Weekend Cooking

I try to cook several things over the weekend so I have leftovers for both lunch and dinner. I always prefer taking a container of leftover soup or stew than a sandwich or having to resort to getting a sandwich or something from the mini-restaurant downstairs.

So this weekend I made corned beef and short rib stew with ale, both from Simply Recipes.

Corned Beef (aka New England Boiled Dinner)
Every now and again I crave a little corned beef, so I make this. It's easy, just toss the corned beef in a pot, cook, then add the vegetables later.

I add some peppercorns, whole cloves, and a bay leaf in addition to the spice packet that comes with the corned beef. I also use about half of a small head of cabbage and some potatoes, and leave out the carrot.

Short Rib Beef Stew with Ale
I sent Carlon out for some Newcastle Brown Ale so I could use it in this. Good thing he got a six pack -- he made serious inroads on the other 5 bottles in the six pack once I used one in the stew. I didn't have any hot paprika on hand, so I used regular. The stew is really good, but would probably be even better with a bit of a bite from hot paprika instead of regular. And yes, it's been hot weather-wise, so not necessarily stew weather, but I like to toss stuff into a pot and let it cook, especially since we don't have a grill set up yet. And soups and stews make excellent lunches, just toss some in a container, pop the lid on, and take to work.