Guinness Corned Beef and Cabbage

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2 blog posts in 1 day...must mean my family was well fed this weekend! =)

S is a little bit Irish, so that means E is a little bit Irish too.

Since the 17th falls on a Tuesday this year, we decided to celebrate my boys Irish heritage today. We began the morning with green pancakes...E wasn't so sure about them...

I am typically not a corned beef fan, but once a year I make it and I like it!

Here's my recipe

I boiled my beef on the stove instead of the crock pot this year. 

I put the meat in my big stock pot and added the spice packet, I also threw in some bay leaves. Then comes the good stuff...I added a can of Guinness, I could have used 2 but S wanted to drink some. Then I added water to cover the meat.

I got that boiling, then covered and simmered for about 2 hours.

Once I was nearing the 2 hour mark, I got my veggies prepped. 

Cabbage (of course!) onion, carrots and potatoes.  I quartered the potatoes and left the skin on. I thew in all the veggies, except the cabbage, got it up to boiling again then simmered for 10 minutes. Next, I added the cabbage(cut into 8ths) and simmered for about 15 minutes more. 

I piled everything on my biggest platter and still didn't have enough room

 

 Next time, I think I will only use 1/2 a cabbage, we have lots of leftover boiled cabbage. I am going to make a stuffed cabbage casserole in the crock pot later this week, thanks for the idea Mom!

Hope you all have a Happy St. Paddy's Day!

 

Turkey Black Bean Chili

When I think of spring weather, I don't typically think about making chili. I do, however, think about a quick, healthy meal that gets me outside and playing sooner.

Last night, I sent S & E out to play and got this going quickly so I could join them while it simmered.

Here's what I used:

1 pound ground turkey
Onion
Garlic
1 can rinsed and drained black beans
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can tomato sauce
Corn
2T flour
salt
Chili Powder
Water.

Here's what I did:
Brown the turkey, onion and garlic, drain (the worst part IMO)
Add the tomatoes, sauce, beans and corn.
Mix the flour, salt, chili powder and water to make a paste, add it to the meat and simmer.

I served mine with a plop of plain Greek yogurt and some shredded cheese.

Coming up soon, Corned Beef and Cabbage...just in time for St. Patty's Day!

Ooey Gooey Melty Melty Cheese

E will eat just about anything if it is covered in "Ooey Gooey Melty Melty Cheese"

Yesterday we decided to have lasagna...practically the definition of ooey gooey melty melty!

Here's what I did.

1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground sausage
Onion, garlic, bell pepper
Salt, Pepper, Italian seasoning
Spaghetti sauce
Basil-fresh
Asiago cheese
1 1/2 c cottage cheese
1 egg
dried parsley
mozzarella cheese
lasagna noodles



I started with the (organic, grass fed) ground beef and ground sausage.
I browned it with onion, garlic and a red pepper. I added salt, pepper and Italian seasoning.

Once that was all browned up, I added the jar of spaghetti sauce, about 1/2 c water and a few leaves of fresh basil chopped up. I let that simmer for a few minutes.

While the meat was simmering, I made the cheese layer. I mixed the cottage cheese with the asiago, egg, parsley and mozzarella. I discovered that my local grocery store makes its own in-house mozzarella and boy is it good! The stuff I bought had just been made, it was a fresh as you can get it!

In a 9x13 pan sprayed with non-stick spray I put about 1 cup of the sauce. Then I layered (un-cooked) lasagna noodles, sauce and cheese 2 times. On the top of the cheese layer, I added a few more leaves of chopped up basil. I ended with piles of the fresh mozzarella cheese

I covered it with foil and baked in a 350 degree oven. After 45 minutes, I pulled the foil off and cooked for 15 minutes more. I let it sit for about 10 minutes before diving into it.

Would you look at that ooey gooey goodness!