UPDATED St. Patrick's Day Dinner

I remembered to take pictures this year!  I made a few tweaks and changes, but nothing major.   And I almost forgot to take a picture of the plated dinner!  Sorry about the quality.

 Corned Beef

  

 Remove seasoning packet, rinse, and set it aside for later.  Trim off all excess fat and rinse brisket.  Dry off with paper towel.  Heat a small amount of olive oil in a dutch oven on high.  Season both sides with a generous sprinkling of kosher salt and fresh ground pepper.  Sear both sides of brisket for 8-10 minutes, or until the brisket no longer sticks to the bottom of the pan.  This ensures it's been caramelized properly.

 

 I have used regular and non-alcoholic beer.  This year the beer guy was stocking Amber flavored O'doul's and I asked him what the difference was.  He said he had no clue, he doesn't drink alcohol either.  LOL  So, I thought I'd give it a try.  It was a good decision.  This had a richer, yet lighter flavor.

Cut open the seasoning packets and pour in a microwave proof bowl.  I microwaved 3 times in increments of 30 seconds on high.  This helps bring out the oils from the peppercorns and mustard seeds, and everything else yummy in there.  I think I could smell fennel or caraway as well.  MMMmmmmm.  Sprinkle evenly over the bottom of a large roasting pan.  (I used foil this time just for easier clean up.)  Add a few bay leaves to the pan too.

 

Heat the oven to 275'.   Remove seared briskets and place over seasonings in large pan.

Pour 2 12oz. bottles of non-alcoholic beer over briskets.

 Cover with foil and place on bottom rack of oven for several hours.  When done, cut across the grain to ensure the most tender bites.  I cooked the veggies and bread below after the Corned Beef was removed from the oven.  It needs to rest anyways.

 Roasted Root Veggies

This year I tried a few new veggies.
3 peeled and diced parsnips
4 peeled and diced carrots
2 lbs. button mushrooms, cleaned, stems trimmed, cut in half
8 cleaned and diced red potatoes
1 large, peeled, diced, sweet potato
1 large onion large diced


Add all veggies to an extra large bowl. 
Sprinkle generously with kosher salt, all purpose seasoning, dried parsley, fresh ground pepper, celery seed, and about 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil. 

With clean hands or gloves, toss vegetables well to coat all pieces with seasonings and oil.  Pour into a very large, deep pan sprayed with non-stick spray or coated with olive oil.  Bake at 450 for 40 minutes, stirring halfway through.  

Cabbage

Remove outer layer of leaves and trim stem if needed.  Do not remove the core, this will hold the wedges together for baking.  Cut into 8- wedges with core still intact.  Place in a greased roasting pan.  Drizzle with a few DROPS of olive oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper, and a drizzle of the braising liquid from the Corned Beef.  Roast uncovered for 20-30 min. in a 450' oven.  (I did this at the latter part while roasting the other vegetables.)

Beer Bread:
This is the recipe I used.  LINK HERE  Because I used non-alcoholic beer I added 2 1/4 tsp. of active dry yeast and it came out beautifully.  I thought at first that I had burned the bread, however, if you drizzle the butter over the bread before baking, like the recipe calls for, it does turn a dark brown.  But, it's more of a "browned butter" flavor, vs. burned.  It's a very yummy, deep flavor.  And of course, serve with butter on the side.

Copy/Paste of the Recipe:

Ingredients:

Servings:

• 3 cups flour (sifted)
• 3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
• 1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 (12 ounce) can beer
• 1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 cup will do just fine)

Directions:

Prep Time: 3 mins
Total Time: 1 hr

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Mix dry ingredients and beer.
3. Pour into a greased loaf pan.
4. Pour melted butter over mixture.
5. Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes.
6. UPDATED NOTES: This recipe makes a very hearty bread with a crunchy, buttery crust. If you prefer a softer crust (like a traditional bread) mix the butter into the batter instead of pouring it over the top.
7. Sifting flour for bread recipes is a must-do. Most people just scoop the 1 cup measure in the flour canister and level it off. That compacts the flour and will turn your bread into a "hard biscuit" as some have described. That's because they aren't sifting their flour! If you do not have a sifter, use a spoon to spoon the flour into the 1 cup measure. Try it once the "correct" way and you will see an amazing difference in the end product.
8. I have had many email from you kind folks about using non-alcoholic beverages instead of beer. That is fine to do but I highly recommend adding a packet of Dry Active Yeast or 2 teaspoons of Bread (Machine) Yeast so that you get a proper rise.
9. The final result should be a thick, hearty and very tasteful bread, NOT A BRICK! ;).
10. Thank you all for the incredibly nice comments and those of you who left a bad review - learn to sift sift SIFT! You will be amazed at the results you get.

Mustard Sauce:

SUPER easy!!!  Mix 2-3 Tbl. dijon with horseradish style mustard with 1 cup sour cream or plain Greek yogurt(non-fat versions work fine), and 1 tsp. Worcestershire Sauce.  Use this to top your meat or veggies.

ORIGINAL POST HERE

Sunshine Breakfast Smoothie

1 Grapefruit, peeled, seeds removed
6 Cuties(mandarins), peeled
2 Bananas, peeled and cut
1 cup frozen Blackberries
1 cup frozen Raspberries
8-10 Mint Leaves
4-6 drops of doTerra Citrus Bliss

Pulse a few times and then puree.  Makes 2 large, creamy smoothies.

Sewing a Perfect Seam

Blue painters tape is fantastic, but even better, Molefoam!  It gives an excellent ridge for the edge of your material.  One of my students commented that it would leave a residue behind, but if you use painters tape WITH the Molefoam there is no residue.  When sewing 1/4" seams, this is especially nice to have!

Molefoam from Walmart foot section, and this was a little thicker than what I'm used to buying, it was perfect.

Peel back the backing on the Molefoam and lay the non-sticky side of some painters tape on it.  Trim the edges and along the edge of the tape.

Stick the blue sticky side down along the guide on your sewing machine.

Put your presser foot down so you get as close to the needle as possible but without placing over the feeds.

See?  Perfect 1/4" seam.

When you're not using it, just stick it on the side of your machine.  When the tape wears out, you can just replace it.