Yes, Rival, it really is a Crockpot, not just a slow cooker.

Since That Nice Boy I Married has a busy evening planned tomorrow, I'm making a St. Patrick's dinner today. Right after breakfast I peeled a half-dozen smallish turnips and halved or quartered them, depending on size. Threw in a couple of onions in chunks, and two big, outer ribs of celery, also in chunks. Plopped a corned beef on top, dumped in the spices from the enclosed packet, and added just enough water to cover everything. Since I was starting late, I've set my Crockpot on high for the first couple of hours, to speed everything along -- on low this supper would take 10-12 hours. We eat late around here, but not that late! I'll turn the slow cooker down to low after the first two hours.

I have cabbage in the fridge; it's currently on sale for 19c a pound at Kroger. About a half an hour before supper time I'll whack a half a head in chunks, throw it in, and crank the Crockpot back up to high. I'll serve our New England Boiled Supper with butter for the veggies, and mustard and horseradish for the meat. And it will be very nice indeed.

It's way too late for you to make this for tonight's dinner, but it would be a cinch to put together for tomorrow. If you assemble everything in your slow cooker tonight, and put the covered crock in the fridge, all you'll have to do tomorrow is pull it out while you're showering and dressing (to take the chill off the crockery,) then slip it into the base and set it on low before you head off to work. If you have carb-eaters in the house, throw in a few little red boiling potatoes, too.

Assuming you use a 3 pound corned beef, you should get 8 servings, each with 9 grams of carb and 2 grams of fiber, for a big 7 grams usable carb per serving. 26 grams of protein. And almost no work!