points.

But I digress - back to the cookies. I had seen the recipe online and felt like doing something festive. As a non-baker I had to go to the store and purchase alomst all of the ingredients. I had never needed baking soda, baking powder, etc. before. And yes, I did have to make a second trip to get a bag of powdered sugar after Toby's breakfast incident yesterday.

Here's the recipe I followed:

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

I did everything by the recipe, except I didn't have nutmeg, I used 1/2 a cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar, and the glaze needed about 2 more tablespoons of milk to get the right consistency.

Overall, I think they're tasty! Also tasty was the delicious beer I consumed while baking. New Holland Brewing Company's Ichabod.




It's a nice pumpkin spice beer. A lot of time I find spice beers to be too overpowered by the spice, but this is much more subtle.

So, it's hard to get a true verdict on the cookies, since Andy will eat anything and like it. I'm bringing these cookies tailgating tomorrow, so I don't know that a group of drunk hooligans will give me an informative critique either. Which means my opinion will rule supreme, and I give these cookies an A.

Chickpea Curry and Crunchy Romaine Toss

Although my mother would never believe me, I have been cooking quite a bit lately and enjoying it. I like trying new things - and I feel a little proud after I make a meal - like I just accomplished something. I know that for most people simply cooking a meal wouldn't really be an accomplishment, but come on, I'm trying here. And we got this lovely, big kitchen for a reason, right?

So, I made a salad and a main dish. The salad I had actually tried out on my coworkers a week ago and an impromptu potluck lunch we decided to have. I got the recipe from my fav cooking website, allrecipes.com, and I followed it to a T.

Crunchy Romaine Toss

I found it quite tasty myself and fairly easy to make. It took probably 15 minutes to do all the tearing, chopping and toasting.

Next up, the main dish. We usually cook with turkey and chicken, but I decided to mix it up with chickpeas as the protein.

Grade: A

Chickpea Curry

Now, this was pretty easy too. All it required was chopping an onion, mixing some spices and opening up a couple cans of chickpeas. We served it over brown rice. The spice was good and Andy enjoyed the heat it packed (not TOO much, but enough to have a glass of water near). I wanted a little more crunch in mine - not sure what that could entail next time. Some reviewers said they added tomatoes, which I may try also.

Grade: B