I like being “Irish”!!!

Happy Clover Day all!!!  I have to say I officially redeemed myself with tonight’s dinner of Corned Beef and Cabbage, but, I can’t take all the credit.  Trader Joe’s saved me with their Spiced Up Pre-Marinated Corned Beef Brisket.

All I had to do this morning was take it out of the package, cover with beef broth and cook on low in the crockpot all day long.  EASY!

I have to admit I was a little leary after my experience last night, but, tonight did NOT disappoint on that all.  I guess I should tell you all how my day went down first before I get to the IRISH stuff

I think I LOVE St. Patty’s day because it’s the one time of year I get to wear this cool “Go Green” shirt

It’s the little things….On my way into work, I brought The Husband Starbuck’s again so I could have one   Grande FF Latte with caramel drizzle on top (2.5 pts).

Plus a Double Chocolate VitaTop with Kettle Cashew Butter Frosting (3 pts).  I can’t describe to you how good this was ~ you just HAVE to try it

I am on a mission to get 110% back on track with my eats beginning today.  My co-worker offered up a FANTASTIC TJ’s Blueberry scone to me, but, I refrained from downing it since it was 8 points,.  I took a bite and saved the rest for The Husband.  Along with it I had some “banana chips” (1 pt) and a Cabot LF Cheese (these are 1 pt too!)

Lunch today was at one of my favorite places in downtown Napa, Gillwood’s Cafe.  I LOVE their menu because you can pretty much get everything there from breakfast to fancy dishes and everything I’ve tried is tasty. 

I had an awesome Grilled Chicken Salad with Apples, Walnuts and Fat Free Raspberry Vinaigrette on the side (7 pt estimate) ~ it was so fresh tasting! (not bad for a cell phone pic, huh?)

Tonight was my WI and I gained .6 lbs ~ I honestly think it was probably earned with my antics yesterday and I am ok with it.  I pretty much just broke even with the loss I had last week LOL.  Our meeting was all about portion control and I actually learned a few new uses for my SCALE.  Did you all know you can “TARE” after each food item you put on your plate. You know like measure your chicken, then, TARE, then measure your potatoes?  All this time I used different plates each time   Oops.  I also learned that you can measure your salad dressing as your pour it on versus using a Tablespoon ~ I NEED to try this.

We all received samples of their new 1 point bars ~ Chocolate CARAMEL Pretzel Blast.

Usually I avoid the Weight Watcher Bars in all honestly because of the ingredient list first (lots of things I can’t pronounce or recognize), but, also because I am left still hungry after eating them.

Now THIS BAR is worth every bad ingredient in it!  OMG – it’s like a candy bar ~ chocolate peanut butter, peanuts, caramel, pretzels…..AMAZING!  Weight Watchers definitely got the flavors right here, now if they could just work on that ingredient list it would be perfect!

I was pretty excited to get home and work on our Irish Celebration.  Because I am a dork and because I am NOT Irish at all that I know of (am I mom? LOL), I wanted to have a little shindig (is there an Irish Term for party?). 

I took the Corned Beef out of the crockpot, shredded it and put it in the oven to keep warm.

I drained the broth through a strainer, then, returned the broth to the crock pot and added the chopped cabbage to let it steam for about 20 minutes.

I whipped out my MANDOLIN SLICER to slice up some potatoes with peppers and onion to cook as a side.

I LOVE this MANDOLIN SLICER because it slices everything evenly and super thin.  You simply hook it onto your bowl and go to town.  You can use or skip the safety glide too.

Perfect potatoes.

Plus “onion rings”” and bell peppers

You can easily slice everything up in a few minutes! This entire dish took maybe 5 minutes to thinly slice 5 potatoes, 1/2 an onion and 2 bell pepper halves.  I know that the SwissMar Borner V-Slicer might be pricey for some, but, I honestly feel it’s worth every penny.    I have also included a less expensive Quick Slice Mandolin that works great too.  I don’t own this particular quick slice, but, I highly recommend a Mandolin Slicer.  I use it all the time for vegetables in salad, cucumber salads and Healthy Au Gratin Potatoes.

I added 1 1/2 Tbsp of Olive Oil to my nonstick pan and “fried” them up with a little garlic salt and pepper.  1/4 of the pan is 4 points.

Can you believe I actually LOVED the Corned Beef and Cabbage?  It tastes just like Pastrami and the broth gives the cabbage such great flavor ~ who knew that I’d LOVE being Irish today.  The Husband said I redeemed myself and now he doesn’t have to go to McDonald’s for dinner – ha!  I went back for another serving of cabbage while The Husband ate like 1 lb of Corned Beef LOL.

All together with The Husband’s decorating touches ~ “Lucky Charms”!

I think dessert might be a HEALTHY BANANA SUNDAE while The Husband has his late night “Irish Snack” (LOVE his shirt – he’s funny!)

I am off to spend a little quality time with my March REAL SIMPLE Magazine! I’ll be sure to post a review of what I like for you all.

Night all!

Tagged as: Beef