St. Paddy's Day!

I decided to come out a little early with this week's blog as one of my favorite times of year, St. Paddy's Day, is coming up and I just couldn't wait. This is partly because of my Irish background, take one look at my freckled face and you know, but mostly because I get to have one of my favorite meals - corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots, and Irish soda bread. If you've never had soda bread, there's two things you need to know. First, there's no soda pop in it, like my dear hubby always says - the soda refers to baking soda - and second, you are in for a nice treat. It's soft, dense, and slightly sweet due to the sugar in it, making it perfect to soak up all the juices from the corned beef, oh so yummy! This will be such a hit with your family for your St. Paddy's Day meal, they'll be sure to ask for it year after year!

What's cooking in my kitchen this week:
Corned beef, cabbage, potatoes and carrots, and Irish soda bread

What you'll need:
2 1/2-4 lb flat cut corned beef
4-8 potatoes, diced
3-6 carrots, sliced
1 head green cabbage
4-6 cups water
salt
ground black pepper

Irish soda bread
4 cups flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch dice
1 3/4 cup cold milk
1 egg, lightly beaten

How to make it:
To feed my army I used the larger amounts shown on the ingredient list, so keep that in mind for your family size. The other thing I love about this meal is how easy it is to make as most of the work is done in the crock pot. Take the beef out of the package, careful not to lose the corned beef seasoning packet, and place in crock pot. Sprinkle corned beef seasoning all over beef.

Dice up the potatoes and season generously with salt and ground black pepper.

Put potatoes on top of beef in crock pot. Slice up carrots and put in crock pot and then fill crock pot with water. You want everything covered with the water, plus about an inch above so there is enough water to cook the cabbage once you add it later.

Cook either on high for 4-5 hours, or on low 7-8 hours. Prep cabbage by cutting in half, removing the stem and then chopping into large pieces.

Put in bowl and season with salt and ground black pepper. Put in fridge until there's about 45 minutes left to cook the beef and veggies and then place in crock pot with everything. When there's about an hour and a half left of cooking, start making the soda bread. Preheat oven to 375° F. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Add butter and mix until butter is mixed into flour. Add milk and lightly beaten egg and mix into dough. Dump onto a floured surface and knead until dough forms round loaf.

Place loaf on greased cookie sheet and cut an "X" into the top of the loaf. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until golden brown.

Once the beef is cooked, potatoes are fork tender and the cabbage looks wilted, remove corned beef and let rest for about 10 minutes before slicing to serve. 

Slice the corned beef against the grain. 

Serve with potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and soda bread.

I'll leave you today with an Irish Blessing. Enjoy!
May you live as long as you want,
And never want as long as you live.

Did you know?
On this day in 1764, Charles Grey, 2nd Earl, was born. Earl Grey was supposedly given the recipe for Earl Grey Tea by a Chinese mandarin with whom he was friends (and/or whose life either he or another British diplomat saved).