I am 1/4 Irish. For dinner tonight I made boiled dinner made with beef roast, potatoes, onions, celery, carrots, beets, rutabegas, and cabbage. It was delicious! We topped that off with Blarney Stones for desert. When I make things like this, I always over estimate the amount of EVERY veggie. We have enough left over for a re-heat meal and then a soup to follow that. I'm so glad DH enjoys this kind of meal, because it is what I grew up on. Here is a link that might be useful: Blarney Stones

I'll give the actual recipe, but I put more celery, carrots and potatoes in. I don't measure, just chop, till I have as much as I want. I didn't have green pepper. I also had to add another can of tomatoes today. As I said, it grew. I started out in my enamel cast-iron dutch oven and had to transfer everything to my large stock pot! Hearty Cabbage Soup In a large pot saute: 1 lb ground beef 1 medium onion, chopped 1/2 cup diced celery 1/2 green pepper, chopped 1 garlic clove, chopped Saute until the redness disappears from the meat. Add: 2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1/2 tsp paprika 1 28-oz can tomatoes 1 can tomato paste 2 cups beef broth 2 cups hot water 3 tbsp parsley flakes hot sauce to taste (optional) 2 cups diced potatoes, peeled 1 cup diced carrot Combine thoroughly. Simmer, uncovered 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Add 6-7 cups coarsely chopped cabbage, (approximately 1 small head) Combine and simmer, covered, 1 hour longer. You may need to add 1-2 cups hot water.

I didn't cook the dinner I was going to, but we had ham, baked sweet potatoes, green beans and pineapple casserole. Harry had bought an 11 pound ham just before the kids came (sometimes I wonder where that boy's mind is) and there was tons of it leftover, even after a meal and sandwiches a few times for lunch. Talk about growing, I swear that ham is magic! It's a spiral cut, so I cut most of the meat off the bone and sealed the bone for soup. Then I sealed a nice piece for ham and scalloped potatoes. Had some pieces left that will be good in an omelet or quiche. Plus lots left over from dinner. We have to start eating our frozen leftovers. There are more of those in the freezer than food to cook.

Last night on the coast. We're going to a little hole in the wall bar we found in the middle of some seafood processing plants. They make everything from scratch and everything is so good. We decided to have our last meal here there. We will split an order of handmade jalepeno poppers and I am going to have handmade onion rings and grilled halibut. I think hubby is planning on fish and chips. One good thing about going home is that we'll be back to consuming fewer calories, more veggies and no deep fried foods. I love anything deep fried, but I know it's not good for me or my figure. :-)