Guinness Shepherd’s Pie

St. Patrick’s Day is a really fun holiday to celebrate, especially if you have some shred of Irish Heritage…which a lot of us do!  My middle name is Eavvie, named after my Great Grandma Eavvie Sharrock.  Even though I am probably only 1/8 or less Irish, I have always identified with that part of my heritage for some reason and LOVE celebrating St. Patty’s Day!  I usually choose to make Baily’s Chocolate Milk Shakes, but as I am pregnant that was not an option for this certain holiday.  I decided to make Guinness Shepherd’s Pie as the alcohol would be totally cooked out, but the flavor would remain!  The picture of this dish might not look super appetizing, but this was hands down the BEST Shepherd’s Pie I have ever eaten.  We will definitely be making this again…and I will not be waiting a whole year to do so!

Filet Mignon with a Red Wine Cream Sauce

For Valentines Day this year we decided to cook a fancy dinner at home instead of going out.  In the past, Valentines Day has meant spending quite a bit on dinner and usually having some sort of fancy steak or fish dish which could be  hit and miss!  This year to save a bit of moola, I thought I would try cooking a fancy steak with a Red Wine Sauce at home!  I will be honest and say this is the first time I had ever purchased Filet Mignon at the Grocery store and was slightly concerned that I would ruin it!  However, this dish turned out really really good and the steak was tender, delicious and surprisingly EASY to prepare!  I can honestly say it might be making more frequent appearances in our house in the future!  I do have to confess that the SAUCE was the big hero of this dinner and I think it would have made Old Shoes taste amazing drizzled all over them!  It was that good!

I hope you will try this…I took a risk and experimented with this on a special occasion and it paid off big time!  If it had turned out yucky, we could have survived on the best Mashed Potatoes (recipe coming at a later time)  in the world along with some grilled asparagus ( made even better in the amazing SAUCE!)