....is Apple Walnut Crumb Cake, for Breakfast

This morning I'm over at The Breakfast Hub with this delicious recipe for Apple Walnut Crumb Cake.
It's an almost healthy sweet treat to start your day!!

....is St. Patrick's Day Guinness Brisket

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Ok....so it's a little belated but I hope you had a good one. Here's the meal I put together to get into the holiday spirit. I served it with Irish Soda Bread, a Guinness & a Little Stout Cake for dessert! Considering I took the bits and pieces of about half a dozen recipes to come up with what I wanted I'm pretty happy with it how it turned out. I have one note on the Sweet Potatoes below but other than that: pure deliciousness.

Ingredients

1 Beef Brisket, (2-1/2 lbs), Trimmed
2 Onions, Coarsely Chopped
4 Garlic Cloves, Sliced
1 Cup (or more!) Guinness Stout Beer
6 Red Potatoes, Cut in 6-8 Pieces
2-1/2 Cups Chicken Broth
2 Sweet Potatoes, Quartered & Coarsely Chopped
3 Heads of Baby Bok Choy

Brisket Rub

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme

2 Sprigs Fresh Rosemary

2 Tbsp Brown Sugar

2 Tbsp Honey

1 tsp All-Spice
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 

Prepare brisket by trimming the surface fat known as silver-skin. Combine fresh seasonings with Brown Sugar, Honey & All Spice. Pour Olive Oil onto brisket and season first with Salt and Pepper. Rub meat in  seasoning mix.

Drizzle Olive Oil into preheated Dutch Oven. Brown both sides of the meat, about 3 minutes per side. (Watch out for smoke! One side of my Brisket got a little more blackened than I would have liked).  If you need to add more Oil to prevent burning, do so. Remove the meat.

Add the Onion to begin deglazing. Once Onions soften slightly, about 3 minutes, add garlic. Continue to stir, taking care nothing is sticking to the bottom. Pour in Guinness, continue stirring, this should loosen most of the brown caramelized bits off the pan. Add Red Potatoes, Brisket and pour Broth half way up the Meat. Cover the pot and place in the oven, braising for 1 -1/2 hours.

Remove from oven, lift Meat to add sweet potatoes,* return beef to the dutch oven opposite side down. Braise an additional 1 hour, or until fork tender. (If your piece of meat is larger, you might have to braise longer, but you may need to add a little more broth if it is low. Meat should be falling-apart tender.

*I added the Sweet Potatoes at the same time as the Red Potatoes and they all but disintegrated. I don't think they need nearly as long to cook so I would recommend adding the halfway thru. The Red Potatoes held up fine.

Little Brother came home for Spring Break just in time for dinner!! I think he did that on purpose.

....is Apple Walnut Crumb Cake

Adapted from My Father's Daughter Spiced Apple Crumb Muffins

A friend of mine is vegan and it's incredibly hard for her to find baked goods that don't contain some form of butter, milk or eggs. I made it a goal to try and find recipes that were both delicious and vegan. (My first attempt at this was Vegan Chocolate Chip Banana Bread followed by Phanouropita Cake and both were great!) I made this Crumb Cake for the first time this weekend, it was wonderful hot (I could hardly wait for it to cool!), I liked it the next morning cold and it was amazing reheated with ice cream for dessert. What is a good name of Breakfast for Dessert? Breakssert? Dessfast? ....it's a work in progress.

....is Irish Soda Toast?

Really just Irish Soda Bread the next day for lunch toasted with Gouda. I also put Tomatoes with Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper on top of the melted Cheese. It's the super simple and delicious recipe at PBS Fresh Taste. It went really well with the Guinness Brisket I made on St. Patrick's Day (post to follow).

4 Cups Flour
1/3 Cup Old Fashioned Oats {plus more for sprinkling}
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 tsp Baking Soda
4 Tbsp Cold Butter, cut into small chunks
1 ½ tsp Salt
1 ¾ Cups Well-Shaken Buttermilk
1 Egg, Lightly Beaten

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, whisk together the Flour, Oats, Baking Soda, Sugar and Salt. 

Cut the Butter into the dry ingredients. (See my tip on cutting butter on the breakfast hub!)
Combine the lightly beaten egg with the buttermilk. Pour into dry ingredients and mix.

Cut an “x” in the center of the loaf with a knife and sprinkle oats on top.

Bake for 50 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

....is my 201st Post & my 1st Giveaway

My little blog turned 2 years old this month! And this is my, 201st post. I decided to celebrate with a giveaway, my first giveaway. Eeek. I'll send the winner, selected at random, these lovely earrings from Peachtree Lane. You may recognize them from my March Favorites post. They're perfect for spring and they could be yours!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

....is Blackened Salmon & Cajun Green Beans

From one of our favorite chopped judges Alex Guarnaschelli.

This is what happens when the Salmon at the grocery store looks wonderful and I ask my boyfriend 'how should we cook this?'. The results were delicious. It was also a super fast meal to make and it disappeared even quicker.

....is Orecchiette & Broccolini

This recipe is a collaborative effort from my architecture friend's visit. Since they came to San Diego in November we've remade it about a dozen times. Orecchiette is my new favorite pasta! It's suction cup shape holds a bit of the yummy broth, which also makes it prone to sticking to the side of the pot. It can be altered with infinite options, pick your favorite green, pick your favorite sausage, toss it together and enjoy.

1lb Orecchiette Pasta
4 Chicken & Apple Sausages, Sliced
1/2 Onion, Diced
1 bunch Broccolini
1/4 Cup Sun Dried Tomatoes (Optional)
1/3 Cup Dry White Wine
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth, More as Needed
Salt & Pepper

In a large pot cook Orecchiette Pasta al dente. In a separate pan brown Sausage and set aside.

Saute Onion until golden. Deglaze pan with Dry White Wine and cook off the alcohol. Add Chicken Broth, Broccolini & cover.

When Broccolini is steamed return Sausage to the pan, add Pasta and stir to incorporate the flavors. Salt & Pepper to taste.