Guinness Meatpie

Guinness Meatpie was born out of a search for a way off the corned beef bandwagon at St. Patty Day. I wanted to do something other than corned beef and ended up coming up with my quite tasty Guinness Pot Roast. I got to thinking about what else I could do and came up with a Guinness Meat Pie... A savory pie using cubed steak and Guinness, sounds quite tasty and it's on my list only we haven't gone to Costco to do a meat run yet... Well I'm impatient and I wanted to make something special for my hubby, who has recently given me permission to be a tad more experimental in the kitchen... By accusing of me be unimaginative in the kitchen, I might add... I'd tailored my cooking to my hubby since he's such a picky eater, seriously there are maybe a handful of toddlers more picky than my husband... So I took it as an insult and have been trying to adapt new and old recipes around my hubby's shrinking pickiness... He is getting less picky I must confess... He's more willingly to eat something I make, so we've compromised... I asked him to have a little faith in his wife, we have been married for 3 years and I know better than to serve him anything with onions in it... So I've been given permission to try some new recipes... =)

Back to the story now, I'm impatient and wanted to make something with Guinness in it, and the only thing I had left in the freezer was hamburger meat and a pot roast. Didn't have time to defrost the roast in time for dinner, (the pot roast is currently in my crock pot so I foresee a Costco trip is in my near future) so I came up with the idea to make a meatloaf... I had come across this recipe for a meatloaf cooked in a pie plate rather than a loaf pan when I was researching savory meat pies, and decided I'd make my own Guinness Meatpie... =) I adapted this meatloaf recipe and gave it a whirl...

Literally a pie of meat!!!

Guiness Meatpie
- 3 T of butter
- 2 T of minced garlic
- 1 celery stalk - chopped into small pieces
- 1 carrot - chopped into small pieces
- 1 c of Guinness
- 3 beef bouillon cubes
- 1 t of pepper
- 1/3 c of A1 or favorite steak sauce
- 1/3 c of ketchup
- 1 egg
- 2 T of brown sugar
- 1 1/2 of breadcrumbs
- shredded Cheddar Cheese

1. Melt butter in a pan, add garlic and saute a minute, then add the celery and carrot and saute a little longer until tender. Add Guinness, beef cubes, pepper, A1 and ketchup and heat until it boils, lower heat and simmer for a few minutes.

2. In a big bowl mix meat, brown sugar, egg, and breadcrumbs. Add about a cup of the Guinness broth trying to get as many of the veggies as possible. I added too much broth so I added breadcrumbs. I played it with until I got a consistency I was happy with.

3. Press meat mix into a pie plate. Strain some of the leftover Guinness broth and add some more ketchup to thicken it up a bit and spread like a glaze over the top of the pie.

4. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven. I started checking the meatpie after 30 minutes using a meat thermometer to get to 160. I drained off the grease every time I checked the temperature and once I reached 160 I drained again and topped the meat pie with a handful of shredded cheese and a little more Guinness Broth/glaze... All told I think it was in the oven maybe 45 minutes or so... 

The hubby's final take: get rid of the chopped veggies and he doesn't particularly like "glazes" on a meatloaf  but I think that this glaze and the cheese was a perfect final touch...

My final take: I want to add more breadcrumbs,  and some onion powder and figure out how to turn the leftover Guinness "broth" into a better glaze... Maybe try adding the brown sugar to the Guinness broth... Or leaving it out all together

Chicken and Yellow Rice

So I've devoted today to playing catch up and posting the 3 recipes I have back logged to share with you... Each has a story and I've been meaning to post them but since the hubby and I took off on a new adventure recently my "free" time has been devoted to that. Promise to write more on that soon!!!

Chicken and Yellow Rice cooking!!!

The leftovers!

First up is Chicken and Yellow Rice! One of my grandmothers, my Mamaw, used to make Chicken and Yellow Rice when I was a little girl and it is a FAVORITE of mine... It's just so good... I was probably about 16 the last time I was able to get to her make it for me, so it's been almost 15 years since I've had my Mamaw's Chicken and Yellow Rice... I've tried very unsuccessfully to recreate it... You might ask why not just ask her for her recipe, and its never as simple as that, her health has declined over the years and it just never crosses my mind when I talk to her, which isn't often, which says something about the family dynamics I'm sure but I love my Mamaw and her Chicken and Yellow Rice... It had been awhile since I've thought of my Mamaw's CYR, I'm guessing it's because the last attempt was SO bad, I just wrote it off as being something magical my Mamaw makes... Well it popped into my mind around Christmas time and I haven't been able to get it out of my mind... So I finally brought some yellow rice so I'd have it around while I figured out the chicken part... Then the hubby had taken out chicken wings from the freezer to make wings or chicken soup or something and then we got busy and he never made whatever it was he wanted to make and I needed to make something with it and figured here's my chance to figure it out... And I did!!!

The only things I had to go on were the fact I had coveted the rice as a kid and used to get SO excited when I saw her buy it, the yellow foil package is forever ingrained in my soul, and that she boiled the chicken, then hand shredded the chicken from the bones. When I was younger I used to think it was weird and crazy and surely there is something easier, and I tried several other methods of cooking the chicken and nothing ever came out the same way so I figured I'd go for it... I went simple and it was tasty... My brother was over dropping off his roommate's kids (I was babysitting) and he gave it his stamp of approval and he's had it more recently then me!!! =) I only managed to get a picture of the leftovers as I devoured them after I had gotten the boys in bed and the other kids home...Perfect end to a hectic evening with me and 5 kids!!!

Chicken and Yellow Rice

- Chicken - I used a package of chicken wings from Costco. I think it is 6 whole wings in a pack... It comes in a freezer ready pack and there's like 6 packs in the slab you get from Costco... I think you could use any kind of chicken, I remember her hand shredding the chicken, there were bones and skin, so I think it was a whole chicken but I'm not sure, I'll use breast next time and see how it turns out.
- 4 Chicken bouillon cubes
- Water about 6 cups???
- Yellow Rice
- Butter

1. Create a stock out of the water and chicken flavor cubes. Boil chicken for 45 minutes or so. Until you're certain the chicken is done...
2. Take out the chicken and shred off the bone.
3. Prepare rice as directed only use strained chicken stock as the water and I added a little extra water and butter since you toss in the chicken right into the pot... I used 2 1/4 cups of water and 3T of butter for a 5oz bag of the rice... I also stirred it halfway through which I know is a rice no no but I didn't want the chicken to stick to the bottom of the pan... It didn't and the rice came out so it wasn't so bad... =)

As I light...

My parents, Sister and I at my Mother's 58th Birthday Party

My Mother passed away the Saturday before Easter last year, on April 23rd and as we approach this particular passing of time, I don't feel right calling it an "anniversary" for some reason, many things float in and out of my head... For example, this entire season will be painful for awhile I suppose... One of the things I got from my Mom was my love of traditional holidays, her favorite holidays and mine for the same reasons are Thanksgiving and Passover, and we just entered the Passover season last weekend, so of course she's on my mind... Last year I didn't celebrate Passover, they had a small Seder at the Hospice House with her and I had such a difficult time being there I didn't go, but this year we kept up with tradition and went to a family friends' house and celebrated the holiday the way my Mom loved to celebrate Passover, with lots of wine, laughter, and of course with family and friends... And it was bittersweet... I'm glad to know I managed to make my way through Passover without falling apart completely, I was afraid Passover would be ruined for me...

Then came Easter, which we didn't celebrate when I was a kid, since she passed on Saturday we didn't really celebrate Easter last year, but I was determined to not associate one with the other, especially since Easter was early this year and I was doing alright with it until one of my cousins made a reflection on facebook about her personal journey in dealing with the loss of my Mom... I broke down thinking about how hard last Easter was, but then I thought about my cousin's reflection on trying to focus on the life side of things this year rather than the death side and I pulled myself together and hopefully celebrated a decent Easter with my boys, our first real Glahn family Easter... I hope we keep the Easter Pizza tradition... =)

Tonight my Dad and I are going to Temple for my Mother's yahrzeit... I'm not Jewish but I was raised in a Jewish home, so I know a bit about the faith and customs but am by no means an expert, but I know enough that I can honor my Mother's faith and memory. The Jewish calendar is different from the civil calendar so her yahrzeit is on a different day every year... So of course that's thrown into the mix. This year I'm figuring out the calendar thing and I've actually missed the day I was supposed to light her candle, I'll light it today and say some prayers for her and I'll get it right year... I had a moment when I realized this and I felt absolutely horrible but I think my Mom understands... I can remember times when she missed her Dad's being busy being Mom, but she'd lite it   =)

Next will come the actual 23rd, and I'm weird where once I fixate on a date I will never forget it and the meaning it has... April 23rd, will never be just the 23rd of April anymore, I've asked my hubby to take off so I won't be alone, and even have considered asking a friend to come spend the day with me if the hubby can't get the day off... Part of me wishes her passing wasn't surround by holidays and that calendars where universal so I only had one day I had to be reminded of her passing, but I don't think its as simple as that... I honor my Mother, and her life, and her memory everyday, but I feel like I deserve a day where I can remember her passing and think about how it much it sucks she gone and selfishly curl into the fetal position, stay in bed and cry over how much I miss her and wish her back to us again, without feeling like a horrible mother and wife because of it... All that emotion reminds me that sometimes it back to taking in just one day at a time or even one moment at a time....

I am however comforted by thoughts of the joy my Mother would get out of all the new life coming into the world... My best friend found out she's going to have her 3rd child on Easter, my brother and sister in law are going to find out next Tuesday whether they're having a boy or a girl, one of my friends is getting married in October, another dear friend is also pregnant... So much life and joy to celebrate, that's the circle of life though right?

Ranting 101: Fun Stuff minirant

I am I cursed to only have so much fun? I have to wonder after this happening twice in the same week to me. First I was sent me an email "Save The Date" letting me know my 10 year High School Reunion was the same night as a friend's wedding, pooey... Of course I'm going to the wedding as long as I am invited but why couldn't it have worked out that they were on different nights? I even have someone who I don't feel guilty asking to babysit... That's MAJOR...

Then this morning I noticed that my favorite band, Cowboy Mouth, had posted some new tour dates, and FINALLY they were coming to Charlotte, I've been stalking the website for months waiting for them to make it back here, it was a priority for me you see to make sure I got a babysitter or a girlfriend go with me and see them. It's been years (okay 2 but still its pural) since I've seen them and I've really wanted to make sure to take sometime for myself and actually go... BUT a couple days ago Bobby was asked to be in a wedding and the concert is the day before the wedding, which usually means a rehearsal of some sort... We don't have the details yet so I'm not sure if I'll be able to work it out or not...

Both weddings come first in a heart beat of course but it still feels like a curse against us having too much fun, especially because I finally have a babysitter and could make all of it work out if it if only it wasn't at the same time... It's 4 events, that is 1 event every 3 months and that's not asking too much is  Mother Fate? It's more than we've ever asked for before... We've had a babysitter 3 times in the last 3 years... And once was for my mother's funeral and that shouldn't be counted... Right?

Carpet Wars

So a few weeks ago I posted about my Project Iron the Carpet where I literally ironed my carpet. I spent a total of 7 hours over 3 nights ironing my carpet and after awhile while those spots were cleaner, the rest of the carpet was just bad and continued to get worse, seeing as I let the carpet go for a week or two longer than I would have while I tried to figure out something else... While doing research on it I discovered that my problem was probably stemming from my over zealousness to get my carpet clean and I was therefore using too much soap and as I wasn't doing a water rinse. So there was quite the build up of what's called detergent residue. So I decided to go back to basics and keep things simple. So tonight I spent 2.5 hours cleaning my carpets, again. I first did a water rinse to try to get up some of the detergent residue and the recent dirty stuff up. I followed up with a vinegar wash. I used a half water half vinegar mix. Then followed with a second water rinse. I am confident that the carpet is the cleanest I am going to get it. I need to figure out a good carpet spot stain remover. Once I figure that out I think I'll have the carpet situation until complete control but for now I've got it under control...

Some things to note about this process. You can tell how clean I was getting the carpets by simply watching the water I was dumping. During the first water rinse it was a thick almost chalky soapy but not sudsy water, then during the vinegar wash it was just dirty, but then the second water rinse wasn't clear but it was certainly cleaner and more "dirty waterish" than the first water rinse. Also the carpet fibers had the same dirty to clean to them. The chunks of fibers that clump up kinda of like lint, went from black to a greyish to white like new fresh fiber was being pulled up. There was also a definite reduction in the amount of fiber pulled up too. Like I said I am confident that the carpet is as clean as I am going to get it. I just need to find a good set stain carpet remover and I'll have my carpet cleaning system down pat!

The Before

The After

The Before

The After

DIY Soaps

Lately I've been all about figuring out what works for us... Whether its been routines, cleaning schedules, what keeps me motivated to get everything done, or better habits for all of us, I feel like I am starting from scratch and having to figure what is going to work for us now that we're in our own place and everything is up to us. The year and half we spent living with my parents while I was taking care of Mom, everything was already in place, their routines, cleaning (Dad has a maid service), etc. So I feel like I've spent the last 6 months figuring out everything all over again and I'm finally getting there... Which means I have more thought and time and resources to go into some other projects... Yay!!!

Which brings me to the new projects I've been working on. So I've seen on pinterest the DIY cleaners and soaps and I decided to jump on the band wagon and figure out if that's what is going to work for us. I really liked the idea of keeping things simple, using less chemicals and all that... So I went to the hubby and talked to him about it and he liked the idea but didn't want to make large amounts of anything until we know how we like it, so I said I can make that work... I didn't plan it out this way but it worked out to where I've made the soaps in the amounts that I'd usually buy so we'll really be able to see the difference in actual usage. The DIY soaps are suppose to last longer so we'll see. I marked my canisters that I'm storing the soap in with the start date and so I'll know for sure how long it lasted... All my practical calculations were based on volumes on packages and the idea of using 2 Tablespoons a load/run. I will recalculate everything again once I know what the actual usage is...

I brought from Wal Mart; a box of Borax, Washing Soda (who knew such a thing existed?) Lemi Shine, Oxi Clean, regular old salt, canisters to keep the soaps in, and Bar Detergent Soap. You also need baking soda which I had on hand. I use it a cup at a time in the boys bath when they have diaper rash, it feels like one of them always has it, so we buy it in bulk from Costco. I made Dishwasher Soap and Wash Soap (laundry soap) that should last me about 3 months. Guess we'll see...

DIY Dishwasher Soap

The How To

I found the pin and decided to not mess with it any. It calls for 3 cups of Borax and 3 cups of Washing Soda. 1.5 cups of salt and the whole container of Lemi Shine. I mixed it up in the container by closing it up and shaking it well. It smells lemony so that's a good thing...

The Practical Stuff - Using volume for the calculations and given that I'm going to use 2T a load.  This mix will roughly make 72 runs of the dishwasher. All the stuff in the mix cost me $7.52 and makes it works out to roughly $0.10 a load. Compare that to powdered detergent and its roughly $0.09 a load. So maybe its not technically cost effective. But that's the math, we'll see how long it lasts.

How Does it Work?
I've washed my dishwasher using it, which was advice I had gotten awhile go that you should clean your dishwasher by running it empty every once and awhile and I figured I'd better start off fresh. I guess will see how it works and whether I notice a difference... =) 
*** Updated: 3/26/12 OMG I love this soap! I can see the difference in my silverware! My dishwasher is brighter and cleaner and so it seems are my dishes. I played around with some plates and left gunk on to see how well it works, for this dishwasher I still to scrap and clean off in the sink what I would have with the other stuff. Like I said a second ago, I can see a difference in my silverware. I have a stainless steel set that was pretty decent before but this soap doesn't leave any residue and barely any water spots, I think if I add some more rinse aid to my dishwasher, those would be gone. Amazing difference and totally worth the penny difference per load. I even have started using a little less because its SO clean, I don't think I need that much soap...
 

DIY Wash or Laundry Soap

The How To
I did things a little differently than the woman I linked you back to, since I compromised with the hubby about making smaller amounts I tweaked hers a bit. The only tricky bit is grating up the bar soap. I actually cut myself on the grater, oops... Since I used 3 cups out of the Borax and washing soda I decided to use the rest of it for the Wash Soap ( I call the laundry the "wash" so it's playing out in my head as Wash Soap). I dumped the Borax into the container, measured out what was left of the washing soda so I could use the same amount of baking soda which was 3 cups, added the whole container of Oxi Clean  since I have some messy boys in my house and then I grated up the bar soap and added it. Then I closed up the container to shake it all up. The Oxi Clean came with a pretty decent scooper so I think I'm just going to use it.

The Practical Stuff
The math works out to 96 loads with our average of a load a day it should be roughly 3 months worth of soap... With a cost of $10.65 it comes out to $0.11 a load. Compared to $0.18 a load for Gain powder which is what I normally use. It already comes out cost effective.

How Does It Work?
Well I've done a load of wash and it smells clean and seems brighter. But to be honest it could be one of those mind over matter things. So stayed tuned and I'll let you know how it goes...

Our Puppet Theatre

I recently read a wonderful article about the common excuses or hurdles Moms need to overcome to before more "hands on". Definitely one article that was thought provoking and inspirational. I've started to make some serious changes because of the article. I fall into most of those hurdles and her counterpoints to the hurdles are definitely true as well. I almost feel silly maybe even lazy for not coming to this point sooner. I've been planning on doing so much with them but waiting until they're older or more skilled or have longer attention spans, and that just isn't the way to do it.

One of the points is that "The arts and craft projects never turn out!"

I feel like this is SO true. I am always intimidated by posting photos of our projects because they're never as neat or clean or whatever as the ones I've seen on the interwebs... Not that my children's artwork isn't gorgeous or artistic or a million times better than anything I see, I guess I always kind of figured the "polish" look comes from doing it with older kids... IDK but its not an excuse anymore... =)

I made us a Puppet Theatre!!! I fashioned it out of duck tape and the cardboard from a case of Coke... I even thought to make the "backdrops" interchangeable so that I can start to make puppets and scenes and keep a collection going for puppet theatre anytime... Kudos to Disney for giving a template for Jake and the Neverland Puppets. I printed coloring pages of Hook's Gang and I've got the whole set! I plan to tape the inside of the box too so it looks better... =)

Some Tips

* I came in from the top so that I could stand or sit behind it and just face the boys to make it work
* I taped a folder and a plastic sheet protector to the back so that I can change out back drops for different shows. I plan to make one using Space as a theme since Dylan is into rockets and space right now...