colcannon meets fish pie meets headache meets major yum

When I made colcannon (an Irish dish with cabbage and potatoes) last year, I said if you don't have a dishwasher, don't even attempt it. Well, I still don't have a coveted dishwasher (though hubby does help), but I've gone and done it again, this time upping the proteinacious qualities that keep my crazy blood sugar at its happiest. (I used an immersion blender this time round, and it did cut down on the amount of dirty dishes. Though not enough, in my book.)

This is colcannon jazzed up to infinity and beyond: I added salmon, and carrots, and cheese, and garlic, and two kinds of potatoes. And other really good stuff, too. Read on!

I'm not giving exact amounts of everything because I just guesstimated and conjured as I went along. Sorry! Hope you'll forgive me just this once. (Or maybe again in the future, too, if you're really kind folk - it just might happen again. You know the 77-times rule, right?)

You'll need:

• regular potatoes, peeled and cubed
  
• sweet potatoes, ditto
• carrots, ditto again (cut these smaller than the potato chunks because they take longer to cook)
• chicken bouillon
• 1/2 head cabbage
• olive oil
  
• margarine or butter
• minced garlic
• 3 large pieces of de-boned salmon
• whole/full-fat milk
• grated cheese, whatever flavor floats your boat (I used cheddar)
• nutmeg (read the directions to find out why this was a really special ingredient!)
• salt and pepper
• seasoned salt
• the kitchen sink
• maybe some other stuff that I now forget because my blood sugar was at a bad low when I was making this - I was forcefeeding myself chocolate and orange juice as I went along to try to get rid of my headache and drown out the sounds of a teething toddler and ants-in-his-pants preschooler (poor guys - they're awesome kiddiewinks but RIGHT at dinner-making time is the worst - we do have snackies after nap time but I hope they don't have my low-blood-sugar problem going on)
  

Do this:

1. Boil the potatoes and carrots in some water and chicken bouillon.
2. Chop the cabbage and saute in olive oil, margarine, and garlic, then set aside in a large mixing bowl (I used a plastic one that was safe for using my immersion blender in).
3. In the cabbage pan (without washing it), add a bit more olive oil and cook the salmon on both sides till no longer pink. Let it cool a bit, then shred it with forks, really checking carefully to make sure there aren't any bones. You don't want little mouths (or big ones, for that matter) chomping on anything like that.
4. In a microwave-safe large glass bowl, heat up the milk, cheese, and some more margarine (or butter) till the cheese is pretty much melted. Pour that mixture into the cabbage bowl and blend it all with the immersion blender.
5. Pour away the chicken bouillon/water mixture from the potatoes and carrots after it's all tender, mash it, then add the cabbage/milk/cheese mixture and the salmon, giving it all a really good stir.
6. Add whatever salt, seasoned salt, and pepper you need. And I don't think you're going to believe this, but as I made this, Matthew (our three-year-old) went to the fridge (totally unprompted), opened the door, got the grated nutmeg from where I keep my spices in the door (to keep them fresh), and brought it to me to add to the pot. I do add nutmeg to potato dishes, and I guess he remembered this. He totally amazes me.

I served it with peas to which I added margarine, lemon-pepper seasoning, and parsley. Mmmm.

What I would do differently next time:

1. Win the lottery and hire a full-time, very well-qualified and FBI-background-checked nanny.
2. Start earlier in the day and do a few steps then instead of waiting to do it all at once just pre-dinner time.
3. Eat this for dinner every night for a week. Even though my hubby kids me about how much meal variety I need, I think I could eat this A LOT, and all in a row.