Happy Belated St. Patrick's Day!

Phew! It has been quite a while since I've posted anything! The past month or so I have had a hard time feeling positive, after coming to the realization that I am not at a place that I thought I'd be at 26. It is hard to handle the thought that, if 23 year old me knew where I was at career-wise and the monetary struggles I've had lately, she'd freak out. But she'd also probably be excited about the fact that I have great friends, an amazing man in my life and have abandoned a lot of the self-destructive behavior that used to be part of my every day life. But it's been hard to think about those positive things when I have been feeling so disappointed in myself. Struggles make us stronger, right? Well, if I encounter too many more, I'll probably turn in to a world-champion body-builder.Things are looking up though.

It is certainly good to have goals for yourself, but sometimes we need to take a step back and realize that just because things aren't how you wanted them to look, doesn't mean they're not beautiful. And now, in addition to the great family, friends, pets and boyfriend that I have, I a new job and am starting to make more responsible decisions. That's all I can really ask of myself, right?

Moving on to more fun things, I regret that I did not get to post about my St. Patrick's Day earlier, as it was a GRAND one. I am pure-blooded Irish American, so this holiday has always been a big deal to me. My parents raised me to be very proud of my heritage, which led me to take Irish dancing, Gaelic classes, and I've already been to Ireland twice. This year Tom and I decided to throw a big bash with all of our friends and some live music. 

Over the several hour party, roughly 100 guests passed through my apartment. The highlight of the night was definitely our friends Le Tour and Secret XYZ playing in my basement. Tall people had to hunch over, everyone got over the moldy smell, and the sound was great!

Patrick of LeTour making tunes off of the ceiling pipes.

Sexret XYZ, with this protagonist's own leading man on the left

More highlights of the weekend included making amazing vegetarian Irish stew, seeing local Irish-rock dudes, The Tossers, and spending St. Paddy's Day morning in downtown Chicago with the green river and parade (in 75 degree weather, no less!).

But let me tell you about this stew!! It seriously blew my mind. After sifting through several Irish stew recipes online, I decided to go with my gut.

Vegetarian Irish/Guinness Stew
3/4 package Gardein beefless tips
2 cans vegetable broth
1 1/2 cup Guinness
1 cup red wine (I used a cheap pinot noir)
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 medium-sized potatoes, cubed
1 large onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
3 spoonfuls tomato sauce
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp dried thyme
1 Tbsp dried parsley
2 bay leaves


With a nice coating of olive oil, I heated up the beefless tips in a large pan, making sure all sides got a nice dark brown color. Once they looked nicely cooked through, I added the garlic and let it simmer for about two minutes. Then I added the Guinness, red wine, tomato sauce, sugar, thyme, parsley and bay leaves. After bringing that mixture to a boil, I reduced the heat, covered and let simmer for a little over an hour.

While that was heating up, I sauteed the carrots, potatoes and onions with some butter for about 25 minutes.

After letting the main mixture simmer for the previously mentioned time, I added the vegetables and let the whole thing simmer uncovered for about 30 minutes. Before serving I removed the bay leaves and then, ENJOYED.

This stew was extremely flavorful in all the right ways. It wasn't too thick, but there also wasn't a lot of broth remaining in my bowl after I devoured the "meat" and veggies. I promise that this dish will impress even meat-lovers. And if it doesn't well, then I'm sorry for the blarney!

Of course I enjoyed it with a side of Guinness! 

Pizza Pot Pie: Party in your mouth

So I don't want to say that this is the best meal I've ever made, but I WILL admit that I've never thought so much about a meal after eating it. Since Friday night, anyone who has been around me has heard about this creation and seen the look of longing in my eye...*siiigh* AHEM

A certain Chicago restaurant made pizza pot pies famous, and I've been craving to go back there for a while, but seeing as I'm on a tight budget, Tom and I decided to try and make our own. I have to be honest, these were better than the restaurant's popular pie.

Since I'm not a real adult yet I haven't quite finished my collection of necessary kitchen supplies, I didn't have any ramekins to make these in. Instead of opting to make one big pot pie in a baking dish (which I can imagine still tastes great), we found these soup mugs for pretty cheap at target. They worked perfectly! Tom's instincts told him that we should use vodka sauce instead of pizza or marinara and I do believe this inclusion made this in to the glorious meal experience that I am now bragging about. These are the ingredients we ended up with

1/2 jar of vodka sauce
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
Handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped
1/2 package fake beef tips/strips (This was the first time I've ever tried Gardein's Beefless Tips, and I was very impressed.)
1/2 package shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan (we opted for a combo package, but one or the other would do)
1 Tbsp Italian seasoning
1 bag garlic pizza dough from Trader Joe's

We preheated the oven to 400 degrees, then combined the onion, cherry tomatoes, and garlic in to a sauce pan. We let those items sizzle for a while, then added our fake beef tips, which I thawed in the microwave for about a minute before throwing them in the pot.

We then threw in the 1/2 jar of vodka sauce and about a tablespoon of Italian seasoning, and stirred until everything was well mixed. I rolled out the pizza dough using a wine bottle since I still don't have a rolling pin and cut the top of our pies by simply placing the upside down soup mug on the rolled-out dough, and cutting around the mug, about one inch out from the rim.

We started packing our pies by beginning with a layer of our cheese, then a quarter of the sauce mixture, per pie, another layer of cheese, the rest of the sauce and topped it with more cheese (I'm not sure if you've noticed, but I'm quite the cheese fanatic). Your ingredients don't need to be at the very top of the cup, but they should be close to the top.

I gently placed the dough on top, we cut it to vent, and sprinkled some more Italian seasoning over the top. After placing them on a baking sheet, we popped them in the oven!

They were in the oven for about 30 minutes, and we knew they were ready to be consumed when they looked like this:

Some recipes call for you to turn these upside down and empty them on to a plate before eating, but we just dove in with a fork. These pot pies, with a side of Yuengling and a serving of Friday the 13th part 7, made for an excellent Friday evening!

Mexican Casserole Love

So I guess now is the time to admit the love affair I've been having for the past four years...with burritos. Growing up in Pittsburgh did not provide a lot of opportunities for genuine Mexican food. My main exposure was through Taco Bell and Chi Chi's, which I loved, of course, but when I moved to Chicago and found a burrito joint on every corner, my passion for this tortilla-rolled delicacy really took flight. I could eat one almost any day of the year, however I restrict myself to about once every other week, due to that whole "extremely fattening" thing. 2 Amigos is my current favorite joint, and at a whole 4 doors down from my boyfriend's place, has become quite the temptress.

Anyhow, after seeing a recipe for Mexican Casserole, I knew I had to make my own version. All the recipes I perused called for different ingredients, so I just combined all of my favorites in to this absolutely delicious (albeit, not very healthy) dish.

The oven was preheated to 350 degrees. In a pan I heated together a can of refried beans, half a package of fake ground beef, 2 cloves garlic, minced, half a green pepper, chopped, 1/2 an onion, chopped, and about half a can of corn. I didn't sautee anything, just heated up so the beans were softer and everything was nicely mixed together. Doesn't that mixture look just plain scrumptious?

 In a casserole dish I placed a large flour tortilla on the bottom, then layered about half the bean dip on it and topped it off with a healthy dose of shredded cheddar cheese.

 Then came another tortilla, topped by the rest of the bean mix. Instead of cheese on top of this part, I sprinkled a decent serving of roasted red pepper seasoning, then topped the whole casserole off with another tortilla and a LOT of shredded cheddar.

It baked in the oven for about 40 minutes, and we just kept an eye on it until it looked like this. Then consumed the crap out of it (with a bunch of sour cream, of course)!

This ended up being the perfect meal for a night in with a movie. I'll probably make this in a bigger casserole dish for my next party. What are your favorite burrito ingredients that you'd include in your own Mexican casserole?

Dang, now I want a burrito...