Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I’m big on serving themed meals on holidays.  I like jambalaya and King Cake on Mardi Gras; fun, heart-shaped treats on Valentine’s, spooky goodies for Halloween, and of course, something Irish for St. Patrick’s Day. 

This year I’m not cooking a St. Patrick’s Day themed meal since I’m on vacation, but I thought I would provide you with a nice list of recipes so you can cook the meal yourself. 

Enjoy and happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Bread:

Cheddar Soda Bread

Parmesan Scones

Soda Bread

Main Dishes:

Shepherd’s Pie

Corned Beef and Cabbage

Beef and Guinness Stew

Desserts:

The only dessert recipe I’ve ever made for St. Patrick’s Day is my Crème de Menthe brownies.  What’s not to like?  They have a green filling and they’re chocolate.  A perfect combination.  But if you aren’t a fan or you are looking for something more traditional, try these:

Traditional Irish Desserts

Shamrock Cupcakes

Chocolate-Irish Cream Cheesecake

Blarney Stones

Vacation Bound

If you’ve been following my on Twitter, then you know I’m heading to the beach today.  I’ve got some short posts lined up for tomorrow and Friday and some great ideas stewing for next week. 

What I'm hoping my view will be like...

You should also be incredibly impressed (I know I was); I’ve already planned my menu for next week AND made a grocery list.  My mother has offered to go to the store for me (isn’t she the best?) so I’ll come home on Sunday to a stocked refrigerator, and hopefully rested and ready for a great week.  I haven’t written the blog post yet, but I have to have something to stress about Sunday night, right?

In the meantime, if you feel like it, drop me a quick email (lizy1285 [at] gmail [dot] com) or leave me a comment telling me some things you would like to see more of around here.  More stuff about libraries?  More recipes?  More tips on budgeting?  More randomness?  I’m always on the lookout for new ideas and y’all know how much I value your input. 

I hope everyone has a fabulous rest of the week and a great weekend! 

Recipe: Shrimp and Grits

Shrimp and grits is one of my favorite dishes.  For those of you not from the South, shrimp and grits is a Lowcountry classic; it was originally served as breakfast to hungry fisherman and shrimpers during shrimp season, but has seen a revival and is now very trendy.  It’s not unusual to find shrimp and grits on brunch, lunch, and dinner menus and I’ve even had it served to me as part of a “grits bar” at weddings. 

Shrimp and grits is something I’ve made for a while and it’s what I served to my mother on her birthday.  I needed a new recipe and I wanted to create a one dish meal and avoid serving a vegetable on the side.  I was lucky enough to find several recipes that I merged together to create this one.  I think it’s my best recipe creation to date.

Shrimp and Grits – Serves 4

Shrimp:

1½ pounds unpeeled large shrimp

1 pound fresh asparagus

3 slices bacon (optional)

2-3 tablespoons butter

1 (8 oz) package sliced fresh mushrooms

1 bunch green onions, cut into ½ inch pieces

1 clove garlic, minced

½ teaspoon dried thyme

2 tablespoons white wine

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon Tabasco (optional or to taste)

Salt and pepper

Grits:

4 cups milk (whole is best)

1½ teaspoons salt

1 cup uncooked grits (old fashioned or stone ground, not quick cooking or instant)

1 cup grated gruyere cheese

1 tablespoon butter

½ teaspoon pepper

Peel and devein shrimp.  Snap off and discard tough ends of the asparagus.  Cut into 1 inch pieces

Cook bacon in a large skillet until crunchy.  Remove, crumble, and set aside.  Drain all but one tablespoon of bacon drippings from the pan.  Melt two tablespoons of butter in with the drippings.  If you aren’t using bacon, melt an extra tablespoon of butter or use 1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Meanwhile, bring the milk and salt to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat for the grits.  Slowly whisk in grits.  Reduce heat to low (make sure your grits don’t burn on the bottom or bubble too much) and simmer, uncovered for 20 minutes, stirring often.  Remove from heat and stir in cheese, butter, and pepper.

Add mushrooms to the skillet and sauté for 2-3 minutes.  Add in asparagus and green onions; cook for 2 or 3 minutes longer.  Stir in garlic and thyme, season well with salt and pepper.  Cook for an additional few minutes or until the mushrooms look browned.  You may need to add a little more butter or oil to keep everything from getting too dry.  Stir in wine, then shrimp.  Cook for 2 minutes.  Stir in lemon juice and Tabasco, if using.  Season with a little more salt and pepper and cook just until shrimp turn pink.  Serve immediately over warm grits.

I really need to stop taking pictures with my phone.  Sorry for the bad shot.  Again.

This post is linked to Tasty Tuesday and Delicious Dishes

Menu Plan Monday

This week I'm trying something new.  I'm going to plan my lunches and stick to my plan.  I'm doing this because I've noticed myself having a little bit of trouble getting myself together in the mornings (big shock, I know) and getting my lunch packed.  I prefer to take my lunch, both for budget reasons and because it's hard to find vegetarian options at the hospital.  I'm hoping that by planning and packing my lunch ahead of time, it will make mornings that much easier.

This is also going to be a short week because I'm going to the beach this week!  I did a good job eating through my leftovers last week, so I cooked one meal last night and I should (fingers crossed) be able to avoid any food waste this week.

Sunday

Penne a la Betsy

Monday

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: Pasta tossed with broccoli, garlic, and olive oil (dinner with my parents)

Tuesday

Lunch: leftovers

Dinner: leftovers

Wednesday

Lunch: soup, crackers and cheese

Do you have any fun meals planned this week?

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday.

Weekly Wanderings

Weekly Wanderings: What I Found While Wandering Around the Blogosphere

 Food:

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins – I’ve been thinking about a banana chocolate chip muffin for quite some time now (no idea why) so I was very excited to run across this recipe.  I just happen to have a cup of mashed bananas in the freezer!

Weeknight Bolognese – I’ve been meaning to try this recipe from How Easy Is That?, Ina Garten’s newest cookbook (y’all know how much I love me some Ina).  I really like Annie’s suggestion of making it with ground turkey and whole wheat pasta for a little healthier twist. 

Butternut Squash Past Al Forno – I’m thinking this might make going vegetarian just a little bit easier.  How delicious does all the cheesy goodness sound?

Egg Salad Sandwich (the only one I’ll eat) – A while ago, my friend Lauren, recommended this site to me and I’ve been pursuing it heavily over the last few days looking for new vegetarian recipes.  I’ve been especially concerned with finding lunches I can eat (other than leftovers); I think this sandwich would be a good one to take to work provided I bring the bread separately.  I will only eat egg salad if it doesn’t have mustard and has minimal mayonnaise so this seems like a good version for me.

Cabot Cheddar Soda Bread – I always celebrate holidays with themed meals.  Well, that is, I used to celebrate holidays with themed meals until I moved into my own house and started cooking for one.  I think the last “themed” food I made were red velvet whoopie pies for Valentines.  Anyway, my point is, I discovered soda bread (it was actually my first bread making attempt!) one year while cooking for St. Patrick’s Day.  I won’t be eating my usual St. Paddy’s day meal of shepherd's pie, but I still plan on making some soda bread.  I’m thinking cheesy soda bread sounds amazing.

Everything else:

10 Ways to Save Money on Gas – With gas prices skyrocketing (I drove a Corolla and it cost me $40 to fill up.  My tank only holds 12 gallons. Ouch.), we could all use a few new ways to save money on gas. 

An Uncomfortable Talk: My Take on Christianity – Amy opens herself up to controversy by sharing this, but I think it’s an excellent post.  My views on the subject are very similar. 

How to Disagree on the Internet – Everyone needs to read this.  Lately, I’ve seen or heard about some major issues with comments or other commenters.  While it’s fine to disagree with the author, a comment is not the time or place to jump all over someone for sharing their opinions.  Just because their opinions are different from yours doesn’t make them wrong.  Let’s be nice. 

This post is linked to Friday Favorites.

Food Waste Friday - The Work Edition

I thought this was going to be a no food waste week, until I got to work this morning. 

Hiding underneath the tiny freezer of my doll-sized work refrigerator, were some leftovers from about a month ago.  Good grief.  I didn’t even bother to open the container, just threw it straight into the trash.  Luckily, it was partially frozen from being under the freezer, otherwise who knows what sort of science experiment would have been growing on the pecan-crusted chicken, roasted potatoes, and steamed broccoli.  Yuck.

Other than that, it was a no waste week, thanks in large part to my father coming over for dinner and helping me eat my leftovers!

Did you waste any food this week?

This post is linked to The Frugal Girl.

A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

I don’t really have enough for a full blog post today, so I thought I would just through a few thoughts out here today.

In Need of Lunch Ideas

Yesterday I told you how I’m giving up meat for Lent.  Originally, I was mainly concerned about having difficulty going out to dinner and finding vegetarian options on the menu, but, when I was packing my lunch this morning, I realized how much I depend on meat for lunch.  I usually try to eat leftovers for lunch, but when I’m out of those (like today), I usually eat turkey sandwiches, frozen dinners, or soup.  The only vegetarian lunch options I could think of (besides leftovers) were peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and vegetarian soups.  I need some suggestions for lunches that can be easily and quickly packed and taken to work.  Any ideas?

Writing Cover Letters

I’ve been trying to write a post about drafting a good cover letter and failing miserably.  My cover letters were well written, but it’s been so long since I’ve written one that I’m having trouble coming up with good ways to explain it.  If anyone has any ideas, suggestions, or resources on writing cover letters for library jobs , I would appreciate it!

Boycotting Harper Collins

Have you been keeping up with the “Boycott Harper Collins” movement?  I have, but rather sporadically, mainly through Agnostic Maybe.  While I like the idea of a boycott, I wonder how much of an impact it’s really going to have.  Yes, libraries have a lot of purchasing power, but when compared to the rest of the country and all the bookstores purchasing Harper Collins books, libraries are chump change.  I sincerely hate the restrictions the publisher is putting on libraries, but I’m not sure that a boycott is truly the most effective way to make our voices heard.  But I also don’t have any better ideas.    

Medical Library Association Annual Conference

In case you missed it on Twitter, I’m an official conference blogger for the Medical Library Association’s Annual Meeting in Minneapolis in May.  I will be blogging twice a day on the official conference blog about what’s it is like being a new member participating in my first conference.  The conference runs May 13-18 and I will be sharing several of my posts here too so you can keep up with what I’m doing.

Speaking of Conferences

I’m also attending the American Library Association’s annual conference in New Orleans in June.  If you’re going to be there, let me know and we can try to meet up!  But the really exciting part is that I’ve been asked to be part of a panel on management, new librarians, and new managers.  The discussion panel, which is hosted by the Emerging Trends Discussion Group in the Human Resources section of the Library Leadership and Management Association, will be on Saturday, June 25.  I’ll share more details including time and specific location when I have them.  But if you are going to be at conference you should totally come and watch me attempt to public speak.  It should be highly entertaining!  

And just because...

…I love to show her off, here are two pictures of Caty being exceptionally cute.