It's Not Burned, It's Rustic

But If it Were Burned I Would Blame it on the Fire From My Burning Hatred for Your Annoying Facebook Posts

Like most people these days, I have a slight Facebook addiction. As a matter of fact, most of you are here because you're from my Facebook page. I'll post a recipe, I promise, but can we talk about annoying Facebook people first?

I have been in a serious relationship with my boyfriend for nearly three years now. We live together, have been through things together, but we pulled through. Everything that real relationships should be. What Really makes me annoyed are the people that constantly post about their significant others and not in normal ways. In "I'm a virgin and quite possibly in middle school" ways.

"_______ is the cutest in the world." 

"<3 <3 <3 <3 My heart belongs to _____"

"_______, you're myyy world, babii."

What am I, 12? I thought being 25 would mean not having to read that sappy crap.Focus that energy on actually telling your partner how much they mean to you and grow some balls. 

Also, another annoying thing is when girlfriends hijack their boyfriends pages and post really clingy and annoying things. Ladies, that's not what Fraping is for. The proper lady knows that it's for posting pictures of your bf posing with J. Bieb t-shirts with captions about how he can't stop his Bieber fever, changing his favorite quotes to RuPaul quotes and joining groups announcing his love of black cock. Yes, there is a group for that. Yes, I have done all of the above.

Of course, after a Frape that bad it's always best to get back into the kitchen and make something other than the usual sandwich. Something hearty with meat and potatoes. Something like Shepherd's Pie. 

Nice segue, huh? 

Colcannon Topped Shepherd's Pie

Colcannon

• 8 medium russet potatoes, peeled and sliced
• half a head of cabbage
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 c butter
• 1 c milk or cream
• salt and pepper to taste

Place potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. In a separate pot place the garlic, onion and cabbage, also covered in water. Let both boil until potatoes are fork tender and cabbage is soft.
Once boiled, drain potatoes and mash with butter and milk as if making mashed potatoes.

Drain the cabbage mixture and stir into the mashed potatoes.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Meat mixture

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1 bag of frozen mixed vegetables
• 1 (8 oz) can of tomato sauce
• 2 tbs Red Wine Vinegar
• 1/2 c Worcestershire sauce
• garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 2 c shredded Cheddar

Saute bell pepper and onion in a large pan with olive oil until soft.

Set vegetables to the side and in the same pan brown ground beef.

Drain the grease and add in cooked onion and bell pepper along with the frozen veggies (I usually don't thaw them before hand.)

Mix in tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce and red wine vinegar.

Heat until vegetables are no longer frozen.

Season with garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste. 

If mixture is too tangy feel free to add a little bit of sugar.
Pour meat mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Top with the colcannon recipe.

Top that with cheddar cheese.

Place under the broiler for about 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. 

If by chance you leave it under the broiler for a little too long like I did, pretend you did it on purpose and call it rustic. They'll never even doubt you.

          

How to Make a Forno

Growing up Catholic there was always a milestone to celebrate. Baptism, Catechism, confirmation, feast days, etc. My sister made her confirmation today and to celebrate, I was asked to make her favorite dinner for her and 14 other guests. Her favorite dinner is an amazingly simple pasta al forno that takes minutes to make and tastes like you've slaved over the stove for hours.

It was an incredibly long day filled with family, friends, laughter and great food. It was exactly the way Sundays should be.

Below is a smaller recipe for the pasta al forno recipe that I used only because I'm pretty sure nobody needs to make enough pasta to feed 20 people on a regular basis. If you do, just quadruple the recipe and you should have enough to feed everyone, have seconds and still have leftovers.

 Please excuse the fine china in the picture, but I'll be damned if I'm cooking for nearly 20 people and then washing their dishes too. A special thank you to Hill Country Fare foam plates. They're bad for the environment, but the way I figure, there's enough tree hugging hippies and conspiracy buying scarved hipsters to make up for the fact that I just don't care enough. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go out making six pack necklaces for ducks or strangling baby whales (although, frankly, watching "Whale Wars" has made me realize that Whale meat looks incredibly delicious), but I'm also not going to stop using Styrofoam or aerosol hairspray. I'm from Texas! I need that hairspray. If that offends you, you'll probably enjoy the Birkenstock ad I placed in this just for you. Honestly though,  if Mother Nature were a real entity she'd jump at the chance to eat this dish no matter what it was served on. She'd probably even club a seal for it. Allegedly. Do I have to say allegedly here?                                  


Who cares? Manja!


                                                                         

We served this along with a simple salad of iceberg and red leaf lettuce with carrots and tomato and toasted garlic bread.

                           Pasta al Forno                              Serves about 6- 8

• 1 package (12 oz) of short pasta such as penne or ziti
• about 4 cups of homemade sauce or 1 (26 oz) jar of Prego Fresh Mushroom Italian Sauce
• 1 package of Italian sausage with casing removed
• 1 lb ground beef
• 2 c shredded mozzerella
• 1/2 c shredded Parmasan (not the powdered stuff)
• salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• 2 cloves garlic, minced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Boil pasta in salted water until al dente. The water should taste like the ocean. 

While pasta is boiling, in a separate pot, brown beef and sausage together. Drain and stir in sauce.
Pour meat and sauce mixture over cooked and drained pasta and mix until all pasta is coated with sauce.

Pour into a 9x13 inch baking dish.

Top with Mozzerella and Parmasan.

Place in oven for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly with slight browning.