Saturday, March 17, 2012

CORNED BEEF, CABBAGE & A WINNER!!

I am so happy to be joining Kathleen's Annual St. Patrick's Day Blog Crawl. I have been participating since I first started blogging 3 1/2 years ago. It's such a fun day. And as they say, everyone is Irish on St. Paddy's Day!
On to my post. I mentioned that I was looking for the BEST corned beef ever and I finally found it last Sunday. That's the day we celebrate on the Southside of Chicago since our annual parade takes place that day and the whole day is one big party. So I found that corned beef in the knick of time and it literally went from the bag into the pot of water!
It came with a seasoning package as most do...what it consists of I'm afraid I don't know, But it adds just the right amount of flavor to the water that you will also boil your vegetables in. Cover the roast with water and bring to a boil.
I had a 4 lb. cut of beef. It will shrink quite a bit. This served 4, so keep that in mind. Sometimes I have cooked two in separate pots. Once it comes to a boil, let it simmer until tender, or that you can slide a knife through it. Mine cooked for about 5 hours. Keep adding water as it boils down to keep as much of the meat covered as you can.
Once the beef gets a little tender, maybe an hour before it is done, add carrots and quartered red potatoes to the pot.
During the last 15 minutes you want to cook your cabbage, right down in the same pot. My mother in law taught me to cut my cabbage in wedges and carefully place it on top of everything. This keeps it from getting really soggy.
I serve my veggies in one bowl and my meat sliced up on a platter. And you have to have rye bread! If you have leftovers, a sandwich on rye with Swiss cheese and mustard is our standby.
Dessert is always Irish soda bread...I have made it before but the store bought seems just as good. I wish this picture were a little more elegant, but I didn't want anything to get cold, so I was just grabbing plates. It did turn out perfect and was wickedly good! It's a little late in the game to make one today, but corned beefs will be on sale now and you can always pick on up to make this week. Using a crock pot works nicely if you can't be watching it. I hope this little tutorial helps you!
During my regular grocery shopping trip I found these wonderful Bells of Ireland. Aren't they the sweetest? I hope you have a great St. Patrick's Day!

Finally, I want to announce the winner of my giveaway. You may remember it was part of the Beauty 101 post. The two packages of make up goes to Kristin at My Uncommon Slice Of Suburbia! I will be sending her an email. I wish I had enough to go around. You ladies were fantastic in sharing all of your beauty tips!

Have a great week! :-)

47 comments:

Kathy@ Gone North said...

Oh... Looks SOooo... good
I have never cooked corned Beef & cabbage, I may try it next week,
Thanks for sharing your "how-to"
Enjoy St. Paddy's day in Chicago..
we did it once, yrs. ago & it was great fun...

Anonymous said...

St. Patrick's Day isn't really celebrated where I live, so I've enjoyed seeing what others on blogland do. Your food looks really good, so thanks for sharing about your family tradition. Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Jacqueline~Cabin and Cottage said...

This looks to be such a tasty and beautiful meal! I've never done it before so your tips really help! You're lucky to be able to be able to just buy the bread. We can't get it here. Happy SPD!!!

Donna@Conghaile Cottage said...

"Happy St Patrick's Day to you"!!! Your Goodie table looks complete! and I can SMELL MINE SIMMERING as I type this, "YUMMMMY"! I try to make the biggest one I can BECAUSE we like the leftovers as much as the main meal!
Have a wonderful "GREEN" weekend,
Big Hugs,
Donna

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful St.Patricks Day meal, looks wonderful, I've never prepared this before.
Congratulations to the lucky winner.
Happy St.Patricks Day to you both!

Kristin @ My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia said...

Oh my goodness I am so excited! I use smashbox concealer and it is my FAVORITE!!! I love bare minerals too, so excited to try out the samples :) THANK YOU!!
Happy Saint Patricks Day!
XO

Theresa said...

Congratulations to Kristen! Lucky girl on this Lucky DAY:)

Your dinner looks SO delicious! We LOVE corned beef but I seldom cook it! Enjoy your weekend dear Jane, HUGS!

A Whole Lotta Magic said...

Looks so good!

S
xo

NanaDiana said...

That looks good, Jane...but it is the one thing I don't cook (even being Irish). I had so much of it aas a kid that it is just not "my thing". You can eat my share, too, now!

Congrats to Kristin-She will be thrilled, I'm sure. Happy St. Paddy's Day! xo Diana

Donna said...

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Jane! We celebrated a bit early too! I just couldn't wait any more for corned beef & cabbage, so I fixed it yesterday in the crockpot. It was so yummy:) I had to remind hubby not to take seconds on the corned beef, as I wanted some for left overs!

GLENDA CHILDERS said...

Jane, this looks so delicious. Are you enjoying this incredible weathers. I heard it is the hottest St. Patrick's Day in 140 years.

We had soda bread last night. Love. Love.

Fondly,
Glenda

Sarah said...

Love corned beef and cabbage. May I come to dinner?
Great idea to get the Bells of Ireland. I don't often see them. Happy St. Patrick's Day! ~ Sarah

Charlene said...

YUM!!!!!!!!! I can taste it now!!!! And did the river run green in Chicago? Thanks for sharing you goodies & I wish I was there to try some. Come see me! HUGS! Charlene

Lori said...

I love both and can you believe that I have never had it! Will have to check it out ~ thanks so much for the tips. Congrats to your winner too! Happy St. Patty's Day Janie ~ may the luck of the Irish be with you today. xo

Linda said...

It has been a LONG time since I cooked corned beef and cabbage. Seems like a perfect spring meal and I hope to try it soon!

Tracy said...

Looks yummy! I have never made it before but I'm always interested in trying new things. Your Bells of Ireland are gorgeous, I don't think I've ever seen those before either. Chicagoans must be way more into St. Pat's Day than Pennsylvanians, here all we do is drink. I like your traditions much better!

Lynn said...

Corned Beef and Cabbage is on the menu tomorrow with my boys! Funny how we look so forward to the things we only have once a year:@)

Shirley said...

Hi Jane, Corn Beef and cabbage has been on the menus every place the last couple of days. We had ours yesterday. Today was a good day we didn't use the wheel chair except when we were at Joanne's. I do really appreciate your friendship right now. It got hot today and really windy. I am hoping we don't get storms out of this. Happy St. Paddy's Hugs from your Missouri Friend.

Melanie said...

Congrats to your winner - lucky Kristen! My husband is Irish, but we don't like corned beef and cabbage. We are picky...the only corned beef we will eat is the kosher deli sliced stuff - on rye bread with mustard! Oh well, I did make homemade soda bread tonight though. Had it with leftover BBQ chicken from last night's dinner out. :-)

koralee said...

Now that is one thing I have never had! Thank you for sharing and thank you so much for your sweet comment you left on my blog. xoxoxo HUGS

Geneva said...

Yum.. your corned beef and cabbage looks sooo good! It's been ages since I've made it, and I'm not sure why, because my husband loves it.
Thank you for sharing this fun St Patrick's Day post!
Blessings!
Geneva

Julie Marie said...

Looks good!... ours was delicious as well... hope you had a Happy St. Patrick's Day... I love your Bells of Ireland!... xoxo Julie Marie

Jane and Lance Hattatt said...

Hello Jane:
St Patrick's Day is clearly a time for a big party in the USA and we have been most interested to read of your special food to celebrate the day.

The Molucella laevis are so wonderfully unusual with their fabulously chartreuse flowers!

Sharon Lovejoy said...

Ah heck dear Jane,

Why didn't you just come to OUR house to make this?

Love,

S

White Ironstone Cottage said...

Hi Sweet Jane
Yummy !!1
Thanks for the how to
I have never tried to make this it always seemed to difficult
Grateful
Pam

FABBY'S LIVING said...

I haven't had luch yet and right now I'm wishing to have this, such yummy Irish meal! I used to love cabbage and corned beef cause back in Astoria-Queens, da and mom took us out for lunch, after watching the fab parade for St. Patty's Day...not that we're Irish, but all NYorkers specially, celebrate big time St. Pat's, no matter what nationality a Newyorker is and since we're catholic, mother and dad celebrated too. Wishing you sweet lad, lots of Irish luck!
FABBY

Debbiedoos said...

Hi Jane...looks like you had a great day. SOrry I am out of the loop these days. I changed over to WP and have been caught up in that. Please add my new URL which is http://debbie-debbiedoos.com. Thanks.

Teresa@1800 Farmhouse Rd said...

Oh yum, this looks and sounds so wonderful, Blondie! I have never had this meal before. When I go and do the grocery shopping this week, I am going to look for the corned beef and try it.

Something Nice and Pretty said...

Hi Blondie, I hope you had a wonderful time! My mom made it different than yours, her's was like a stew, everything combined and oh, so good! Still wish I had got the recipe for it:)
Lucky Kristen too!

Pinky at Designs by Pinky said...

Can you believe that I ahve never had corned beef???? I know. After seeing yours, now I want to make it!!! It looks yummy! We were out to dinner with friends l;ast night. Glad your meal was so good. Congrats to Kristen! XO, Pinky

xinex said...

Your corned beef meal looks so good, Janie. I've never made it so I appreciate you showing the directions here. Thanks. Love the Bells of ireland, so pretty. I am sure you had a nice St. Patrick's Day. I know it's big there in Chicago.....Christine

Olive said...

Jane, I made corned beef only once so thanks for refreshing my memory. Yours looks wonderful. Congrats to the winner. hugs,olive

bj said...

O, your meal looks fabulous. I have never cooked a corned beef. So glad to have your instructions now. I love it and I LOVE corned beef on Rye with Swiss...and lots of mustard. :))

Elaine said...

I am Irish American but I never liked corned beef. I must say yours looks delicious. I may have to try to make it myself.

Glad you had a nice St Patrick's Day.

Barb said...

Hi Janie, oh, your corned beef and cabbage look utterly delicious! My husband doesn't eat it but I am tempted to make it for myself! Ha.

The plant/flowers are so, so lovely!

Congratulations to Kristin.

Thanks for your sweet comment about my hutch...I am loving it.

Have a wonderful day, sweet girl.

xoBarb

The Time Voyager said...

Looks delicious!

Penny said...

Great corned beef and cabbage! Can't believe that we haven't made it this year. Too busy with bike week! But yours looks perfect Jane.

Sue said...

I cooked my boiled dinner on Saturday nite and it was deliciously tender. I did something different this year- I added a bottle of Guinness to the water. What a wonderful flavor it added to the meat! We had soda bread with dinner- mine is a sweet recipe- and we had Kerry Gold butter with it. Oh, so rich and creamy.... I know we both enjoyed our dinners, didn't we? I bought a second one to have for sandwiches this week. Who can resist corned beef when it's in a Reuben?
Thanks for your input on the paint color for my cloche. I probably will use a pastel. I don't think I have any pastel colors in my stash, but I can always make a quick trip to the Hobby Lobby for some acrylic paint. Well worth a buck. :-)
hugs, Sue

Bargain Decorating with Laurie said...

Jane, that looks delicious. My mouth is watering. I don't think my grocery has ever had any Bells of Ireland. So pretty. I'm going to be on the lookout for some. Have a great week. laurie

Town and Country Gals said...

Jane,
looks so good, never cooked it! The bells of Ireland are gorgeous, one of my favorite flowers! Was in Savannah Ga the Friday before St Pat's day, they had already turned all the water in the fountains in the squares green, pretty cool. They have one of the largest St Patty's day celebrations in the country, something I didn't know!
Rebecca

Gypsy Heart said...

Congrats to Kristin! I know she'll have fun with those packages.

Thanks for sharing the how-to on corned beef & cabbage. I've never made it although I know a lot of folks really love it.

Enjoy your week!
xo
Pat

Jacqueline said...

I just love your bells of Ireland. Wish someone had made me corned beef and cabbage. My mom used to always make it. We had so much drama going on that we didn't even both wearing green. Glad last week is over and hope this week is better!

The Moerks said...

Happy St Pats day to you. Your corned beef looks delicious, I can almost smell it from here.

PAINTORDIG.blogspot.com said...

i have never eaten corned beef, but it does sound delicious. I love bells of Ireland.

Andrea said...

Looks yummy! I have never attempted to make corned beef and cabbage, but there's always next year!

Rita said...

What a great introduction to corned beef; something I have never cooked and now I am really wanting to try it. Saving your recipe.
Rita

Sue said...

Now I wish I had cooked some. My husband doesn't really like it, so once the kids left home I quit. I can almost smell this through the screen.

Congrats to your winner! Jealous!