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St. Patrick’s Day Comfort Food Recipes

St. Patrick’s Day falls on a Wednesday this year, on March 17th. Wednesday isn’t exactly a day you imagine going out drinking with your friends and family (especially this year, even with things looking up!) so we thought we’d bring you some warm, traditional Irish dishes to make your week a little bit cozier, while keeping with the theme of the holiday! Soda Bread Ingredients: 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk 1 cup of dried currants 4 cups of all-purpose flour, plus more for surface 1/4 cup of sugar 6 tablespoons of cold butter 2 teaspoons caraway seeds 1 tablespoon of baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt 1 teaspoon of baking soda Directions: Preheat your oven to 350°F. Then, grease a large cookie sheet in an even coating of butter or whatever other option you prefer. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. With a utensil like a fork or spatula, cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in your currants and caraway seeds, then buttermilk until flour is evenly moistened. On a well-floured surface, knead dough 8 to 10 times just until combined. Shape into a flattened ball; place on cookie sheet. Cut 1/4-inch-deep "X" into top. Bake loaf 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set bread aside on a wire rack and wait to eat until cool. Potato Leek Soup Ingredients: 3 cups of mashed potatoes 6 cups of chicken broth 4 sprigs of fresh thyme 1 tablespoon of olive oil, plus more for serving 4 leeks (white and light green parts only), sliced into half-moons 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 bulb of fennel, cut into 1/4-in. pieces 1 stalk of celery, thinly sliced Salt and pepper 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (optional) Directions: Heat oil in a large pot on medium. Add leeks, garlic, fennel, and celery, season with 1/4 teaspoon salt and cook. Cover the pot and stir occasionally until very tender for 13 to 15 minutes. Add mashed potatoes, broth, and thyme. Simmer the mixture and stir occasionally until heated through for about 5 minutes. Remove and discard the thyme. Using an immersion blender (or standard blender, in batches), puree the soup until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and serve with cracked pepper and a drizzle of oil if desired. Guinness Beef Stew Ingredients: 4 cups beef stock 3 large carrots, peeled and diagonally sliced into bite-sized pieces 1.5 pounds of Yukon gold potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces 3 tablespoons tomato paste 1 bay leaf 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided 3 pounds of beef chuck roast, trimmed of excess fat and cut into bite-sized pieces 1 large white or yellow onion, peeled and diced 4 cloves garlic, peeled and minced 1/3 cup flour 1 (12 ounce) bottle Guinness beer Salt and pepper to taste Directions: Season the beef with a few generous pinches of salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large stockpot over medium-high heat. Add half of the beef to the pan. Cook until seared, turning the beef every 30-45 seconds or so until all sides are browned. Remove beef from the pan with a slotted spoon, and transfer to a clean plate. Add an additional 1 tablespoon oil to the stockpot, and repeat this process with the remaining half of the beef, transferring it afterwards to the plate as well. Add the onion to the stockpot (adding extra oil if needed, but usually there is leftover drippings/oil from the beef) and saute for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add garlic and sauté it for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Then, stir in the flour until it has evenly coated the onions, and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally. Gradually stir in the Guinness, and use a wooden spoon to scrape the bottom of the pan to loosen any of the stew that sticks to the bottom of the pan. Stir in the beef stock, carrots, potatoes, tomato paste, bay leaf, thyme, and the cooked beef (along with any of its accumulated juices). Continue cooking until the stew reaches a simmer. Then cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer over low for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the beef is tender and the potatoes are soft. Remove bay leaf and season with additional salt and pepper if needed. Serve warm garnished with chopped parsley if desired. Happy St. Patrick’s Day, residents, and we hope you enjoy some of these themed traditional Irish recipes!

Crafting ideas for National Children’s Craft Day

National Children’s Craft Day is this Sunday, March 14th. It’s been a while since we’ve talked crafting on this blog, and we thought it’d be fun to suggest a few relatively easy craft ideas to try out! These are all crafts that require a low number of supplies, to make it easier to have fun craft time with the kids. Tape Resist Art What you need: Masking tape Liquid watercolors, or acrylic paint Construction paper What to do: To begin with, place strips of the tape on your construction paper wherever you’d like. When the paper has several strips of tape wherever desired, begin to paint with your watercolors or acrylics! Paint over the tape, and across the paper wherever you’d like. You can use a paper towel to absorb some of the excess tape if necessary, and then peel the tape off. It should leave gaps in the color, and create a cool effect across the paper. Fire-Breathing Dragon Craft What you need: Scissors Liquid glue or a glue gun Gluestick Empty cardboard toilet paper roll Red, yellow, and orange tissue paper Googly eyes 2 pom poms that are around 1 inch, in your preferred color 2 pom poms that are around ⅜ of an inch, in your preferred color Construction paper in your preferred color What to do: Cut some of your construction paper to be the length of the cardboard paper roll, and use the glue stick to coat one side of the paper. Line up the paper and the cardboard roll, and wrap the roll in the paper until it’s fully covered. Use a glue gun or the liquid glue to attach googly eyes to each of the larger pom poms, up top. These will serve as the dragon’s eyes! Then, use the liquid glue or glue gun to attach the dragon eyes to one side of the cardboard roll, towards the end, on top. Use the same glue to attach the smaller pom poms towards the other end, on the same top-side, to form the dragon’s nose. They don’t have to be right at the edge of the roll, just set apart from each other as if they’re the eyes and nostrils on the long snout of a dragon! Cut long, pointy strips of your differently covered tissue paper, around nine inches long. Glue the end of your strips of tissue paper into the inside of the paper towel, under the dragon’s nose. Keep gluing them in, making your way around the inside of the roll. You only want to put them there on the top part of the dragon’s “mouth” under the nose, and on the sides, not on the very bottom. You’ve finished! Now, you can blow air into the end of the dragon head with the eyes, and your tissue paper should flutter as if the dragon is breathing fire. Origami Finger Puppets This one’s a little more complicated, because origami usually is best done with accompanying pictures! To help, we’re linking to a guide right here , which goes through all the distinct steps of making your origami finger puppet, with all the information you need to properly fold and make it! Happy crafting, residents, and we hope you have fun if you try any of these with some of the younger members of the community!

Level Up Your Spring Cleaning With These Less Common Jobs

Spring is here, and with it comes spring cleaning, dreaded by some and anticipated by others. Personal preference abounds in terms of what tasks are considered most important or most frustrating, but this year, we wanted to suggest a few jobs that you may not have considered. These jobs are things that may go overlooked or need to be done less frequently, which means spring cleaning is the perfect time to dedicate a little less effort to getting them out of the way! Clean Toilet Tank The toilet tank does not need to be cleaned often, and many people don’t realize you’re meant to clean it at all. It’s not a particularly urgent chore, but it does prevent small amounts of dirt, dust, and debris from building up in the tank, and helps to keep your whole bathroom smelling nice. The more you know! You can clean your toilet tanks fairly easily, much the same way you clean a toilet, with a toilet brush and some general bathroom cleaning fluid. Just give it a quick scrub, and rest assured that there won’t be debris building up in your tank! Dust Baseboards, Vents, and Above Doorways Dust can build up very quickly in these less-used spaces, and while there isn’t a ton of surface area to them, it can still lead to sneezing if you have allergies or a general increase in the amount of dust you breathe in if you never go over them. Take the time to dust spots you usually don’t think about, like the low-down tops of your baseboards, the top of doorways, and your vents, including air conditioning and heating vents! The latter can be especially important, as you don’t want dust circulating whenever you use an air vent. Doing this ever so often can help with allergens and make your living area more comfortable. Wipe Out Produce Drawers The produce drawers in the fridge are largely protected of the elements, but when they house fresh produce, it can result in liquid or residue being left behind long after the fruits and vegetables are gone. Every so often, it can be helpful to wipe these drawers down with a cleaning wipe, just to make sure they’re clear of any debris or leftover material! Happy spring to our residents, and we wish you the best of luck, no matter how you choose to do your spring cleaning -- or even if you don’t plan to do it at all!

Recipes for National Strawberry Day

National Strawberry Day is February 27th, right before the end of the month. It’s been a while since we last suggested a delicious selection of recipes for our residents to try, so we thought we’d make the most of this National Strawberry Day with a few recipes, representing the best of both sweet and savory strawberry usage. Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie The essence of a strawberry lemonade smoothie is taking an already refreshing drink, and making it even more refreshing (and much more filling!) by turning it into a smoothie. This is a great accompaniment to brunch, a light morning breakfast, or a snack! Ingredients: -2 cups of lemonade -2 cups of frozen strawberries, still frozen! Do not defrost or thaw. -¾ cup of lemon yogurt -½ teaspoon of vanilla extract Directions: Simply place all your ingredients in a blender together, and then cover it and blend for 15 seconds or until smoothly blended. Then you can serve, and drink! It’s a fairly simple recipe. Spinach Strawberry Salad This is a light, spring-style salad that showcases the savory potential of putting strawberries with the right other ingredients. It’s delicious, healthy, and works well with the food we crave when spring finally starts to wake up around us. Ingredients: -10 ounces of fresh baby spinach -1 quart of strawberries, hulled and quartered -¾ cup of crumbled feta cheese, you can either buy this block-style and crumble it or purchase it pre-crumbled -¾ cup of raw pecans -½ of a small red onion, thinly sliced -A light dressing of your choice Directions: First, toast your raw pecans. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and spread the pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake your pecans in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until the middle of the pecans are tan when you cut or break them in half. Keep a close eye on the oven while you do this: nuts often burn in the last few minutes! When your pecans are toasted, move them to a cutting board and roughly chop them. Put your sliced onion into a bowl and cover it with cold water, letting it sit while you prepare the other aspects of the salad. Time to put the salad together! First, put all your spinach in a big serving bowl, and add your hulled and quartered strawberries. If you want to have your salad dressed all throughout, now is a good time to add some of the dressing and toss it to coat the leaves; we suggest a light dressing, such as balsamic, poppy seed dressing, or a basic vinaigrette. Add your feta and pecans to the other ingredients in the serving bowl, and toss the salad lightly to combine all the ingredients together. Serve right away, with dressing in the salad or on the side if desired! Strawberry and Cream Crepes Last, we wanted to bring up a recipe that makes use of the delicious natural sweetness of strawberries, combining them with some of the flavors that compliment it best! Ingredients: For the crepes: -2 cups of all-purpose flour -1 cup of milk -1 cup of water -4 large brown eggs -2 tablespoons of melted butter -¼ teaspoon of salt For the filling: -4 cups of sliced fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced -1 cup of heavy whipping cream, whipped -8 ounces of softened cream cheese -1 ¼ cups of confectioner’s sugar -1 tablespoon of lemon juice Directions: First, whisk your eggs, milk, water, and butter together in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix your flower and salt together, and then add that resulting mixture to the bowl with the wet ingredients and mix them together well. Cover the bowl, and refrigerate it for one hour. For your filling, beat together the cream cheese, confectioner’s sugar, lemon juice, and vanilla in a small bowl, until smooth and well combined. Fold in about two cups of your strawberries and the whipped cream. When your batter has cooled for an hour, stir it, and then heat a lightly greased nonstick skillet over medium heat. Fill a ¼ measuring cup halfway with the batter, and pour the batter into the center of your skillet. Lift and tilt the skillet to coat the bottom evenly with batter, to make a thin, even crepe. Cook the crepe until the top looks dry, and then flip it over and cook until the bottom is also cooked, which should take 15-20 seconds. Remove the crepe, and repeat with the remaining batter, buttering or greasing pan as needed! When the crepes are finished and cool, stack them between paper towels. Spoon about ⅓ of a cup of filling down the center of each crepe, and roll them up. Then, garnish your rolled crepes with the remaining berries, and additional confectioner’s sugar if desired. Then you can eat, or cover and refrigerate for later eating! We hope you enjoy this sampling of some of the amazing recipes that have strawberries as the star, residents, and please let us know if you try any of them!

Post-Valentines Chocolate Pairings

Valentine’s Day has come and gone, and if you celebrate, chances are you have some serious chocolate on your hands. (If you don’t—check online at grocery stores, because they’re still discounted!) Chocolate, being chocolate, is hard to beat. And while we love wine pairings—the experts have already made them! Instead, here are some fun ideas to turn candy-eating into a real culinary experience. Thoughtful Desserts There’s no shame in finishing a dozen chocolates in a day. If you want to have chocolate through March, however, it can be hard to make your Valentine’s haul last. That’s because it’s so delightful to follow up candy with… more candy, and we aren’t here to insult a classic! Pairing a meal with a coordinating truffle, placed beside the dish through the meal, can feel like a finishing touch, not a forgettable note in a line of chocolates. Here are some meal pairings to wrap up with just one chocolate, to end on a satisfactory note: - macaroni and cheese paired with a white chocolate truffle - chili and cornbread paired with a salted dark chocolate caramel - peanut noodles paired with a milk chocolate with a tart fruit filling - lemon chicken and rice paired with a hazelnut white chocolate Chocolate Charcuterie Board Charcuterie boards—artful arrangements of deli meats, cheeses, fruits, nuts, and spreads—are seeing new life as people of all ages share their expertise or early attempts over platforms like TikTok. Many already contain chocolate, and since charcuterie boards are all about thoughtful pairings, you can build a board with chocolate as its inspiration and base. Saltier charcuterie pairs well with chocolate caramels, while milder charcuterie pairs well with extra-dark, nutty chocolates. If you live a low or no meat lifestyle, consider the cheeseboard. (Plus, that’s just an excuse for extra cheese—dark chocolates pair well with smooth brie or goat cheese; milk chocolate pairs well with young, creamy cheeses; and white chocolate ) Whatever direction you take, charcuterie and cheeseboards are about creating an eating experience. Using flavors that balance each other—like mildly sweet white chocolate and bitter walnuts—creates an enjoyable contrast that keeps either element from being overpowering. Dark chocolate makes many people thirsty, so consider balancing its dehydrating effect with some fresh green grapes! If you’re having a glass of wine with your charcuterie, consider sweet or spiced red wines with milk chocolate, Pinot Noir with white chocolate, or Port with dark chocolate. M&M Popcorn Yes, really! The adventurous-child classic version is as simple as dumping all those pink-themed M&Ms into a bowl of popcorn, but it can be spruced up with chili powder, chili-lime seasoning, chopped-up pecans, or thinly-shredded cheddar.

Great Gilbert Restaurants for National Bagel and Lox Day

February 9th is National Bagel and Lox Day, and we wanted to use the opportunity to shout out some of our favorite local bagel sellers in the Gilbert area. Bagels with lox are the traditional way to eat them in much of America, and plenty of delicious Arizona bagel-serving delis follow this long-standing (and tasty!) practice. Here’s some great examples. Schmear: Bagelry & Cafe Schmear was founded by a husband and wife team with the goal of bringing communities together. It’s designed to emulate Jewish delis, cafes, and bagel shops all together. They have both Nova lox and whitefish, and a huge variety of cream cheeses of different flavors. They have bagel sandwiches with different fillings, and even have a gluten free bagel option for those that need it. Bagel Nosh Nosh sells fresh-baked bagels with cream cheese, smoothies, coffee drinks, and a lunch menu. They have a traditional nova lox bagel dish with capers, red onions, cream cheese, and tomatoes. They serve breakfast sandwiches all day, as well as lunch combos and a variety of drinks. They also sell bagels just on their own, of all different flavors. New York Bagels N' Bialys As the name may imply, New York Bagels N’ Bialys serves bagels and bialys the traditional New York way. They also have a full menu of differing New York Jewish specialties, like cheese blintzes, matzo brie, and potato pancakes. They have gluten free bagels, and a variety of fish options. They have cream cheese of different flavors, like lox, chives, and jalapeno. If you want a traditional New York bagel, this is a great option. We hope you enjoy National Bagel and Lox Day with a fantastic, local bagel. Have a great day, residents!