(43-232) Corned Beef & Cabbage With A Twist

Tonight we went to my Aunt Fran's house, for our traditional, St. Patrick's day dinner.  If it took you a minute to wrap your head around that sentence; I'll confirm what you're thinking.  NO, neither Luis nor I are any part Irish.  However, being the nice Jewish girl that I am; I've always been a big (yes,) HUGE fan of Corned Beef; and I rather enjoy the cabbage as well.

Well, a number of years ago, my Aunt Fran (my mom's older sister, who lives about 25 minutes from me;) invited us to come over for Corned beef and cabbage, and it has become somewhat of an annual tradition for us.

I have to say, that I have never tasted Corned beef quite like my Aunt's, because she puts an orange marmalade glaze on it; which I think, is a very nice twist.  So last year during dinner, I expressed an interest in making the Corned beef myself; and she kinda gave me the recipe; but neither of us wrote it down.

A few days later I bought a Corned beef and I was going to attempt to make it following my Aunt's instructions, as best as I could remember them; but then, while I was Instant Messaging with my friend Jason; he gave me an alternate recipe which sounded good; so I decided to go with his recommendation instead of my Aunt's.

Suffice it to say, that there has only been one night that I've ever had to throw away a dinner that I'd cooked, due to it being inedible; and it was when I attempted to make the Corned beef; per Jason.  In all fairness, I don't blame Jason's recipe; I believe that I just needed to cook the meat A LOT longer than I did.

I'm not sure why I've always found the idea of cooking a Corned beef intimidating; but I think I learned enough tonight,  to confidently attempt to make it again.  I learned that there are two kinds of cuts for a Corned beef; the point cut and the Flat cut.  "The Point cut is a rounder, thicker cut with more fat on it than the flat cut.   The Flat cut is leaner and shows off the grain more beautifully;" according to Startcooking.com

Since everyone seemed to enjoy the Corned beef; I made sure to get Aunt Fran's exact recipe this time; and of course; I'm going to share it with you...

I'm told that if you follow the directions that accompany your Corned beef, you really can't go wrong.  Rinse your Corned beef, then place it in a pot, cover it with water, any brine that's in the bag, and the seasonings.  Cover the pot, and as soon as it comes to a boil; turn it down to a low simmer and cook it for one hour per pound.

After the meat has simmered, for the appropriate amount of time, remove your Corned beef from the pot; but don't discard the water, because you can cook your cabbage and potatoes in it.  Please note, this is a personal preference as there may be excess fat in this pot.  I can tell you that this is how my Aunt made her cabbage and potatoes and they were cooked perfectly, tasted delicious, and they weren't greasy or fatty AT ALL.

It will take longer for your cabbage and potatoes to cook then it will to glaze your Corned beef; so once you're ready to get your glaze on; , spread orange marmalade over the meat.  Put the meat in the oven either on Broil and 450, or just at 450, depending on your oven.  After about 5 minutes; you can lower the temp to 350; and cook approximately 15 more minutes.  Keep your eye on the beef while it's in the oven because as soon as the marmalade starts to become a dark crispy color; your Corned beef is done.  My Aunt recommends using an electric knife if you have one; and remember to slice the meet across the grain. 

So there you have.  If you try this recipe and you enjoy it; please send me an email and let me know.  Once I try it again; rest assured I'll be sure to share my experience with you.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING

Diet Coke Chocolate Cake

Welcome to my 51st blog!! It hardly seems possible. I actually had no idea that I had reached such a mile stone, or should I say 'Mild" stone; (I mean in the world of blogging, 51 is probably not even a drop in the bucket, but for me Queen of Less and Less Free Time Lately, I think 51 is impressive.) Anyway, I logged on just to put this little and I do mean "little" post and there it was, my profile, and it said 50 posts - who knew?? SO yay Queen of writing a blog once and a while !! Happy 51st blog, and may it not take me another 15 months to post 50 more - LOL

Anyway, on to my little post...
Earlier tonight I sent an email to many of my friends, so most of you are probably going to feel REALLY cheated right now; because all I'm going to write about is the Diet Coke Chocolate Cake. Sorry for the tease friends; but on the off chance that anyone who reads "The Bumpy Ride" isn't on my personal email list; I want them to know about this AMAZING cake; cause you know me, I'm ALL ABOUT the GREATER GOOD.

OK, so yesterday I ran into my friend Mari in the Super Walmart parking lot. She mentioned my previous blog, or should I say mine & Michelle (.....K's) previous blog, and we were talking about weight loss. Mari told me that she's been doing Weight Watchers for 2 weeks and she had made this Chocolate cake with Diet Coke, and it was D-Licious. I was fascinated and since I was heading into the Super Walmart I felt compelled to buy the ingredients.

It really couldn't be any easier. All you do is get a Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix (she specified Duncan Hines, so I bought Duncan Hines; if you want to try something else; let me know how it works - see again there's that Queen of Following the Rules thing in full effect. Anyway, you add 1 can of Diet Coke (and yah, I don't know, I asked if it had to be DIET COKE per se, and Mari couldn't really say one way or another - and so of course I had Luis buy 1 can of Diet Coke - you know why. ) I personally prefer Diet Dr.Pepper; which actually might be pretty tasty in the cake; Diet Pepsi or Coke Zero, but for the purpose of this cake I put in the can of DIET COKE; and that's it. No eggs, no oil, just stir the cake mix with the Diet Coke and bake as per the instructions on the box. Serve it with some Cool Whip Free and I swear to you it tastes like a Hostess cupcake. Mari had told me exactly that and by golly she was right - a Hostess, Friggin cupcake.

Now, make no mistake, of course there's still sugar, and there's still carbs, but it's a lot less fattening and moist as can be. I recommend eating it before your last meal of the day, because about 2 months ago I stopped eating carbs and dessert during my last meal of the day and or after; and I attribute MOST of my weight loss thus far to this; even though I'm still going to the gym 5 times a week. (I have the metabolism of a snail and it is difficult for me to lose pounds, but this practice really has seemed to help - AGAIN , information being shared for the purpose of the GREATER GOOD.)

Well, as promised; just a "little" blog. I just wanted to share this CRAZY recipe with you; and or affirm that this recipe DOES WORK (if you happen to have seen it before.) Now with my luck there's probably some study out there showing how baking the carbonation of the Diet Coke into the cake has actually proved harmful. But now I've done it; I've gone and posted a blog about how great it is; so be prepared for me to recant my recommendation at any time; cause you know, sometimes I'm just the Queen of being The LAST To Know. Hahaha BUT in case it really is safe; I'm told there is a yellow cake recipe with Diet 7 up or Diet Orange or Diet Mountain Dew (a lot less restrictive than the DIET COKE I guess;) and for some reason lately lemon EVERYTHING has been sounding great to me, so I'll keep you posted.

Alrighty, I've said enough. I hope you try and enjoy this treat as much as me and my family did.

Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING