Hi friends!

I hope everybody is wearing their green and sipping a frosty, festive-colored beer for me! 🙂

Even though I have just a small bit of Irish ancestry, I love any excuse to dress up, eat delicious food, and party with good friends. Though today I was back at work, this past weekend was pretty fantastic.

Mark and I took off work Friday so we could drive into New Orleans to stay with some friends. We met for lunch at The Beach House Grill in Mandeville on what couldn’t have been a more gorgeous, sunny day. Post-lunch, we toured Abita Brewery for what seemed like the millionth time (for Mark and me, at least). It’s always awesome, though.

Saturday was the St. Patrick’s Day parade in the Irish Channel. What began as a grey and drizzly day turned out to be quite perfect. While there was no green beer consumed, we did catch our fair share of cabbage (one of which we saved to cook tonight). Later that night we hung out around the house, played with one of the cutest babies ever (who sadly has an ear infection), and grilled some burgers.

As all weekends do, this one came to an end too quickly. Mark and I packed up before having lunch with Father Fitzgerald (one of Mark’s favorite priests/teachers from high school and the priest who performed our wedding) at another new place (to me), Fellini’s Café. It was pretty tasty!

I’m not a fan of the mirror selfie (especially horribly blurry ones), but I had to have proof of my St. Paddy’s Day work ensemble. 🙂

Since I didn’t post any green or Irish-themed recipes leading up to today, I want to share Mark’s easy version of shepherds pie (technically it’s cottage pie, since we use beef instead of lamb). We served this filling, comforting dish with roasted cabbage.

Cheater’s Shepherd’s Pie

serves 6

Ingredients

• approximately 1 lb ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• ½ cup diced carrots
• ½ cup green peas
• 1 container of prepared mashed potatoes
• grated cheese
• salt & pepper and spices of choice (this time we used a pinch of cumin, sage, and red pepper flakes) to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400º F.
2. Drizzle a small amount of olive oil into a large skillet and bring to medium heat.
3. Once skillet is heated add the onion, carrots, and peas and sauté until softened; set aside.
4. In the same skillet, cook the ground beef (and seasonings) until fully cooked and browned.
5. Mix the cooked vegetables and beef together and pour into an 8 x 8 (or something similar) baking dish.
6. Smooth the mashed potatoes over the beef/vegetable mixture and top with shredded cheese.
7. Bake the pie (uncovered) in the oven for 45 minutes.
8. Allow to cool (slightly), scoop desired portions, and serve immediately.

When we’re not lazy, Mark will make his own (absolutely delicious) mashed potatoes, but the store-bought ones do in a pinch. It may not be a 100% traditional shepherd’s pie, but it’s darn tasty and will NOT leave you hungry!

Happy St. Paddy’s Day, all. Don’t get pinched! 😉