Saturday, March 16, 2013

Happy St. Patrick's Day (With Recipes)

We love St. Patrick's Day: Ireland (our mom is Irish), green outfits, beer (our parents not us of course), Springtime green (in theory as its snowing now) 







and of course tasty Irish food.  This year mom made Cottage Pies to celebrate, Cottage Pie is really just Shepherds Pie with beef instead of lamb and its damn tasty.   

Cottage Pie for Humans (from Tea and Sympathy


Beef Filling

1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon butter
1 lb. lean ground beef
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1 ¼ cups beef stock
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoons oregano
3 bay leaves
Salt and pepper
4 medium carrots, peeled, chopped, and cooked in boiling water for five minutes or until tender
 1 package Cascadian Farm's  frozen peas
Mashed potatoes
3 lbs. potatoes, peeled and chopped in big chunks
1 stick butter
1/2 cup Whole milk
Salt and pepper to taste.
Grated sharp Cheddar cheese, about 2-3 oz

Small bunch watercress, washed and trimmed (optional)
  • Preheat the oven to 350F.
  • Sauté the onion in the oil and butter until it is soft.
  • Increase heat to high, add the ground beef, and cook until completely browned, separating the meat as it is cooking to avoid winding up with big chunks of meat in the pie.
  • Add tomatoes, stock, Worcestershire, oregano and bay leaves, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 1 hour, until the meat is tender.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste, and add a little more Worcestershire sauce if needed.
  • Transfer the mixture to an ovenproof baking dish and mix in the cooked carrots and frozen peas.
  • Top with an even layer of mashed potatoes and a little grated cheese
  •  Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the top is golden brown.
  • Serve garnished with watercress, if you like.
For the Potatoes

  • Boil the peeled and chopped in chunks potatoes in lightly salted water for 20-25 minutes, until soft.
  • Drain them well and then mash them, stir in the butter and add the milk little by little until you reach your desired consistency.
  • Add salt and pepper to taste.
Cottage Pie for Pups

1 1lb ground beef
1 package Cascadian Farm frozen peas
1 package chopped frozen spinach, thawed
3 large carrots peeled and chopped
1 15 oz can tomato sauce (or if your dog is sensitive to tomatoes 1 1/2 cups beef broth)
3 large sweet potatoes (mom only used two and it was not enough.

Prick the sweet potatoes all over with a fork and microwave on high for 20 minutes.  Set the potatoes aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 350
Cook the beef over medium high heat in a large pot until browned.  Add the spinach and peas as stir.  Add the tomato sauce or beef stock and carrots and stir.  Simmer 20 minutes.   Pour the filling into an ovenproof baking dish or casserole.  Spread the sweet potatoes over (you can see from the above photo that mom did not have nearly enough sweet potatoes.)   Bake for 25 minutes.  Cool.  Serve as a healthy and festive kibble topper.



22 comments:

  1. What? Now beer for you all. Bummer. Happy St. Patrick's day.
    Blessings,
    Goose

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  2. WooHoo....Foodables! Yum!

    Hap-Pee St. Paddy's Day to ya!

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  3. What a SUPER way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Everyone looks so cute in their festive outfits. Both Shepherds' Pies sound so delicious. We don't have any celebrations to participate in tomorrow, but I love to spend a little time watching QVC since they have an all Irish day. I probably need to find a more authentic way to celebrate.

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  4. Great post! I love the outfits and the recipes. You guys are so amazing!! :) :)

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  5. Mmmm.... those do sound yummy! *bookmarks for Jen*

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  6. LOVE the adorable outfits! They are some St. Pawdy's day pups to be proud of!! So what time shall Max and I come over for dinner? :)

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  7. OMG! Your babies look so adorable in green! Hope you have a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

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  8. Top of the morning to ya! We wish you a very happy St Patricks' Day. Make it a good one.
    Hmmmm we are now hungry!
    Best wishes Molly

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  9. Top of the morning to you..We have got cottage pie for tea today, no kidding :) Have a wonderful Sunday xx00xx

    Mollie and Alfie

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  10. OMP first of alls, happy st patty's day! second things... my new stroller, the dogger, YES it does fully enclose with zipper mesh canopy. I will demo that's in an upcoming post when I takes it for a test drives.


    Winston

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  11. Soooo cute! We can't get over your costumes.
    Please can we come and live at your house? Mum is okay but she never cooks like that!
    Dip Bridge and Elliot x

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  12. Happy St Patty's Day! Our Mom is part Irish so we're celebrating with lots of yums too!

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  13. Happy St. Patrick's Day to you guys! Love Ping's dress!

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  14. Cottage Pie ... sounds yummy! Mama saved the recipe and we hope she will make it for us soon.

    Happy St. Pug's Day!!!!!

    Love Zoe, Peyton, Webster, Liberty & Whitney

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  15. Snowing??? Wow - I hate to tell you this but our temps are in the 70s. The cottage pie looks delicious. We will try it with venison.
    We hope the wearing of the green will bring you much luck! Happy St. Patricks Day!

    Nina, Myshka, Sasha, Betsy, Phoebe, Lily, Paris, Punkin, Annabelle, and Lucy.

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  16. Your gang looks great in their St. Patties Day gear. The cottage pie looks so good! Happy Sunday and St Patties Day!

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  17. What I love is how everyone makes their pie different. We use beef, green beans, tomato sauce and of course potatoes, topped with shredded cheddar cheese. :-)

    My Uncle makes his with beef, potatoes and corn.

    Our preferred St. P day dish is corned beef and cabbage. One pot cooking for this little Irish lass. :-)

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  18. Happy Belated St Paddys Day!

    Stop on by for a visit
    Kari
    http://dogisgodinreverse.com/

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  19. the Mama's mouth is watering. She loves love loves cottage pie. It's just soooo...tasty! I'm going to bark at her until she makes me your doggy version!

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  20. You pups are soooo lucky. You get lots of delicious foods.

    I like your St. Patrick's Day attire. You are all beautiful.

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