Irish

Steak & Guinness Pot Pies

March 16, 2016

St. Paddy’s Day is right around the corner, so you know what that means…it’s time to share my annual St. Patrick’s Day recipe. Let’s get excited because there’s still time to switch up those plans you’ve already made. Ditch those boring recipes you make year in and year out and try something new for a change. Last year I teamed up with Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board aka Wisconsin Cheese to bring you Irish Colcannon Mac and Cheese. It was a huge hit, but when isn’t cheesy mac and cheese with bacon and potatoes a good thing? It’s a dream team made in heaven. This year I teamed up with Wisconsin Cheese once again to bring you another classic Irish dish but with a twist. Potatoes and bacon and cheese happen to be involved again so I’d say we’re already off to a great start. I know that bacon isn’t a traditional Irish ingredient, but something about potatoes and cheese just scream bacon to me.

I wanted to switch things up a bit this year by making something new to me, Steak and Guinness Pot Pies. It’s like a traditional Irish beef stew all wrapped up in a flaky pie crust. The thing though is that this flaky crust is studded with crispy bacon and lots of Cheddar cheese, the way it always should’ve been. It’s a new take on a classic dish. So let’s all get in the spirit and be Irish for the day. This is our one free pass to let loose and get as wild as we’d like. So let’s all wear our green and start pinching those that forgot or just didn’t care enough to. Let’s make all of our favorite festive recipes and make everyone around us happy by getting into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit. Remember that no holiday is complete without lots of cheese and lots of fun.

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Irish Colcannon Mac and Cheese

January 20, 2015

I recently partnered up with Wisconsin Cheese to celebrate National Cheese Lover’s Day. This might come as a shock to many of you, but I Jonathan Melendez, am a cheese lover. There I said it. I’m a cheese lover from way back, and I’m not afraid to admit it. I have to be honest though, I actually had no idea a day celebrating people like me existed. Cheese lovers. Finally there’s a holiday where my non-stop eating of cheese all day long is perfectly acceptable. That’s cheese for breakfast, cheese for lunch, cheese for a snack and cheese for dinner. All the cheese you could ever possibly dream of. I can’t think of a better way to celebrate such a momentous occasion than with a big heaping serving of macaroni and cheese. Maybe even two servings. What? It’s my holiday, I’ll party if I want to. It’s the mother of all cheese recipes, but this isn’t just any ol’ mac and cheese recipe. This one here is a fancy mac and cheese recipe. I couldn’t do a simple everyday take on it. Where’s the fun in that?

I’m going to warn you right off the bat, because I believe in full disclosure…sometimes, this is actually going to be somewhat of a shortened post. I’ll share a few photos and funny anecdotes (obviously) like always, but for the recipe itself you’ll have to visit the site it’ll live on All Things Mac and Cheese! Just like the name states, it’s mac and cheese everything and anything. You’d be surprised what you’ll find on there. Sure, I could go on and on and tell you all about it, but I figured it would be a lot easier for you to just go and check it out yourself. Plus, I’m too lazy to type anymore than I already have to. The most important thing though is that my Irish Colcannon Mac and Cheese recipe is on it, so there’s definitely something to search for.

Listen to me going on and on about mac and cheese when we should all be out there celebrating National Cheese Lover’s Day. What are you waiting for? There’s so much cheese to eat and so much mac and cheese to make. If you start now, you might (just might) be able to catch up to me. I can’t make any promises that I won’t beat you. It is my holiday after all.

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Shepherd’s Pie

January 28, 2012

School is back in session. The kids are gone and you finally have some alone time. Joyful with the prospect of dropping off the kiddies at school, and not having to pick them up until after 3:00, you wake up each morning relieved and excited. Sure you love them to a million pieces, but coming from a full stint of a winter vacation, where the days were filled with countless games, trips, holiday rushes and headache causing screams; a vacation for yourself, is much needed. You embrace it, happily. But not too happily, lest someone thinks you a bad parent for finding relief in quiet solitude without your little rascals. And what will you do now with all this free time on your hands? I’m sure you’ll find ways to entertain yourself, and relax. Leisurely activities of lounging around. Coffee filled mornings, catching up on your stories. It isn’t so much that you need to find things to do, for there is always plenty to do around the house. Your relief comes from the idea that you have the house to yourself, and that although you have to do household chores, such as cleaning, grocery shopping and cooking, you do these tasks on your own time and at your own discretion with naps scattered in between.

Simple tasks that you once dreaded, like grocery shopping and cooking, now become fun and joyous. You allow your creative and inventive juices to flow in the kitchen, and why? Because you don’t have to worry about what the kids are doing or fighting about in the other room. Or have to hurry and make a quick dinner because you’ve spent the day entertaining them. No. Now you have the full day to go to the market by yourself without the constant “Can I please have this please? Pretty please?” You can plan out a nice supper and actually take the time and effort to make a healthy, delicious and substantial meal for those you love. As different ideas and recipes come to mind, you start to struggle. The last thing you want to do is spend all your alone time, in the kitchen slaving away over a hot stove. In fact, you want to avoid a compartmentalized meal, with a main dish and multiple sides. Who has that kind of time? Suddenly the lightbulb over your head goes off. An all in one easy meal is the path you need to take. You’re sure of it. Preferably one that takes minimal work and less clean up in the end. Because of course, you have clean up duty as well. What is it going to be? Bingo, Shepherd’s Pie. Suddenly a smile takes over your face. And why does the prospect of this Irish dish cause you to smile and jump for joy, on the inside of course, on the inside? Because not only is it a one pot wonder meal, but it has the protein, the vegetable and the starch all rolled into one. Or should I say, all layered into one fantastic dish.

You make the pie in no time, and with such an ease that would make other stay-at-home-parents jealous. The kitchen is all clean, and dinner is waiting to be heated and devoured by the troops. You step back admire your work and go into the living room. There you take a nap, a little afternoon siesta if you will. You nap like a baby. No, like a cat. Better yet, let’s make that a baby kitten. Yes, you nap like a baby kitten, because you’ve conquered a monumental task and although your free time has come to an end and you’re now parked outside of your children’s school waiting for them to enter the car, waiting for them to fill you in on the first day back at school, you take comfort in the fact that come tomorrow morning, you’ll be free again. Because the best part of them being in elementary school, is that they have to go five days a week. Just wait until college when they make their own schedules and don’t have to go to attend everyday, but you place that thought on the back burner, you still have a ways to go. In the meantime, you start the car and drive down the street toward home, with a smile on you face, the loves of your life in the rearview mirror, and a delicious Shepherd’s Pie waiting to be eaten.

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