St. Patrick's Day Feast

Today we celebrate everything Irish and green.  Being scandinavian, I basically use this day as an excuse to drink green beer and eat corned beef. Nothing wrong with that!

For dinner we had Irish soda muffins, corned beef with vegetables, black and tan brownies and of course Guinness and green beers (oh, and green milk for Blake!).

The Irish soda muffins are such a nice change from the usual soda bread.  And, they make for a good breakfast pastry that isn't overly sweet.  Here is the recipe courtesy of a long lost relative, Colleen.

Irish Soda Muffins

1 cup quick or old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup golden raisins (if you can't find golden raisins you can use a total of 1/2 c. regular raisins)
1/4 cup raisins

Combine oats and buttermilk and refrigerate for one hour or overnight. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease 12 muffin cups or line with paper baking cups. In a large bowl, combine egg, butter, brown sugar and mix well. Add oat mixture alternately with combined dry ingredients to egg mixture, mixing just until dry ingredients are moistened (batter will be lumpy). Stir in raisins. Fill prepared muffin cups 2/3 full. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Food tip: To make sour milk, place 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar in glass or plastic measuring cup. Add enough milk to equal 1 cup, mix well. Let stand 10 minutes before using.


For the corned beef, I combined three or four recipes trying to find a good combo of ingredients...

Jodi's Slow Cooker Corned Beef with Vegetables and Cabbage
4lbs corned beef with seasoning packet (usually 1lb per person)
1.5lbs carrots, cut in to 3" lengths
1 leek, cut in to 2" lengths
1 rutabega, cut in to 8 or so wedges
1lb med size potatoes
1 head of cabbage
1 bottle Stout (I used Guinness Extra Stout)
Hot water

Horseradish and ground mustard for serving.

Place meat in slowcooker and sprinkle with spice packet, then all the veggies except the cabbage (cabbage is cooked last).  Pour beer over everything and then add enough hot water so the beef is covered by an inch or so.  Turn cooker on low for 7-8 hours. 

Keep an eye on your veggies as they may cook fast depending on how big they are.  If necessary, remove the veggies if they start to get to soft and add back in for last 30 or so minutes.  Add cabbage for last 30 minutes so it can get tender but not overly mushy.
*I took my veggies out after 6 hours, and then turned the heat to high for two hours, adding veggies and cabbage back in for last 30 minutes. (I also don't like my veggies super mushy, but leaving them in would have been fine).

When meat is falling-apart-tender, remove and slice on serving tray.  Surround with veggies and drizzle the cooking liquid over everything.