Reuben Cabbage Rolls

For me, one of the best things about St. Patrick's Day is the leftovers. I love a good corned beef sandwich on rye with some grainy mustard. Or better yet, a reuben sandwich.

But when I was a kid, St. Patrick's Day also meant that mom was likely to make her stuffed cabbage rolls, otherwise known as golumbki. It had nothing to do with the holiday and everything to do with the fact that bigger cabbages were available at the stores at that time.

I don't know why I didn't think of it before - but why not combine the two - why not make cabbage rolls that taste like reuben sandwiches?

Once I had the idea stuck in my head, I couldn't get rid of it. I fiddled around with a few different ideas before I settled on one that thought made the most sense.

Like any recipe of this type, you can certainly change amounts and proportions to suit your own taste.

Reuben Cabbage Rolls

3 cups chopped or shredded cooked corned beef
1 pound sauerkraut, drained
8 ounces swiss cheese, grated (divided)
8 large cabbage leaves*
 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup flour
3 cups milk
Salt and pepper, to taste.
Rye bread, cut into small croutons and toasted in butter
Thousand Island dressing, for serving

*The easiest way to harvest the cabbage leaves is to steam a whole cabbage. The outer leaves will begin to cook and soften, making them easier to peel off and also makes it easier to make the rolls. Peel off as many leaves as you'll need, then peel off any leaves that are cooked, stopping when you reach a point where the rest of the cabbage is uncooked. Set that aside for other uses.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the flour. Cook for a minute or two, then add the milk. Bring to a boil and let ti cook for another minute to thicken. Turn the heat down to a simmer and add the cheese in hand fulls, stirring to melt the cheese into the sauce after each addition. Turn the heat off. Taste and add salt and pepper, as desired. Set aside.

Combine the corned beef, sauerkraut, and 4 ounces of swiss cheese in a bowl. Stir to combine.

One at a time, put a scoop of the corned beef mixture onto a cabbage leaf and roll up to make a neat package.

Cut up any additional par-cooked cabbage leaves into a medium dice and place them in the bottom of a slow cooker. Place the finished cabbage rolls on top. Pour the cheese sauce over the top of the cabbage rolls.

Set the slow cooker to high and cook for 2 hours or until the mixture is bubbling, the inside of the rolls are hot.

Serve the cabbage rolls topped with rye croutons, with Thousand Island dressing on the side.

A fresh, healthy, tasty green dip - that isn't guacamole: Fake-amole for St. Patrick's Day!

With St. Patrick's Day just around the corner, you'll be seeing a lot of green. Maybe you should add this one to your list. A pretty green dip that tastes fresh, earthy, and rich all at the same time. It looks like it might be guacamole, but it's not.

The funny thing is that it tastes just a little like guacamole - the slightly nutty flavor is similar, and the color is almost perfect. If you wanted to switch it up a bit with chopped cilantro, a bit of lime, and a few chopped jalapenos or some salsa, you might actually convince a few people, even though the texture is a more like hummus.

For St. Patrick's Day, guacamole might not fit the menu - but this is endlessly versatile.

This can be used as a spread (omit the water to keep it thicker) or as a dip (add water as needed to get the consistency you're looking for. It's great with crackers, raw vegetables, as a spread on sandwiches, or with pita or tortilla chips.

Meanwhile, this is loaded with vegetables, herbs and fiber. And it can be made well in advance, since the bright green won't fade or go brown - so you can make it well in advance for parties. Just keep it refrigerated until needed.

The Mazola® Corn Oil in this particular recipe provides the tiny bit of fat needed to help carry the flavor and add richness, and it doesn't add any assertive flavors - the rest of the ingredients really shine. While I like flavorful oils for some applications, sometimes the oil needs to step back a few paces and just be ... well, oil.

While preparing this recipe, I also learned that a recent research study found that corn oil helps lower cholesterol more than extra virgin olive oil. You can learn more about the study at Mazola.com.

Pea and Chickpea Dip, AKA Fake-amole

1 cup frozen peas
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans (chickpeas)
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley
A few leaves fresh thyme (optional)
2 tablespoons Mazola Corn Oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1-2 tablespoons water (optional; as needed)

Combine all the ingredients in your food processor or blender. To be honest, I started with my blender, then moved to my food processor, since I wasn't getting quite the smooth result I was looking for - but blenders differ. Yours might do just fine.

Blend until the mixture is as smooth as possible, scraping down the sides of the container as needed. If you start with completely frozen peas, it might take a little longer to blend, but it's fine to use them frozen or thawed. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.

If the mixture is too thick for your purposes, add water, a tablespoon at a time, until you reach the consistency you're looking for.

Serve with crackers, chips, or vegetables. Or use as a sandwich spread.

Visit Mazola.com for more information about the benefits of corn oil and for more recipe ideas. This post is sponsored by Mazola.

Shamrock Spritz Cookies

I love making spritz cookies, so it seemed like a great idea to make shamrock-shaped mint cookies for St. Patrick's Day.

I like eating them, of course. I mean, they're cookies. 

But it's fun (and fast) to pump them out of a cookie press into even rows. The barrel of the press makes it pretty easy to make sure you're leaving enough space for the cookies on the sheet, which is another great thing about using a press.

Spritz cookies bake quickly, so you go from "want cookies" to munching cookies in no time at all.

Spritz dough needs to be the right consistency to push it through a cookie press - it can't be too dense, or it won't go through the press, so this is one dough that you won't want to refrigerate before baking.

If you do absolutely need to make the dough ahead, let it warm up before you start shoving it through your cookie press, or it just won't work.

As much as I love buttery cookies, if you try to make these with all butter they'll spread a little too much and you'll lose a lot of design detail. These do spread a little so they might not be the best for super-detailed designs, but this recipe works well for basic shapes like flowers or for the shamrocks that I made.

When it comes to food coloring, I prefer the gel colors, since they're so concentrated. You can add a lot of color without adding much extra liquid to the recipe. If you use a liquid food coloring, you might need to add a bit of extra flour to compensate, or use just a few drops of the liquid color for a paler green cookie.

When it comes to mint flavoring, I had two different types on hand. One was peppermint (think of candy canes) and one was more like spearmint. Use whatever you have on hand, or what you like. I used the spearmint here.

Not a fan of mint? Omit it, or use a different flavor. I like almond-flavored spritz cookies, or you could go with citrus flavors or whatever else you like. There are a lot of flavors to choose from.

Shamrock Spritz Cookies
Makes about 10 dozen cookies, depending on size

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon mint extract
Green food coloring, as needed
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Green decorating sugar (optional)

Heat your oven to 350 degrees and have several baking sheets standing by.

In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or with an electric mixer in a large bowl) beat the butter until it is smooth. Add the shortening, sugar, and salt, and beat until light. Add the egg, flavorings, and food coloring and beat until well combined.

Add the flour in portions (to keep it from flying all over your kitchen when it hits the beater!) and beat until well combined.

Put the dough into your cookie press fitted with the die of your choice - you'll need to refill the press several times, so don't fret about that - and portion the dough onto your cookie sheets. I used shamrocks for St. Patrick's Day from the OXO spring disk set for their cookie press, but a leaf or flower would be nice for spring.

Sprinkle with colored sugar, if desired.

Bake at 350 degrees until the cookies are just barely browned on the edges, about 12 minutes.

Let them cool for 30 seconds or so on the baking sheet, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.