Recipe: Colcannon

Here are two colcannon recipes.  One is reasonably healthy (and vegetarian) and one is waaay unhealthy.  Both of these serve a crowd - perfect for family St. Patrick's Day celebrations!

Bloggy McBloggerstein's Reasonably Healthy Colcannon
1 brown onion
1 head of green cabbage (traditionally it calls for kale, but I prefer cabbage this time of year)
1/2 pound carrots (not a traditional ingredient, I just like the orange flecks of color)
8 cups mashed potatoes (I make them with fat free milk and without butter)

1.  In food processor, pulse onion, cabbage, and carrots until they are the texture of coleslaw. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may have to work in batches.
2.  Pour a little oil in a big skillet and add onion, cabbage, & carrots. Depending on the size of your skillet, you may have to work in batches. If you find that you need a bit more oil, you can add a bit of water and cover to steam the veggies a little bit instead. Cook until veggies are soft.
3.  Add to mashed potatoes and mix well.

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Bloggy McBloggerstein's Very Unhealthy Colcannon
1 package uncooked bacon
1 brown onion
1/2 head of green cabbage
1/2 pound carrots
8 cups mashed potatoes

1.  Cook all bacon, save grease.
2.  In food processor, pulse onion, cabbage, and carrots until they are the texture of coleslaw. Depending on the size of your food processor, you may have to work in batches.
3.  Pour bacon grease in a big skillet and add onion, cabbage, & carrots. Depending on size of your skillet, you may have to work in batches. You can also add a bit of water and cover to steam the veggies a little bit, but why bother when you're adding a package of bacon to the final product? Cook until veggies are soft.
4.  Chop bacon.
5.  Add veggies & bacon to mashed potatoes and mix well.

I'm pretty sure that a big pot o' colcannon will be found at the end of a rainbow

Colcannon and salmon patties to celebrate St. Patty's Day!

I'm hungry just looking at these pictures - yum!

Recipe - Stuffed Mushrooms

Easy enough to serve family on a weeknight, but pretty enough to serve to guests.  This is also the rare recipe that I only use a partial amount of an ingredient.

Stuffed Mushrooms
2 8 oz. packages of mushrooms
1/2 of one brown onion
Oil
1 brick of cream cheese, softened
Salt & pepper to taste
Shredded parmesean cheese (not the powdered kind)

1.  Wash mushrooms and thoroughly drain. 
2.  Gently pull stem and cut off tough end.
3.  Throw stems in food processor and pulse until finely minced.
4.  Remove minced stems to non-stick pan.
5.  Roughly chop the 1/2 of one brown onion.
6.  Throw onion in food processor and pulse until finely minced.
7.  Remove minced onion to non-stick pan with the mushroom stems.
8.  Add small amount of oil (2 to 3 Tb or so) and turn heat to Medium-High.
9.  Cook until onions are translucent.
10.  Begin to preheat oven to 350 degrees.
11.  Remove mushroom-onion mixture to a bowl and add softened cream cheese.
12.  Mix well and add salt & pepper to taste.
13.  Stuff each mushroom with the mixture and put on a pizza stone or baking sheet.  Sometimes you have extra and that's okay - see end of recipe to get a couple of ideas for this extra mixture.
14.  Place mushrooms in preheated oven and bake for 10 minutes.
15.  Remove mushrooms from oven and sprinkle each with a pinch of shredded parmesan.
16.  Return mushrooms to oven for ten more minutes of cooking time.

If you have extra filling, don't throw it away because you can do a couple of things with it.  You can put it in a baking dish, bake it with the mushrooms, and serve it as a dip.  You can also put it in the fridge for a day or so and use it to stuff some more mushrooms!