Irish Beef Stew

Recently we bought 1/4 of a cow and our freezer is FULL of meat.  I have been slowly making the switch to more organic and/or local foods but it is a slow process for a couple of reasons.  First, it is more expensive so it takes some time to make adjustments in the budget for that. Second, not everything we eat can be purchased locally or organically.  While we have made improvements, Joe will never completely give up his blue box of macaroni and cheese, nor do I really want him to if he doesn't want to.  Meat has been one of the things that I have wanted to make the switch to buying more locally and we finally did it after a friend was selling her livestock for beef.  We now have a freezer full of grain-fed, local beef.  I ended up with a bunch of stew meat, but I don't really use it for anything but beef stew or beef tips.  So, I went in search for something a little different and I found a keeper!

Pinterest was my friend once again and I found a recipe here for Irish Beef Stew and Mashed Potatoes.  Oh my word...I thought we would have leftovers and we didn't really have much other than a bit for lunch the next day.  I tweaked the recipe a bit because I needed to add more beef stock at the end and Joe doesn't like rosemary.  This lovely recipe will certainly be going into the rotation!  

INGREDIENTS
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 lb. stew meat

4 large carrots, peeled & chopped

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

salt & pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1 large bay leaf

2 1/2 cups beef broth

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup frozen peas

DIRECTIONS

1. In large pot, brown stew meat in olive oil until browned on all sides, about 4 minutes.

2. Pour in onions, carrots, garlic and spices. Cook another 5 minutes.

3. Deglaze pan with beef broth. Cover and simmer 4 hours or until meat is very tender. (Next time, I am going to throw it in the crockpot and see how it turns out. I didn't much like babysitting it for 4 hours.)

4. In a small bowl stir softened butter and flour together until smooth and incorporated. Stir butter mixture into the stew with the frozen peas. Once the gravy thickens slightly, it's done. (I was skeptical of the whole "butter and flour thing" but other than using a bigger bowl to incorporate it, it worked really well!)

5. Serve hot over mashed potatoes. 

It was really, really good! The flavor was amazing, the meat was falling apart...amazing!

Top 5 Friday!

Many Fridays have come and gone since my last Top 5 Friday but I am here today!  This week's Top 5 is dedicated to the Top 5 things I am looking forward to!

1. Overnight beach trip-It seems like it has been forever since the three of us have gone to the beach overnight and that will be remedied this weekend and again in June!  This weekend we are going for one night outside of Lincoln City and I am super excited.  We don't have anything for sure planned, but I think we will be able figure it all out!  And then in June, we are heading up to Cannon Beach for the weekend.  I am super excited for this, especially because it is the same weekend as the sand castle competition!

2. Fancy Nancy Musical- That's right!  There is a Fancy Nancy Musical that is coming to Portland and we have tickets for the Saturday before Mother's Day.  I fully expect that we will be appropriately accessorized! And yes, there will be pictures.

3. Taelin's Dance Recital- Taelin has been loving her new dance studio and could not be more excited for the upcoming recital.  She will be doing 4 dances with her class (and I think some kind of finale).  So far, she is most excited about the ballet dance they are doing to the Pink Panther theme song and the Purple People Eater tap dance!  It is full on recital hair/make up, 2 shows in one day and while I have a feeling it is going to be a bit crazy at times, I am really looking forward to it!

4.  Work Trips-I have been extremely fortunate in my career to have some amazing learning opportunities and I have two coming up in the next month.  First, a trip to California for 3 days that will give me and a couple of co-workers a chance to meet with 27 other mentor projects from around the country.  It isn't a bad thing that it will be on the beach either...  Then, in June, I have an amazing opportunity to go to Chicago with another co-worker to go through the training to become a certified New Teacher Center trainer.  This is just the start of a year long process of becoming official, but when finished will certify me to present the same training that I received when I first became a mentor.  Both take me away from home and my teachers, which is a bummer but they are both great growth opportunities for me.

5. Gardening/Yard Work- Last year, I declared myself overwhelmed with trying to take care of the yard and hired someone to help every week.  Joe wasn't convinced at first but I think he agrees now that it is one of the best splurges every month.  The yard looks great right now and my eyes don't itch one little bit.  Why is gardening and yard work making the list then?  Because, now that the stuff I hate to do (mowing, edging, weeding, etc) is done by someone else (and done quite well) I can spend time doing the things I like to do, like planting flowers for decoration and taking care of my veggie boxes.  I already have a ton of veggies in my three boxes and have added a corn area because we all love corn.  The strawberries, blueberries and raspberries are looking fantastic!  I love picking and choosing my outdoor work!

April Photo a Day (and hopefully a return to blogging)

Phew...it is the 2nd day of May and I have been a horrible blogger.  I have been keeping up on my photo a day (for the most part, I might have had to borrow an extra photo a few times) but haven't been keeping up on posting them here or on my Project Life.  But...I am going to try and change that!

So...here are my photos from April!  Spring is definitely here and we have had some amazing days! I am so looking forward to summer.  I have seven weeks until the end of the school year and I am looking forward to wrapping up this school year!  I am not wishing for them to go too fast as there are a lot of things (for work and for play) but also looking forward to some lazy summer days!

april 1, 2014

april 2, 2014

april 3, 2014

april 4, 2014

april 5, 2014

april 6, 2014

april 7, 2014

april 8, 2014

april 9, 2014

april 10, 2014

april 11, 2014

april 12, 2014

april 13, 2014

april 14, 2014

april 15, 2014

april 16, 2014

april 17, 2014

april 18, 2014

april 19, 2014

april 20, 2014

april 21, 2014

april 22, 2014

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april 24, 2014

april 25, 2014

april 26, 2014

april 27, 2014

april 28, 2014

april 29, 2014

april 30, 2014

Seriously...dance recital hair stresses me out!

The instructions are "no whispies or loose bits"

I am about to lose my own bits trying to figure this out!

Top Five Friday: The 5 reasons this is my first blog post since Feb 16th

SO....it's been awhile.  And my post tonight it dedicated to my top 5 excuses reasons that I haven't write a post in awhile.

1. I am way behind in my photo organizing. Every time I sit down to my photo a week post, I decided it will just take too much time and then I don't.  Probably not the greatest idea.

2.  I have been reading...a lot!  And when I get into a good book, then that's pretty much what I do until it's done.

3.  Somebody has been either sick, getting sick or getting better since...well, I don't know when.

4. Joe and I have been t.v. marathoning (I don't think that is actually a verb but it is the only one that fits) a few different shows at night.  And I am not great at writing and watching....

5. My brain is almost too full of stuff to write but in order to get it less full, I really should be writing, but I can't because my brain is too full of stuff to write....  Ya, you see where that leads.

Anyway, I going to try and be better.  My goal is to get the photo stuff caught up with weekend.  And I think I am going to look at the writing prompts from www.creativewritingprompts.com and see if I can't get my brain a little less full.

Photo a Day Jan 27-Feb 9

Sigh....I fell behind. I had been doing so well for the first few weeks of the year and then...well...then I wasn't.  But, luckily, I can start over anytime I want.  I don't have this week ready but here are the two weeks prior!

jan 27, 2014
a beautiful day at the park 

jan 28, 2014
playing babies is still one of her favorite things to play

jan 29, 2014
A sick daddy?  Taelin knows that a Sofia blanket and Pooh will fix it all

jan 30, 2014
pajama day at preschool!  she was SO excited

jan 31, 2014
sunset view from the beach house

feb 1, 2014
spent the weekend with these ladies!  SO.  MUCH.  FUN!

feb 2, 2014
last minute picture before we left to go back home
i wonder why it is i don't live at the beach whenever i go

feb 3, 2014
a very upset little girl who has a Dora doll missing a shoe

feb 4, 2014
love this girl and her love for art

feb 5, 2014
so...I corrected a class set of writing samples for one of my teachers
I can honestly say I don't miss correcting papers...at all

feb 6, 2014
this was the view from my window Thursday morning.
 I was home because I snow day had been called.

feb 7, 2014
lots of snow finally made it's way...we measure a foot on our back table

feb 8, 2014
sledding in the cul de sac

feb 9, 2014
very much snowed in...and we loved the time home together!

Snowpocalypse 2014

We are on the eve of the third snow day off from school (but 5 days total) you would think that with all the time at home, that I would have caught up on some of the blog posts that I brewing...but no.

See, snow days with an almost 5 year are a lot different that snow days of past.  Those snow days were filled will sleeping in, reading books, ridiculous t.v. marathons, naps...etc.  But these last few days have been filled a little differently.  Lots of wet snow clothes from the multiple trips outside to break up the ongoing days of being pretty much trapped in the house.  Keeping Taelin happy and entertained has proved to be a little more difficult than I anticipated.  She has SO much energy (even after playing in the snow) that you can tell the walls are starting to close in a little bit.

Before she went to bed tonight, we made a list for tomorrow of things we wanted to do.  I am really hoping that the snow/now slush melts enough so that we can make it to gymnastics tomorrow afternoon.  I don't mean to sound ungrateful at all for the time with my family.  Three nights ago, the tone of this post would have been much different.  Joe worked from home most of Thursday and Friday, which gave us some flexibility of playing in the snow.  We walked up and down the street after dark, the only ones really out.  It was so quiet, expect for our voices and Taelin's laughter, as the snow fell around us.  It was just amazing.

Here are some pictures from the last few days...

I woke up to a call Thursday morning that we had a snow day off from school.
  This was what I saw out my window.
 I was bummed for a couple of reasons, most of which included a work
day that I had planned with one of my teachers that was going to be awesome.  

It started to snow Thurday mid-day and it was clear that the district had made the right decision in regards to cancelling.  Traveling on the roads wasn't a great idea.  Joe picked Taelin and I up to go out for lunch and about an hour after we were back, we were happy to be off the roads.

Friday morning fun!

I especially love the hat and the earmuffs.  I tried to get her to ditch the earmuffs
as they weren't really doing anything but when she explained that it was "her style", who was I to argue?

Our Friday night walk...we took Tucker thinking we would want to come in
right away, but he LOVED every minute of it.  What a silly dog.

Not the greatest picture, but they are in the middle of
the road and we were all by ourselves.

Friday night before we went to bed.
And then it snowed all day Saturday.

Saturday mid-day

View from the from of the house to the street Saturday afternoon.

24 hours later, Sunday afternoon
The front year has a snowman, the sidewalks have been shoveled (my body aches)
and the roads are really slushy/icey/slippery.
I am glad (although getting stir crazy) that I don't have to try and go
 to work tomorrow (which I was actually scheduled to do)

So, we will see what tomorrow brings.  I am pretty sure that Joe will work from home again tomorrow as we helped 3 cars try and get up that "hill" in front, which is really nothing.  We walked up to Trader Joe's this evening and stocked up on a few essentials that we were running low on (milk, cheese, fruit, raspberry sorbet) you know, the essentials.  I don't think we will be home another day after tomorrow but if for some reason we are, we are ready.