Corned Beef and Cabbage

The Meal:
Being St. Patty's day and everything, I decided to make corned beef. When we were picking up the beef at the store, my husband suggested that I could corn the beef my self...ummmm no thanks (but, if you'd like to try it yourself, here's a recipe from Alton Brown)...so we bought the pre-corned beef and it's now in my crock pot simmering away. I'm also gong to make some rolls from some frozen yeast dough I have hanging out in the freezer. I think the beef, carrots, cabbage and potatoes with the rolls will make a pretty rounded out meal. Here's what I did with the corned beef:

In the bottom of the crock pot layered the following:
4 potatoes cut in 8ths
1/2 a head of cabbage cut in 12ths (in 6 wedges and then once across)
a couple handfuls of baby carrots
1 white onion, sliced

Then I laid the corned beef on top and sprinkled the spice packet that came with it (I think it's probably a Tbsp of peppercorns and a couple bay leaves) and a couple forkfuls of prechopped garlic. Then I poured a bottle of beer (Dominion Ale is what I found in the fridge) and then a beer bottle full of water on top of it.

Put the lid on and I'm going to cook it on High until its time to eat...so about 8 hours.

The Result:
NOT a keeper
Hmmmm...not so good...the meat was ok (probably hard to screww that up), but the rest I did not like. My husband said he liked the potatoes and carrots, but the cabbage was overcooked. Oh well, I decided next year I am making Shepherd's Pie!