Not Really Irish

I know that on March 17, Saint Patrick's Day, almost everybody claims to be Irish.

I know that not everybody really is Irish.

I've embraced that and didn't succumb to the urge to have a Rueben sandwich for lunch...

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because I don't like kraut.  It just happens to be one of those Things We Do for Love.

I also didn't buy corned beef at the grocery when I went yesterday.

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because we already have a freezer full of beef.

I didn't even wear green.

Well, maybe part of the reason for that is because the only green item I own is a silk scarf and this is spring break and I'm not dressing up this week if i can help it.

I did cave when it came to preparing a meal for my hubby, though.  The menu included pork chops, hash brown casserole, and cabbage.

We wound up having Parmesan-crusted pork chops that I cooked using Paul and Brenda Smith pork chops and adapted THIS recipe.

Well, maybe that was also done because I was too cold to go out and grill on a grey day that had started out with an icy deck.

The hubs loved the hash brown casserole so much that he almost ate half of it!  Half!  I used a new recipe that I found HERE.  It was just the right combination of crunchy-on-top and cheesey-gooey-in-the-middle.

Well, maybe I used that recipe because I couldn't find my old stand-by because I was cleaning out a couple of cabinets and reorganizing things to put Mike's sausage making mechanisms away.  (More on that in another post for another day.)

Mike also loved the cabbage.  I simply cut it into quarters.  Then, I put two of the quarters into my Dutch oven and added about an inch of water.  I covered it and set it to boiling.  When the cabbage quarters were beginning to look a wee bit limp and there was only enough water to cover the bottom of the pan, I dolloped a tablespoon of butter over the top, slathering it across the top of the peak of the quarter.  I sprinkled with some salt and pepper and returned the lid to the pot to finish melting the butter and allow the water to absorb into the cabbage.  (It was yummy if I must say so myself!)

Well, maybe I felt more of an urge to cook the cabbage because it had been in the fridge for a week than the fact that it was St. Patty's Day.

So, we were a little bit Irish even though we are not really Irish.  Isn't being ethnic yummy?