An Irish Feast for the non-Irish Joie

I do not have a lick of Irish in me, but I love the food and festivities associated with the day.
Even if you are like me and lack the Irish gene, St. Patrick's day is a day where we can all be Irish.  So lift your glass of Guinness high and get cooking!

On the menu:

Guinness braised corned beef
Whole wheat Irish soda bread with butter
Colcannon
Steamed carrots with butter
Guinness


Guinness braised corned beef by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

1 corned beef roast
the spice packet that comes with your corned beef
1 bottle of Guinness

Directions:

1.  Place your corned beef in the insert of your crock pot.
2.  Open the spice packet that came with the corned beef and sprinkle on top of the beef.
3.  Pour the bottle of Guinness over the corned beef.
4.  Cover the crock pot and set on LOW for 8-10 hours.
5.  Remove the corned beef from the crock pot.  Trim off all of the external fat and slice the roast into pieces going against the grain of the meat.

Colcannon by Joie de vivre

Ingredients:

2 lb. russet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-2 inch chunks.
1 bunch of scallions (about 8), white part only, sliced thinly
1 small head of green cabbage, cored and sliced thinly
2 Tbls. butter
1/2 cup 2% milk
1 scant tsp. salt
black pepper to taste

Directions:

1.  In a tall soup pot, place the potatoes and add cool water until the potatoes are just covered.
2.  Sprinkle the scallions on top of the potatoes
3.  Layer the shredded cabbage on top of the scallions
4.  Cover the pot and bring to a boil.  Lower the heat and simmer for about 20 minutes until the potatoes are tender.
5.  Drain the contents in a colander and return them to the pot.
6.  Add butter, milk, salt and pepper and mash with a potato masher until potato chunks are thoroughly mashed.