Healthified Home-Corned Beef

February 16, 2015 Amanda Plott

I've always been a bit intrigued with St. Patrick's day. Perhaps it's because I've got some Irish roots. It could also have something to do with some over zealous teachers when I was in elementary school making a big hub-ub about the holiday. I remember that we had a little Leprechaun visit our room, and all though none of us children saw him he managed to leave glitter and rainbows in his wake. As far as I remember he did some rather naughty things too. Turned desks upside down and even turned our milk green. Those mischievous and sneaky little Leprechauns!

When I started making corned beef a few years back, I began doing so with the pre-brined corned beef briskets that you can buy at the store. But, this year I wanted to try and do something a little different. I began to do some research into the matter and found that - YES, you can corn your own beef and that it is really easy to do!...

Crock Pot Peaches & Cream Irish Oatmeal (Quicker)

April 29, 2014 Amanda Plott

I have really been in the mood for peaches lately. Perhaps I'm more ready for summer than I thought. In the summer, peaches have to be one of my most favorite things in the world to eat.

I couldn't be more happy about the city of Fredericksburg being right down the road from me. A lot of the locals from there will sell their homegrown peaches on the side of the roads here when peach season is upon us. It's heaven...

Healthified Irish Nachos

March 11, 2014 Amanda Plott

Irish nachos get their name from the fact that they are basically like any other traditional 'nacho' except that they are made by using potato rather than tortilla chips, and are often served in any pub along side a beer!

Of course, they are not generally the most healthy option that you can find. With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I thought I would give this classic a healthy twist in honor of my Irish heritage...

Skinny Irish Car Bomb Brownies

February 26, 2014 Amanda Plott

Irish Car Bombs are a super tasty alcoholic drink that always makes it's appearance around St. Patrick's Day.

Don't know what an Irish Car Bomb is? Well, it's a fun little drink where you drop a shot of whiskey and irish cream into a Guinness beer and then quickly chug it down. You really have to chug it down before the cream curdles in the beer. Bleck! And you don't want that.

I always like to play around with combining drink recipes and dessert recipes. After all, what's more fun than cooking with alcohol? Not. Much...

Skinny Shepherd's Pie

February 13, 2014 Amanda Plott

I'm irish and... rather proud of it. Even so, the first time I ever had Shepherd's Pie was when I cooked it for myself. It was a rather easy recipe to prepare and of course goes along famously with St. Patrick's Day.

Now, I've never been to Ireland, so I can't really say whether this is a traditional style variation or not. Though from what I can tell, every recipe seems to be different - just with the basic idea that meat and vegetables make up the bottom layer while potatoes of some sort are spread over the top...