Saint Patrick’s Day & Guinness Stew

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Once a year I celebrate part of my heritage by making Guinness Stew. My mom always made corned beef and cabbage for this day, but I never liked it growing up. I do now, but by the time I found a taste for it, I already started making this stew. What made this even better is that it is usually still cool outside, so eating stew is comforting and warm. 

 

I always try to be healthy in everything I cook. Adding an entire Guinness beer may not be the best ingredient, but I am okay with it once a year. I do not purchase pre-cut stew meat. I find that I get more for my money when I cut up a roast myself, there's less fat that I have to waste, and all of the pieces are uniform in size, which is important when cooking a soup or stew. I like to buy grass-fed beef. It has less fat, and has omega 3 fatty acids. I also utilized bone broth for the extra collagen. I do make my own on occasion, and will make a post about how I do it soon, but in a pinch, there are many good options at the grocery store. 

Next tip, use the flavors from the meat that you have browned! Once you are done browning the meat, there will be all kinds of dark bits on the bottom of the pot. Do not clean that out. Add your veggies right into that and scrape them up as they veggies cook. It will add more flavor to your stew. 

Guinness Stew

3 pounds of beef chuck roast, trimmed and cut into 1 inch cubes

1 large onion, chopped

6 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 TBS of olive oil

2 TBS of butter

1 small can of tomato paste

2 TBS of flour (I used gluten free, even though I added a beer lol)

1 bottle of Guinness (do not make the mistake I made today and use the draught...just use the regular one. The draught added a slight bitterness. I didn't mind it, but I prefer it with the regular)

32 oz. of beef bone broth

1 tsp each of sea salt and pepper

1/2 tsp of thyme

1 bay leaf

1 TBS of honey

Mashed Potatoes (you will serve the stew over the mashed potatoes if you're wondering why a stew doesn't contain taters)

6 Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and cut up

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp salt, divided

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 stick of butter

1/4 cup of real sour cream (look at the ingredients and make sure it is cultured. A lot of brands add thickeners)

3/4 cup of milk

1/4 of a small head of green cabbage, finely shredded

1/2 cup of shredded white cheddar (I use a raw milk cheddar)

For the Stew:

1. Heat a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the olive oil, and begin to brown your stew meat in batches.

2. Once the meet has been browned, set it aside. Add your veggies to the dutch oven and saute until the onions are translucent; scraping the browned bits from the meat up while you cook the veggies. 

3. When the onions are translucent, add the butter and stir around until it's melted. Now add your flour and stir to combine with the veggies and butter.

4. Add your can of tomato paste and stir to combine. 

5. Add in the bottle of Guinness, the beef broth, and all of your seasonings.

6. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and slow cook, stirring occasionally for 2 hours. Then serve over mashed potatoes.

Mashed Potatoes

1. Place your cut up potatoes in a pot and cover with water. Add 1 tsp of salt to the water, cover and bring to a boil. Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes, and check to see if they will fall off of a fork. You may have to cook them a few minutes longer depending on your stove.

2. When the potatoes will slide off of a fork, remove from heat and drain the water. 

3. Add the butter, sour cream, remaining 1/2 tsp of sea salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, and garlic powder. Mash everything together with a potato masher, and then add the milk and mash some more until a smooth consistency. 

4. Fold the shredded cabbage and cheese into the mashed potatoes. 

Plate your stew by putting a couple scoops of mashed potatoes in a bowl, and then topping with the stew. We had ours with freshly baked Soda Bread, and homemade butter. Yep your girl made homemade butter today and it is the best butter I have ever tasted! That's a whole other blog post! But, I foresee a lot more of those cool things coming on the blog soon later this year. I hope you had an awesome day. I am so looking forward to showing y'all how to make Cajun Alfredo tomorrow. 

 

Broccoli Salad

 It's been a minute since I have given this blog the attention it deserves. Over the past few years since my divorce, I felt a little lost, not really feeling it. Maybe not so much lost as tired. Really tired...but accomplished. In the past 6 years...holy moly it's been SIX YEARS! I finished my degree, I went back to work full-time, I moved to a new town, I got into a healthy relationship, I got my teaching certification, and I have been working with the most amazing kiddos. But, that did not leave much time for me to do things like create recipes and keep up with a blog. The mental impact of prior life events probably took the most out of me to be honest, but I am very happily on the other side. 

Enter breathing new life into this forgotten piece of web space. Let's try to forget when I made the attempt at doing so a few years back, changing the name of my blog to appease someone who did not like my original name. I had to go through each of the old posts, unpublish them and republish them so that they can be found with this blog. Soooo, let's get started, and get this Lady back in the Kitchen. BTW, Sarah J...this one is for you, as you have always been my biggest blog supporter. Love you girl. Now let's make some Broccoli Salad!

I have always had allergies, and I found out when I was 35 that I had a whole slew of food allergies. I went from eating whatever I wanted (and feeling like crap) to having a doctor scratch his head and tell me he has no idea how I never ended up in the hospital while he put in a prescription for an Epi-pen for me. Talk about a depressing realization. Misery loves company I guess, and I am so fortunate to have found my soulmate when it comes to not only life but also allergies! Justin has horrible allergies and food intolerances, and I have found myself once again navigating my way through the kitchen to make good for us food taste like normal food...Like Broccoli Salad. 

Broccoli Salad

2 crowns of broccoli, chopped into little florets

1/4 of a small red onion, diced

4 slices of uncured bacon, cooked crispy and chopped

4 Medjool dates, pitted, and chopped

1/3 cup of slivered almonds, toasted

1/3 cup of shredded cheddar (I used raw cheddar, shredded off the block)

1/2 cup of mayonnaise

1 1/2 TBS apple cider vinegar

1 TBS of honey

1/2 tsp of poppy seeds

salt & pepper to taste

1. Blanch the chopped broccoli in salted, boiling water until it turns bright green. This should not take more than a couple of minutes. Immediately drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process. 

2. In a bowl, combine the cooled broccoli, red onion, dates, bacon, and almonds. 

3. In a small bowl, combine mayonnaise, vinegar, honey, and poppy seeds, and whisk to combine. 

4. Pour the mayonnaise mixture (Dressing) over the broccoli salad, and toss to combine. Add  the shredded cheddar, season with salt and pepper, and toss. 

5. Plate up and eat. We ate ours with grilled chicken. 

This salad screams backyard BBQ in the summer. Depending on how salty your bacon is, you may not have to add much salt. It's slightly smoky, a little sweet, a little salty, and just so full of different flavors and textures. It's soooo good. You're welcome.