Recipe Recap

Well, St. Patty's Day has come and gone, all of the fudge has been eaten and all of the green food dye has finally washed off my hands.
I spent Saturday in the kitchen, listening to The Irish Descendants (Raggle Taggle Gypsy, anyone?) and making a load of yummy Irish-themed treats. I started the morning off with potato pancakes with cheese baked into them and bacon and sunny-side-up eggs on top. As soon as the dishes were all cleared I got to work on whipping up some Irish Soda Bread. I made up two loaves; one loaf stayed at home with us, and the second loaf went to my sister in Calgary along with some of the Irish Cream Fudge I had made up the night before. The Soda Bread recipe I used was a true, traditional Irish Soda Bread - no raisins, no sugars, no eggs. Just flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk. It was quite yummy.
Since we had slept in quite late (rough night with the kiddos), we more or less skipped lunch, save for munching on fudge and soda bread, so I got to work fairly soon on the Steak and Guinness pie - something that was quite highly anticipated by my husband. Matt loves pie, however it comes, and pie with steak and beer? He was thrilled! The meat in our pie was super, super tender, not just because you simmer it for hours on the stove, but also because we actually used venison, from the young deer Matt got this fall. Young meat = tender meat, and this was melt-in-your-mouth tender meat. My only beef (ha.) with the recipe was the use of Worchestershire sauce - I have an extremely low tolerance for it (Thanks to Denny's, but that's an old story) and I could have subbed it out but I thought I'd leave it in and see if I still hated it. Yep, I do.
Well, I took the next couple days off from the kitchen (we had fish sticks the next night and A&W last night!) but today I'm right back into it. I fortunately had a thought last night that I would like bread today. I have often lamented my lack of foresight when it comes to bread making because had I taken 5 minutes the night before I could have whipped up a sponge, but there's just no rushing a sponge to compensate for that lack of foresight. So when I thought about it last night I threw three things in a bowl, gave it a quick stir, and set myself up to make a great loaf of focaccia today! When you make something like a nice, herby focaccia, you really plan your meal around it, rather than vice versa, so for supper we're having stuffed manicotti with a meaty tomato sauce, so our bread has something to sop up. This meal will involve winging it; I don't use recipes for meat sauces or pasta dishes typically, unless I'm trying to recreate something. And as it goes, I make a mean manicotti, so why would I try to make someone else's?
Here's a general idea of what I did for the manicotti tonight:

Stuffed Manicotti
1 lbs ground beef
1/2 lbs ground pork
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
1/4 c. red wine
1 can crushed tomatoes
Basil, Oregano

1 1/2 c. cottage cheese
1 egg
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar, divided
salt and pepper

15 manicotti pieces, cooked and slightly cooled

Cook up beef and pork in a skillet, set aside in a medium bowl. Cook onion in a bit of oil until tender. Add garlic and heat until flavors release. Deglaze with wine. Pour in crushed tomatoes and add spices. Cook over medium until heated through. Pour half of the tomato sauce over the cooked meat and stir to combine.
In a separate bowl combined cottage cheese, egg and 3/4 c. shredded cheddar. Season with salt and pepper. Fold cheese mix into meat mix.
Stuff manicotti with meat and cheese mixture and lay piece in a casserole dish (make sure the manicotti pieces aren't touching in the dish). When all of the pieces are stuffed, pour remaining tomato sauce over and top with remaining shredded cheddar. Bake at 350 for 30 - 40 minutes, or until cheese is melted.
This makes A LOT of food. Matt and I ate until we were totally full, and we each had 3 pieces of manicotti, so if you're not cooking for company, divide the manicotti between freezer-safe containers before you top them with the remaining sauce and cheese. These freeze great!

As a bit of a disclaimer, sometimes I post healthy meals that pay attention to calories and fat content... this is not one of those times. I don't know the fat content of this meal, nor do I want to, but I know it tastes great, and so while you shouldn't eat this everyday, once in a while is great!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)

Holiday Prep

What do you guys think of the new look? It's not as whimsical as the last, but I like the organization better, personally! Let me know how you like it!

I'm lucky enough to have my husband home with me for most of the day today, which means I got out to do some grocery shopping. I picked up the basics: flour, bananas, milk, Guinness... That's right - it's St. Patty's Day tomorrow! I mentioned some of my plans already and while I'm working on finalizing plans today, I'm sure that what I end up with tomorrow will still vary. For now, however, I am still planning on making Irish Soda Bread, Irish Cream Fudge, and now I'm adding Steak and Guinness Pie to the list. I've got some White Tail Deer stewing meat in my freezer that has been begging me to cook it, and while White Tail Deer isn't exactly Irish (Red Deer or lamb is more their pace), I'm sure the Guinness will more than make up for my lack of Irish meat. I whipped up the Irish Cream Fudge tonight, along with a Frozen Strawberry Dessert so with those two things out of the way I hope my plans for the Steak and Guinness Pie will go unimpeded.

I love planning things. Have you noticed that? I love having parties, making big deals out of small things, and using any excuse I can to make some fun food. Sometimes, however, I don't have to stretch too far to have a good reason to throw a party. Case and point: Gabe's upcoming third birthday. My darling boy will be turning three at the end of next month and this will be the first year that we're going to throw a real party for him! Since it will be his first big bash, I'm going to go all out! We're having a Pirate themed party, and are inviting all the kids from our weekly Play Date, not to mention some of our other friends of the family, and so we're expecting to have up to 20 kids, plus parents on top of that. We'll have eye patches for everyone, Walk the Plank games, and treasure hunts. For the food I've found some adorable ideas on Pinterest, including Sand Dollar cookies, Pirate Marshmallow Pops, and Octopus Wieners. I'll also be mixing up my own special POG Grog (Papaya Orange Guava) and topping cupcakes with pirate themed toppers and jolly rogers! I'm so excited to plan everything about this party! I have dreams of decorating my backyard with billowing sails (I've tried numerous times to have a backyard party, and it never seems to work, but it has to sometime, right?) and of 20 knee-high scallywags chasing our poor dog around the yard with plastic swords! Sigh... the sweet bliss it will be!

And somewhere between St. Patty's Day and the end of April falls one of my favorite holidays (in the strictest meaning of the word 'holiday')... Easter! The day of promise, hope and salvation is one of the happiest times of the year. I love the meaning, I love the season, I love everything that goes with it.
This year I plan on doing lots of teaching times with Gabriel and lots of fun crafts with him. We'll read bible stories, we'll decorate eggs, and we'll definitely eat chocolate. In fact, I may even make the chocolates that we eat. I felt a little inspired by Martha Stewart Living for April (I subscribe, so I got that issue this past week). The article that Martha contributes herself each month usually has to do with life around her house, and how she organizes, hosts, or crafts. This month it was about Easter dinner at her house and certain traditions that she always keeps up. One tradition for her was molding chocolates in antique tin molds. The beautiful little bunnies looked so adorable that I instantly went on Ebay and tried to track down some antique chocolate molds myself. While the average price was between $90 and $400, I haven't given up hope of tracking down an antique one at one of the stores in my city. But until that happens, I may order some new plastic molds and try my hand at tempering and molding. Who knows, maybe I'll like it enough to really have fun with it (remember that red wine ganache I made at Valentine's Day? Wouldn't that make a great filling??)
Well, my first batch of Irish Soda Bread is almost out of the oven, so I think I'll skip off now to do some tasting! Ta ta!

Mrs. VanderLeek ;)
Until that sweet day, however, I suppose I'll have to be contented with