Working Girl's Corned Beef and Cabbage

There is nothing better than Mom's corned beef and cabbage on March 17th.  But if you're going it on your own, and if you are like yours truly and have other things to do on a weekday besides be in the kitchen all day, then set it and forget it in the Crockpot.  Prepare all the vegetables the night before so you can get this together the morning of in 5 minutes flat.  You'll have a proper Irish dish waiting when you come home.  And made with Guinness to boot.  Bet Mom never did that ;)

Ingredients:

1. 4 pounds corned beef
2. 10 peppercorns (or pickling spice included with the corned beef)
3. 3 sprigs fresh thyme
4. 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
5. 3 bay leaves
6. 2 cups beef stock
7. 1 cup water
8. 1 15 oz can Guinness Stout
9. 6 garlic cloves, minced
10. 3 medium yellow onions, cut into bite-size pieces
11. 3 parsnips, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
12. 3 carrots, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
13. 3 stalks celery, cut into bite-size pieces
14. 10 small red potatoes, scrubbed and cut in half
15. 1 head green cabbage, cut into 8 equal wedges

Let's Get Started:

• Rinse off corned beef and place in Crockpot
• Add items 2-14 to the Crockpot
• Cook on lowest heat for 8 hours
• After 8 hours, remove corned beef and vegetables from Crockpot, set aside and keep warm
• Place cabbage into a large pot on stove
• Pour liquid from Crockpot over cabbage until there is 1/2 inch of liquid in the cabbage pot
• Boil cabbage for 20 minutes, rotating cabbage onto opposite side half-way through cooking time
• Arrange corned beef and vegetables on a platter and serve with a pint of ...say it with me... Guinness.
• Enjoy, and...

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind be always at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face;

the rains fall soft upon your fields and until we meet again,

may God hold you in the palm of His hand. 

Guinness Onion Soup

What's an Irish girl to do when she is sick as a dog at the start of St Patty's Week?  No chicken noodle soup is going to do...not today.  Guinness onion soup is what the doctor ordered.  This soup is much like French onion soup, with an Irish twist.  Simple ingredients, bold flavors, warming, and comforting...this soup is the perfect way to kick off the week, and kick out my cold.

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 large yellow onions (or 6 small), thinly sliced
• Sea salt
• 1 Tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, chopped
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1/4 cup sherry vinegar
• 1 15oz can Guinness Stout (not Extra Stout)
• 6 cups beef stock
• 6 slices crusty bread, toasted
• 6oz Irish cheddar

Let's Get Started:

• Heat evoo in large skillet
• Add onions, season with salt, and cook for 5 minutes
• Add garlic, cook for 1 minute
• Reduce heat to low, cook for 15 minutes or until onions are completely caramelized
• Add thyme, bay leaf, vinegar, and beer
• Reduce beer by half, and add beef stock
• Bring to simmer and cook for 10 more minutes
• Preheat the broiler
• Remove bay leaf from soup
• Equally divide the soup between 6 broiler-proof soup bowls or ramekans (should be about a cup per bowl), leaving at least half an inch at the top
• Top each ramekan with toasted bread and cheddar slices
• Broil until cheese melts and starts to brown
• Serve right away

Onions and garlic have long been used to battle respiratory ailments such as colds, coughs, and asthma, not to mention their strengths in heart health and cancer prevention.  This soup is chalk full of them, and warms you right down to your Irish soul.

*Recipe adapted from Easy Entertaining With Michael Chiarello* 

No Ordinary GORP

A good nut mix is essential for healthy snacking and keeping your brain and body going.  The protein and essential fatty acids in nuts keep you full and focussed, at your desk or on the hiking trail.  The problem is finding a mix that isn't just the same ol' GORP.  Never fear, yours truly has sampled, created and refined the perfect mix you can make yourself, and you know what that means...no more picking around the stuff you don't like.  It also means more nuts in your mix and more dinero in your pocket book.  Next time you're at the store (I <3 Whole Foods, Sprouts, Sunflower Farmer's Market and the like), stroll on down the bulk aisle, and pick up a few items.

What You'll Need:

Equal Parts:

• Almonds 
• Pepitas
• Hulled sunflower seeds 
• Dry roasted edamame
• Dried cranberries 
• Dried cherries
• Half as many: Macadamia nuts

Combine all the ingredients in an air-tight jar or tupperware, shake until all ingredients are evenly dispersed.

This nut medley packs quite a punch: protein builds and repairs muscles and bones, restores cells, provides energy and regulates metabolism; monosaturated fats help to reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol and increase HDL (good) cholesterol; Vitamins E, B, C and K as well as minerals such as iron, zinc, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, copper and potassium, essential fatty acids and amino acids provide for efficient full body function; and superfruit antioxidants help the heart, organs, immune system, and contain cancer-fighting agents.

This hodgepodge is satisfying whether you take your snack one piece at a time, or throw a palm-full in together.  Scoop a handful and enjoy.

Three Bean Chili

What You'll Need:

1. 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
2. 1lb 90/10 ground beef 
3. 1 yellow onion
4. 3 stalks celery
5. 2 large carrots
6. 1 bell pepper
7. 1 anaheim chile, seeded (sub in jalapeno or poblano if you prefer)
8. 4 cloves garlic
9. 1 15-oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
10. 1 15-oz can pinto beans, drained and rinsed 
11. 1 15-oz can kidney (or aduki if you don't like kidney) beans, drained and rinsed 
12. 1 15-oz can fire roasted diced tomatos
13. 1 28-oz can crushed tomatos
14. 1 28-oz can stewed whole tomatos
15. 2 Tablespoons each: Worcestershire sauce, yellow mustard, chili powder, ground cumin
16. 1 teaspoon each: basil leaves, cayenne, coriander, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper
17. 1/2 teaspoon each: chipotle chili powder, smoked paprika
18. 3 bay leaves

Let's Get Started:

• Chop vegetables 3-7 in uniform size so they will cook evenly, set aside in bowl
• Heat 1 Tablespoon evoo in a large pot over medium heat  
• Mince garlic and add to bowl of vegetables 
• Add items 3-8 to heated oil
• Sauté vegetables for 8 minutes, then remove vegetables from pot and set aside in a bowl
• Heat 1 Tablespoon evoo in the same large pot (now empty)
• Add ground beef to heated oil and brown the meat, about 5 minutes
• Season meat with items 15-17
• Add bowl of cooked vegetables back into the pot
• Add items 9-14 and 18 to pot, stir
• Bring chili to a boil
• Reduce heat, simmer for 30 minutes, stirring every so often
• If needed, add more salt and/or pepper to taste
• Remove bay leaves
• Spoon into bowls, garnish with low fat shredded cheese, fat free sour cream (it's still good, I promise!), and chives, and enjoy!

If I have the whole afternoon and know I will be in the kitchen, I will add a couple cups of beef or chicken  broth (whatever I have), and cook with the lid off to allow the chili to reduce over a few hours for another layer of delicioso.

With all the flavors and spices in this chili, your taste buds will never know it is low fat.  The 90/10 beef keeps this cozy dish waistline friendly, and if you are adventurous and have access to a greater variety of meat than say, an urban girl such as yours truly, I highly recommend subbing in ground buffalo or bison (both of which are naturally lean).  I have even made this chili with 94/6 beef, and it was still very tasty--albeit more pricey.  The three bean combination adds more protein and lots of fiber for a filling and satisfying meal without any of the guilt.  I love the three different colors and sizes of beans in the chili.  I used aduki beans rather than chili's favorite kidney bean simply because PJB doesn't care for them, but any will work.  If you have a taste for spice like me, I recommend kicking up the cayenne or leaving in some seeds from the chile.  

Heaps and heaps of chili...yes, I always make this much.  It really is the perfect dish to make on the weekend and take in to work for lunch during the week, or perhaps reinvent for weekday dinners by spooning over steamed rice, or over turkey dogs.  The longer the chili melds together, the more lively the flavors become.  This is one leftover that may actually get better overnight.  Vegetarians out there, skip the meat--there's enough power-packed legumes in here to stand on their very own.

Lots of ingredients, yet a very easy meal.  Let me know how much you love this chili and how you made it your own.  Chili cook-off anyone?

Crab Stuffed Mushrooms

It's game day, you are pushing your grocery cart around the store and wondering what you're going to take to that party for an appetizer to share.  You want something simple, but it'd be nice to show up with something besides the same ol' pre-packaged cheese spread or veggie tray.  You start to fade into the endless sea of  vegetables laid out in the produce section when suddenly, you've got it: 'shrooms to the rescue.  Of course...stuffed mushrooms are always a crowd favorite!  Try this new twist on an old favorite to create an easy yet artful combination of flavors that will make you Queen (or King) of amuse-bouches.

What You'll Need:

1. 20-25 mushrooms (white or baby bellas)
2. 6oz lump crab meat, picked over for shells
3. 3 strips bacon
4. 1/2 small yellow onion, minced
5. 1/2 small red bell pepper, minced
6. 3 cloves garlic, minced
7. 1/2 cup shredded smoked Gouda
8. 1/2 cup shredded cheddar
9. 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
10. Salt and pepper
11. Garnish: Shredded Parmesan cheese and chopped chives

Let's Get Started:

• Pre-heat oven to 350°.
• Clean mushrooms and remove stems.  Mince half the stems, set aside.
• Cook bacon in frying pan until crispy.  Remove bacon from pan, set on paper towel to blot.  Leave the pan on medium heat, with bacon renderings.
• Add minced onion, bell pepper, mushroom stems and garlic to frying pan and sauté for 5 minutes.
• Mince bacon.
• In a medium bowl, combine items 1-9, adding salt and pepper to taste.
• Stuff each mushroom cap with the mixture (don't be shy--heap those babies!), and evenly space the stuffed caps on a cookie sheet.
• Bake stuffed mushrooms for 12-15 minutes (longer for bigger mushrooms)
• Remove mushrooms from oven 
• Switch oven to broil 
• Sprinkle mushrooms with Parmesan and chives
• Broil mushrooms for about 5 minutes, or until Parmesan sprinkle browns (leave oven door cracked open while broiling and keep an eye on 'em)
• Remove from oven, transfer to a serving dish and enjoy!

I used baby portabellas (criminis) for my mushrooms, as they tend to have a meatier flavor, but white mushrooms would work just fine--and tend to be great for stuffing due to their bigger size.  I chose red bell pepper for the color, but any will do (get what's on sale).  Also feel free to substitute the cheeses out for any other kind you prefer.  Maybe you have a few different kinds of cheese in your fridge...get creative!  I would definitely advise medium-strong cheese, as it adds to the depth of flavors.  Smoked Gouda and aged white cheddar sounded like the perfect accompaniment to the crab and bacon, so I went with it.  And the crab?  Well, there is just something about crab that makes whatever you're making fancier.  We made the mushrooms through the baking and topping at home, and then broiled them once we got to our destination...definitely a dish you can make before-hand and zap in the broiler when the guests arrive...or if you're the guest, when you arrive :)

Maybe it's because I had a great time inventing this recipe on the fly with PJB just hours before the Superbowl kickoff, or maybe I like mushrooms more than the average bear, or maybe...just maybe...these really are the best stuffed mushrooms ever!  Try them out, and let me know what you think.