CORNED BEEF & VEGETABLES

Every year, corned beef is traditionally served for Saint Patrick's Day on March 17th. As much as I love tradition, I love a bargain even more! If you like corned beef, you can find it for a very low price the week before Saint Patrick's Day. I buy several and freeze the extras for later in the year.
Here is a very easy, basic dinner of corned beef, onions, potatoes, carrots and cabbage. It might also be called a New England boiled dinner, except, this is California and I put it all in a slow cooker.
Use your slow cooker for these types of meals and you'll not only save yourself time and effort, but it's economical as well. Next time, substitute a cut of roast beef or pork, instead of the corned beef, and you'll have a hot, delicious dinner waiting for you at the end of the day!

For a printable version of this recipe without photos, click here.

CORNED BEEF and VEGETABLES

Ingredients:
3-5 pounds corned beef with spice packet
3 cups water (or combination beef broth and water)
4-5 potatoes, peeled and quartered
2 stalks celery, cut into 1 inch pieces
3-4 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
1/3 cup yellow mustard
1/2 head cabbage, cut into 4 wedges

Directions:
Set up your slow cooker. If you have a smaller cooker, use a smaller piece of beef and fewer ingredients and don't crowd the crock. I used a larger cooker and was able to fit all the ingredients into the crock.
Turn on the slow cooker and set to Low for 8-10 hours, or High for 4-5 hours. Pour the liquid into the crock.
Prep all the vegetables except the cabbage.

Place all the cut vegetables (except the cabbage) into the crock.

Open the package and rinse the beef under cold running water.

With your hands, smear the mustard all over the beef. Sprinkle the spices from the packet all over the meat.














Put the whole piece of beef on top of the vegetables with the fatty side facing up. Make shallow slices in the layer of fat, being careful to not cut too deep. Add more liquid if necessary to reach the level of the beef.


Put the lid on and let it cook. Before the last hour of cooking, take the 1/2 head of cabbage, trim away the outer leaves and cut into 4 wedges.














Place the cabbage on top of everything else and put the lid back on. Allow to finish for another 40-50 minutes.

The vegetables are done when they are easily pierced with a fork. Keep in mind that when cooking with a slow cooker, vegetables take longer to cook than meat. That's why you layer the meat on top of the vegetables.

Serve and enjoy!

Also, be sure to use the leftovers for other delicious meals. Check back here for recipes and photos I'll be posting for Corned Beef Hash and Reuben Sandwiches!

Try this and let me know how it turns out. I'd love to hear from you, just leave a comment below.