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Category: Food & Recipes

Guinness and Irish Cheese Fondue: Easy St. Patrick’s Day Recipe

My number one choice is Guinness.
My number two choice would be Guinness.
My number three choice would have to be Guinness.

-Peter O’Toole, asked his favorite Irish food

Unlike Mr. O’Toole, I’m not a huge Guinness fan. My husband and brother will drink one or two, and then we’ll have the remaining bottles in our fridge for forever.

In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day, we’re using up that extra Guinness in our cooking 🙂

Jeff pretty much has at-home fondue down to a science now (full disclosure, this is his recipe) but I really especially liked this fondue, it had a good deep flavor and nice texture. But not so pronounced a flavor that the kids wouldn’t eat it.

We paired it with a Potato and Scallion bread from the bakery and an impromptu Irish Soda Bread that I baked. (No raisins, by request.) And a boatload of green apples, but any tart apple will do. Cut up veggies are also a dipping hit.

In an effort to make this recipe more accessible, I bought Kerrygold cheeses available at our traditional grocery store (although I was tempted to try out a variety of cheeses from my friends’ parents cheese shop).

The Kerrygold website describes the Dubliner as having the “distinctive rounded flavor and a natural hint of sweetness… elements of mature cheddar, sweet nutty tones of a Swiss and the piquant bit of aged Parmesan,” and the Irish Cheddar as “a smooth firm body, creamy taste.” I like that they are wrapped in paper, not plastic, and that the cheese is made from the milk of grass-fed dairy cows allowed to graze on sustainable pastures.

Guinness and Irish Cheese Fondue

Ingredients

7 oz Irish Cheddar, shredded
7 oz Dubliner, shredded
4 oz swiss, shredded
1 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
6 oz Guinness Extra Stout
2 tsp minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp stone ground mustard
2 tsp Worchestershire
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Note: we use a CrockPot on the table to keep the fondue warm while eating. If you’re doing the same, preheat your CrockPot by filling halfway with water and turning on high; carefully dump the water before transferring your fondue.

1. Toss the cheeses together with the cornstarch (improves the texture and prevents sticking).

2. Heat beer in medium saucepan to boil.

3. Add garlic and mustard, continue to boil for 3 minutes. Do not overheat.

4. Add cheese 1/2 cup at a time, stirring continuously until smooth.

5. Stir in Worchestershire and pepper to taste.

6. Remove from heat. Transfer to preheated CrockPot or fondue pot, or (carefully) eat straight from your saucepan. The sides and bottom will be hot!

7. Eat fondue until you have to go lie down to recover.

I still have 4 bottles of Guinness!

Any other recipe ideas for me to try?

March 14, 2012
National Nutrition Month Tip: Swap Mushrooms for Meat
`One side will make you grow taller,
and the other side will make you grow shorter.’

`One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?’
thought Alice to herself.

`Of the mushroom,’ said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud;
and in another moment it was out of sight.

-Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Ok, you got me. Mushrooms won’t necessarily make you grow taller (or shorter).

But they can help you grow healthier.

We Need to Eat Less Meat

Meat consumption has risen 47% in this country since the 1950s, and it’s hard not to wonder if the rise in health problems and obesity are correlated. After all, studies indicate that a diet high in meats may contribute to osteoporosis, heart disease and diabetes. On the flip side, a diet that’s low in meat has been associated with greater longevity overall.

Add to that the fact that meats (pork, beef and lamb, in particular) have the highest carbon footprint of common foods. By a whole heck of a lot. In our house, I do tend to opt for grass-fed and local meats, but that’s generally a more expensive option; even non-organic meat is pretty hard on a budget these days.

Time to think outside the meat aisle! Get your plate in shape with our humble hero, the mushroom.

Why Mushrooms?

Mushrooms can help save your diet— and your budget— without drastically changing your family meal plan. Mushrooms have great “swapability”: just exchange an equal amount to replace some or all of the meat in your recipes (this works particularly well with meals like lasagna, burgers, tacos or chili). The texture of the mushroom enables it to pick up the flavor of the seasonings, while adding vitamin D (the only fruit or vegetable with that vitamin), B vitamins, and the antioxidants selenium and ergothioneine.

Naturally low-cal and fat free, mushrooms are a no-brainer way to lighten up a dish while packing in some nutrition on the sly— not to mention stretching your meat dollar. And, BONUS: those peeps local to my area know we live in the Mushroom Capitol of the world, baby. Talk about supporting your local farmers! When the wind is right I can smell the mushroom farms from my front yard. It doesn’t get much more local than that.

Recipe Ideas

The Mushroom Council has a ton of mushroom recipes on their website, or you can just integrate mushrooms into your family favorites. It’s easy:
- Chop your mushrooms to match the consistency of the meat;
- Cook and season the same way you would the meat;
- Combine your cooked meat with your mushrooms and continue onward with your recipe.
If you’re on Twitter you can also check out a party happening on Monday, March 12th, 8:00 PM EST. The hashtag is #Mushrooms and oh yes, there will be prizes awarded. More info and RSVP here.

Do you cook with mushrooms?

Hit me with your favorite recipes.

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post through the Global Influence network. Opinions and preachifications are my own.

Double Disclosure: that first photo is of a mushroom from my backyard and judging by its color, extremely non-edible. While there are wild mushrooms that are allegedly tasty and decidedly frugal, you should never and I mean NEVER go foraging for wild mushrooms without a knowledgeable guide.
March 9, 2012
Targeting Children with Treats Infographic: Marketing to Children Sucks

Seriously, it does. We realize this when our kids get the gimmes from the marketing machine alerting them what they need to ask for for Christmas, but we overlook the constant day-to-day bombardment of ads about foods.

Interesting how cereals ads outnumber fast food ads by more than half. And while most people (I think) limit fast food meals to one a week or so, we give our kids cereal pretty much every day. It’s one of the foods that are easily mistaken for healthy, but the numbers don’t necessarily bear that out.

We know that sweets aren’t good for kids, maybe we need to take a harder look at the nutritional value of the stuff they get all the time.

Brought to you by Teach.com and MAT@USC.

March 4, 2012