My St. Patty's Day Partay

The line up!

I had a belated St. Patty's Day party due to the fact that St. Patrick's day was on a Wednesday this year and the stew I was making took four hours to cook. (Yes, you read that right.)

Lately, I have not been a big fan of beef, or at least my stomach hasn't. But the rest of the recipe made this soooo enticing. Guinness beer, parsnips, turnips, etc. I did follow one person's advice on the stew and I used not so many parsnips and turnips and substituted the rest with potatoes.

And of course, I burned the bottom of the pan in the browning process, but no one else can taste it in the stew. (Either I am crazy or they are... )
Try it! - http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1963989



Steaming stew of amazingness!



Steaming stew of amazingness! part 2.



The final product with parsley on top.

And I couldn't pass up the chance to make a turkey meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and green bean casserole. To my surprise, the turkey meatloaf was delicious and moist. Ground turkey does not always make a good substitute for beef. If cooked just a few minutes too long, all the juices drain and you get hockey pucks... seriously.
Pretty amazing. - http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1639,154188-242194,00.html

My infamous garlic mashed potatoes (no garlic for Kat) were a hit. This is my mother's simple recipe, doctored a little by me. Here it goes.

INGREDIENTS*
Red Skinned Potatoes - Do NOT peel them.
Sour Cream
Garlic Salt

*Note - there are no measurements for a reason. Also, Red skins are the best potatoes to use, per my grandfather who ran a restaurant.

Cut potatoes in half or quarters so they cook quicker. Boil potatoes in salted water till tender with a fork. Drain. Put back in pot. Add some sour cream. Now add one more big scoop of sour cream (a little too much is the perfect touch.) Douse with garlic salt (Mind you I make at least 5 pounds of potatoes at a time and remember my disclosure of me forgetting salt... it may not be as much as you think.) And mash, skins and all.

My improv green bean casserole goes something like this.

INGREDIENTS
3 cans of green beans
2 cans of cream of mushroom soup
French fried onions

Mix beans and soup together in a large casserole dish that has a lid. Top with French Fried Onions. Cover with lid and place in oven preheated at 350 degrees. Cook for a half an hour.



Ah, comfort food!



The amazing meal!

Thanks to my great friends (Kat, Steph, Francis, Steve, and Matt) we also had plenty of wine, Guinness and Guinness cake. awesomeness!

Foodie Beginnings

Things you will find in this blog –
A variety of LA and Detroit (Warren), MI area restaurant reviews. As well as restaurant reviews from wherever else my traveling wanderlust takes me.

Rachel’s Recipe Reviews (Triple R threat! Say that 3x fast!) – I’m always experimenting and tweaking new dishes that I find from a variety of online and print sources. I’m always on the hunt to find that flavor or to try that new ingredient.

COMFORT FOOD. There is no denying that I love comfort food and that means you will find all things mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, burgers, pasta, etc. on here. I also love ethnic foods, including but not limited to, Mexican, Greek, Indian, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Polish, German, Irish, etc. And when it comes to my flavor favorites I love bringing out those bitter/sour notes, i.e. sauerkraut, pickled veggies, beer, etc.

Things You Won’t Find in this Blog
Shredded Coconut and certain other sweet treats. We all have texture issues and shredded coconut and orange juice pulp top my list. I will have no entrees that are sweetened or have sweet sauce. This actually dates way back to growing up with a type one diabetic mom, which meant limited sugar intake, and can be attributed to my lack of a sweet tooth for dinner. And despite my love of savory dishes sometimes I subconsciously omit salt from certain recipes because I can’t stand things too salty.