Wednesday's Dinner

My great-grandmother's name was Carrie Rigby.  (The one I whom I think I look like.) Her line is the one I get (most of ) my Irish roots from.  To be honest, although her blood was very Irish, she was very American... it was actually her great-grandfather Michael McCullough who moved to the states from Ireland.  Even Michael's name doesn't scream Irish... but his mother's name does.  Her name was Sadhbh Hagan. Sadhbh is pronounced Sive. Now, don't stress the v and make it sounds soft, almost like an f and you'll understand the name Sophie... which it is related to.  (Can't you hear almost hear it in your head with the Irish Brouge?)  If I had an Irish surname I'd think seriously about using it.  But, alas, I'm not quite sure it would go well with Rodriguez.

Carrie Rigby

So, because we have at least some Irish in us, or maybe just because we love a good chance to get together and eat, we had our St. Patrick's Day dinner tonight. (Yes, we know, it's not St. Patty's quite yet, but hey, we're going to do an all-day girl's trip that day, and I'm busy tomorrow night with my small-group, so tonight was the night.)  Lucky for you, because that means I'm going to tell you how to fix the easiest St. Patty's day meal ever.

Go to Dillons (or Kroger) today, they're sale is $1.29/lb. for corned beef points.  Cabbage is on sale for 39 cents/lb. I don't know, maybe there are other places that are selling it too, but this is the lowest price I've seen it at and they only sell it this cheap right before St. Patrick's Day... so, if you like corned beef (more than for just the 17th) then, buy several and stick them in your freezer.

Okay, here's the deal.  Pull your crock-pot pan out of its heating unit, put the corned beef in the pan and stick it in your oven to brown. (Broil setting.) Flip it over once it's browned on the first side and let it brown on the second side.  Done?  Great!  Now, stick the pan back inside the heating portion of the crock pot.

You should have a spice packet that came inside the meat packaging.  Open that up, and dump over the corned beef.  Now, pile on baby carrots, quartered small-medium sized potatoes and cabbage cut into wedges.  Add about a cup of water.  Cover, and turn onto high and let cook for 4-6 hours.  (If you're going to let it cook longer than that, cook on low.) You're done.

Here's the corned-beef we had tonight at my mom and dad's house.  (It will look pink. But it should almost fall apart... that's how you know it's done.) We like to serve it we horseradish mixed with sour cream.  If you don't like the horseradish, just use sour cream.

Put all your veggies in another serving dish.  And don't forget to buy (or bake) some bread to go along with your meal. (The men in my life usually don't think a meal is complete without bread of some sort.) You can try Irish Soda bread if you'd like, but I personally don't like it that much.  (This bread had seeds in it. My momma picked that up at Dillons too. It was really yummy!)