Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Are you ready to serve your family a great dinner on St. Patrick's Day? My family and I had our wonderful St. Patrick's Day meal on this past Sunday. Wednesday, March 17th will be a crazy day for my household (husband away on travel, sports and after school activites for the kids) and we didn't want to miss out on the corned beef and cabbage, so we celebrated a little early. I love this meal - so easy to make and enjoyed by all. I cheat a little. I buy the pre-packaged corned beef (with the season packet included) at the food store, load up on red potatoes, cabbage, baby carrots, celery - all the good stuff. I pull out the huge crock pot, load it up with the corned beef, potatoes cut in half, baby carrots, and celery cut in 1 1/2 inch lengths, enough water to cover it and of course the season packet! (You can always add additional spices if desired. ) I turn the crock pot on high for about 2 1/2 hours, then add the cabbage, which I have cut into wedges and cook it for another hour or so. I put all the veggies and potatoes into a large serving bowl, cut the corned beef against the grain and put it on a platter and dinner is served! This year we added Irish soda bread to the menu. Again, I cheated a little by buying from the bakery department at my local food store. They do such a good job baking it, I decided to save myself some time and let them do the work! The left over corned beef makes great ruben sandwiches!