A Proper Irish Meal

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Tonight we are having a hearty Irish-inspired soup, homemade whole-grain beer bread, and a Guinness, of course.

The soup is made from the following ingredients. I just simmered it all day, and it turned out great!

• cabbage (on sale for 20 cents a pound at Publix through today)
• 3 lbs of red potatoes (on sale for $1.99 at Publix through today)
• chick peas
• vegetable stock
• olive oil
• salt and pepper
  

The bread (which is so soft and delicious) was made in a bread maker. All you have to do is put all these ingredients in the bread maker and select the cycle for whole wheat bread. Even though our bread maker will bake the bread, I like to take the dough out just before it starts baking (after 3 hours and 20 minutes) and put it in a larger loaf pan to bake in the oven. I find that the bread turns out less dense, and more fluffy and soft.

• 1 bottle of beer
• 1.5 tsp of salt
• 2 tbsp of maple syrup
• 1 tbsp of molasses
• 3.5 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tbsp of vital wheat gluten
• 2 tsp of active dry yeast
  

Have a great day!