Corned beef, potatoes, carrots, and cabbage

Happy St Party’s (er, Patty’s) Day! I’m a bit of a last minute kind of gal, so I just bought the packaged corned beef for my festive dinner. If you are feeling really ambitious, you could make your own from scratch, ala Alton Brown, my favorite food geek:

(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/corned-beef-recipe/index.html)

This is one of my favorite dinners, and we’ve even started making  it on non-holidays. The best part? It makes TWO ADDITIONAL completely different meals, Rueben Sandwiches and Minestrone Soup!

Directions:

Rinse your corned beef and place it in a pot with enough water to cover it, plus whatever veggies and potatoes you wish. I used baby carrots, half a green cabbage (I once used purple by mistake and it turned my ENTIRE dinner various shades of violet!), and about 6 yellow potatoes the size of my fist. The general rule of thumb is to turn the heat to med-high and cook for 45 min per pound of meat, so mine took about 3 hours. Remove the beef from the water and slice on the grain. Serve alongside cabbage, carrots, and potatoes (I like mine mashed with coconut oil and a little salt and pepper). Reserve cooking liquid for minestrone soup later on, and check back tomorrow for my favorite Rueben Sandwich recipe (which I think I like even better than the corned beef itself!)

Have a safe and happy St Patricks Day!

– Alison