Another Irish dish Colcannon

Photo by Madeline L.

OK... I had never heard of this before, but I mentioned to my husband that we were making corned beef and he said we should try colcannon. He saw it on a cooking show and thought it looked interesting. I looked online and there are many different ways to make it, you can use potatoes and cabbage or potatoes and kale for instance, and many different ways to spell it (Col Cannon, Kohl Cannon). There is even a difference of opinion on where the dish originated from. Some say it is from Scotland others Ireland and I even found a few places that stated it was German. I did finally find a recipe that sounded good partly because they took the liberty of adding bacon, which is probably not very authentic, but sounded tasty. I found the recipe on about.com kids cooking.

Colcannon
3 pounds russet potatoes (I used small red)
1 Tbsp. olive oil (I used the left over bacon grease, see below)
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 cups shredded cabbage (or kale)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup butter, divided
1/3 cup half and half
2 slices cooked bacon

Peel and dice potatoes. Place in a large pot and cover with water by one inch. Bring to a boil, covered, over high heat. Remove cover, reduce heat to medium, and allow potatoes to cook 12-15 minutes, until tender when softened, about 3 minutes. Add cabbage, season with salt and pepper, and cook until soft, about 5 minutes. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Season with salt and pepper. Add two tablespoons of the butter and the half and half. Mash. Fold in the cabbage mixture and the bacon. Top with the remaining butter.

St. Patrick's Day "A wee bit early"



Photo by Madeline L.

We had the traditional Corned Beef this week as an early celebration of St. Patrick's day. I wanted to make this in the crockpot, but not use the spice packet that the corned beef comes with. Here is what I did.


Crock Pot Corned Beef
3-4 pound corned beef brisket
2 small onions, sliced
zest of 1 orange
4 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 cup coarse-grain mustard
2 cups apple juice

Trim the corned beef of excess fat and throw out the spice packet. Place sliced onions in the bottom of the Crockpot. Lay the corned beef on top. Sprinkle orange zest and brown sugar over the corned beef. Spread mustard over top. Pour the apple juice over the corned beef. Cover and cook corned beef on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours.

Photo by Madeline L.



Angi's Intro...

Hello! My name is Angi. I am so excited to become a member of this blog! I am always trying new foods and recipes and I am excited to be able to share what I find. I am even more thrilled about discovering what others share and enjoy! I am married and have 2 children. For a few months I have been throwing around the idea of starting a blog to share foods that I enjoy. So, thanks for this opportunity.

This recipe comes from my Dad. Growing up we would make cookies on Sunday and this is by far my favorite. This recipe is doubled and makes a huge amount of cookies. I just discovered that you can scoop out the cookies onto the baking sheet and pop them in the freezer for an hour, then they can be stored in a plastic freezer bag and can be used at a later date.

My Dad's Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Combine dry ingredients and set aside:

4 cups Flour
4 cups Oats
2 t. Baking Soda
2 t. Salt

Blend together:

1-1/2 cups Shortening
1/2 cup Butter
1-1/2 cups Sugar
1-1/2 cups Brown Sugar
2 t. Vanilla
4 Eggs

Add Dry ingredients slowly to sugar mixture and blend well. Add Chocolate Chips. Cook at 350 Degrees until edges start to turn brown. 8-10 Minutes.