Back in the Swing of Things

To make my way back to the blogosphere, I decided to make an Irish feast. I had every intention of posting this last night, but I underestimated how long it would take to cook everything I had planned. Since I didn't post last night as promised, I've decided to give you all three recipes that I used for my dinner last night.

During my lunch break yesterday, I was trying to decide what I wanted to make for dinner. Irish stout stew popped into my head, and I lamented the fact that it wasn't a very blustery day (in my world, stew equates with cold, wet weather). Much to my delight, as the afternoon wore on, a cold storm was making its way into Tulsa. I still had a few bottles of Guinness from when I made my birthday cheesecake and knew that it would finally have another use (slowly but surely, I have been drinking it, but it just isn't as good if it's not in draft form).

To keep it more traditional, I decided to make some champ and serve the stew on top of it. Instead of putting potatoes in my stew, I followed an old recipe in a tiny cookbook that is basically mashed potatoes with green onions. It really was the perfect accompaniment for the stew. I also baked my very first soda bread. It was scone like in texture but was so good with the homemade buttermilk and butter that I had made (yeah, I went a little cooking crazy in my kitchen last night, but it was worth it).

Irish Stout Stew

Recipe from All Recipes, adapted by me

2 pounds lean beef stew meat

4 slices bacon, chopped
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 large onion, sliced into quarters
3 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bottle Irish stout beer (e.g., Guinness)
1 cup beef broth (enough to cover)

2 cups chopped carrot

3 stalks celery, sliced

1 TBL Worcestershire sauce

3 bay leaves

1. Toss the beef cubes in a large Ziploc bag with the flour and cayenne and shake until all pieces are evenly coated. In a large pot, saute the bacon and then set aside. Saute the stew meat, onion, and garlic until all of the sides have been browned and set aside as well.
2. Pour the Guinness, beef broth, and tomato paste into the pot and deglaze. Add the bacon and stew meat mixture as well as an juice on the plate back into the pot. Add the carrots, celery, Worcestershire sauce, and bay leaves.
3. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes stirring occasionally. Serve over champ.

Irish Champ

Recipe from The Little Book of Irish Family Cooking

1 1/2 lbs potatoes, peeled and chopped (you know I didn't peel mine)

6 spring onions

1 1/4 cup milk

1 tsp salt

butter

1. Boil the potatoes and drain.
2. Heat the milk and onions until hot
3. In a large bowl add all ingredients together and mash. You may or may not need all of the milk. Be sure to add enough to make the potatoes nice and creamy.

Irish White Soda Bread

Recipe from Irish Food and Cooking

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Pinch of salt

2 Tbl butter, at room temperature
1 egg, whisked with 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 425F and grease a baking sheet. Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Cut in the butter and rub into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Make a well in the center and pour in the egg and buttermilk mixture. Mix thoroughly to make a soft dough.
3. Turn out onto a floured board and knead lightly for a minute or two. Shape into a round and flatten slightly. Place the loaf on the baking sheet and mark with a deep cross to help it to cook evenly. Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes, until well risen and lightly browned. When cooked, it will sound hollow when tapped on the base.
4. Cool on a wire rack. If a soft crust if preferred, wrap the loaf in a clean dish towel while it's cooling. Serve as soon as possible.

Italy Meets the South

One night while trying to figure out what to have for dinner, I remembered seeing a new twist on an old classic. Allow me to introduce to you chicken fried steak parmesan.

If you head on over to this page on my blog, you'll find the recipe for the chicken fried steak. After you've made the steaks, you just do like you would for chicken parmesan. I'll be honest, when I made this meal, I had completely forgotten about already giving you the recipe for chicken fried steak. Since I won't be giving you a recipe for this one, I'm going to super nice and give you a second post this evening with an actual recipe (how's that for coming back to the blogging world?).

This meal was pretty good and definitely different. I'll certainly make it again, but next time I'll use a different sauce. The marinara that we usually buy is no longer being sold at any grocery stores near me, and the one I bought in place of it just wasn't as good as I had hoped. To mix things up just a little, I also covered two of the steaks with alfredo instead of marinara (my sister doesn't care for red sauce so I tried to make some special just for her). Those ones were really fantastic! Who would have guessed that chicken fried steak and alfredo would go so well together?

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yesterday was my quarter century birthday! Before you ask any questions let me answer them. No, I don't feel any older. Yes, I made my own birthday cake. No, it wasn't a layer cake. And yes, it had alcohol in it. Did I cover everything? Great!

I started my hatch day by participating in a 5k that just happened to go past my apartment (I was sorely tempted to just head back to bed when I ran by, but that was because I was just sore). I then purchased a fun purse from Target, visited my favorite used book store, and accompanied my sister to her hair appointment. My mom grilled some BBQ chicken and made baked potatoes, corn, and broccoli with cheese sauce. But none of that is why you're here. You're here for this killer recipe for the cheesecake I made. What do you get when you add chocolate and my favorite stout beer? Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake!!! I also served mine some Irish cream whipped cream (I was a little too liberal with the Bailey's so mine didn't get as stiff as I would have liked, but it still tasted good).

I know what you must be thinking. "Beer? In cheesecake? Are you crazy?!?" Only slightly mad, but that's neither here nor there. I was sitting at my desk at work on Friday thinking that my mom probably wouldn't think about making a cake since she was still trying to figure out what to make for dinner. So I sat wondering what I'd really want for my cake when I remembered this cheesecake that I had made with less than satisfactory results. "I bet I could make it better this time," I thought to myself. S-U-C-C-E-S-S!!! I was so right. There wasn't a crack on that bad boy, and it tasted so decadent and luscious. You don't really taste the beer, it's just there to add another level to the flavor. I definitely suggest using the best chocolate that you can find (unfortunately, I bought mine at Wal Mart, but Ghiradelli is a tasty alternative to some of the cheaper varieties around). Here's my gift to you. Enjoy!

Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake

Recipe from All Recipes, adapted by me

1 cup crushed chocolate cookies (I used chocolate Teddy Grahams)
1/4 cup butter, softened (I melted mine instead of just using softened)
2 tablespoons white sugar
1/4 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/2 pound semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 cup sour cream
1 pinch salt
3/4 cup Irish stout beer (e.g. Guinness®)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (I used homemade vanilla from the stash I made over the summer)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Combine the crushed cookies, butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, and cocoa in a small bowl; mix; press into the bottom of a 9-in springform pan.
2. Place the cream cheese in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer set to low speed until smooth. While beating, slowly add 1 cup sugar and then the eggs, one at a time. Continue beating until smooth.
3. Combine the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in the microwave until the chocolate is completely melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Beat the chocolate into the cream cheese mixture. Add the sour cream, salt, beer, and vanilla; blend until smooth. Pour the mixture over the crust. Place the pan into a large, deep baking dish. Fill the dish with water to cover the bottom half of the springform pan (be sure to cover the bottom and sides of the springform with tinfoil to keep the water out).
4. Bake the cheesecake in the water bath in the preheated oven for 45 minutes; turn oven off; leave the cheesecake in the oven with oven door slightly ajar another 45 minutes; remove from oven. Run a knife along the edge of the cheesecake to loosen from pan. Chill in refrigerator at least 4 hours.

Update

Sorry for the lack of posts again guys. My laptop is still out of commission which makes it difficult to post and impossible to get pictures put up. I have been documenting and taking pictures of the recipes I've been trying out so that once the laptop is running again I can start posting again. Tomorrow is my birthday so I hope to borrow my sister's laptop or maybe even my dad's desktop so I can post a special recipe. No promises though (I gave up on those after my last post). Anyway, have a happy weekend if I can't convince my family to take pity on me.

Heavy Heart and a Promise

I seem to need to make apologies often on here for my lack of posting. Last weekend when I was sick, my laptop decided it was no longer going to do as I wished and decided to take a long holiday. This had made it nigh on impossible to post any photos (I know other people know of sneaky ways to get around this, but sadly I just haven't had the energy).

Add on top of that the phone call I received last night followed by the text message I got this morning. My great-uncle passed away. I can't say that I'm not deeply affected by this, but I also can't lie that it's a big relief. Uncle Bobby has been living with cancer and congestive heart failure for the past few years. Recently, he had been a great amounts of pain that left him with little no energy. A few days ago, he was given a couple of days to a couple of weeks. My grandparents (Nana and Papa) were going to fly from California to New York to be with him until his time was up. All of this was given to me second-hand by my mother so forgive me if the details are a bit off. My mom's cousin told my uncle that he needed to hold on for just a couple more days, that his brother was coming to see him. "Joey's coming?" he asked. When my mom's cousin answered in the affirmative and that he would be there Saturday, he simply responded, "Then I can go home on Sunday."

I think that him knowing that his brother was coming was enough comfort for him that he was able to slip softly away without having to deal with anymore pain. Not only am I grieving for him now that he's gone, but I'm also grieving for Papa who didn't get the chance to say his final farewell. I've kicking myself all day for not getting the chance to know him better like I should have. That's where my promise comes in. I never want to spend another moment regretting something that I could have changed just by being a bit more proactive. I want to be able to look back on my life and say that I lived and loved with as much passion and as little regret as I could. I'll be back with a recipe this weekend even if it means that I have to drag my fanny to the local library with my memory card to get it to you. With that, I leave you with a tribute to Uncle Bobby. Semper fidelis!!!

Amazing Grace