Tasty St. Patrick's Day

To celebrate our Irish heritage we ate a lot of food (most of which was not Irish, but still a nod to our ancestors), and used a lot of green food coloring.

We started the day with Green Eggs and Ham (ok it's more of a nod to Dr. Seuss then Ireland, but it's a family tradition and my son really liked watching normal food turn green).

Green Eggs and Ham

• Scrambled Eggs with added green food coloring
• Ham- here we just added left over pulled pork to the eggs (it's what I had on hand)
• Melt Jack Cheese (just because I like cheese)

Not the most appetizing look, but fun and tasty!

Corned Beef and Cabbage- Dinner was a bit more tradition, yet just as easy

• Corned Beef (I use the packaged brand that includes the spice packet)
• Water
• Cabbage

Place beef, spice packet and water in a large pot on the stove. Bring to a boil, allow to simmer for about 2 hours. Add cabbage leaves the last 20 minutes (this is a good time to add potatoes (quartered) and chopped carrots if you want to make it an easy one pot meal). Remove meat and allow to rest 10-15 minutes.

This year I decided to do a potato casserole instead of just adding them in the pot.

Potato Casserole (I got this recipe from my Mom)

• 8-10 Medium Potatoes
• 1 Can Cream of Celery Soup
• Dehydrated Onions
• Sour Cream
• Parsley
• Grated Cheddar Cheese
• Salt & pepper to taste (optional)

Boil potatoes whole with the skin on. Once cooked, allow to cool and then remove skin and cube into bite size pieces. Mix with soup, onions, sour cream, parsley, and a bit of the cheese, salt & pepper. Top mix with the rest of the cheddar cheese. Fits in a 9x13 pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-45minutes.

This all made for a very tasty meal!

Dessert- I started out with one dessert, but my sweet tooth and imagination took over, so there are 2.

Green Pudding- Ok this is beyond easy and can be accomplished many different ways, but I found instant vanilla pudding mix in the cupboard, so we just followed the directions, added a few drops of green food coloring. It was a hit with my little guy!

Shamrock Cookies
I used the same Cream Cheese Sugar Cookie Recipe I use to decorate Christmas cookies (thanks for the recipe Mom)

1 C sugar
1 C butter (softened)
3oz Cream Cheese (softened)
1 t vanilla
1 Egg Yolk
1 1/4 C Flour
1/2 t salt (I use a bit less, or it's a bit too salty for me)

Cream butter and cream cheese together. Add sugar and cream well. Add vanilla and egg yolk, blend together. Blend in flour and salt. Here I mixed in a few drops of green food coloring. Then chill the dough.
Roll dough out and cut into desired shape. (I don't have a shamrock cookie cutter, so my imagination went to work. I printed out a shamrock shape in a couple of different sizes and traced and cut the shape into cardboard. I used the cardboard shamrocks as guides as I traced on the dough with a small sharp knife. It took a little time and work, but it was fun, and it solved the no cookie cutter dilemma).
Bake at 400 degrees 5-7 minutes (depending on how thick you cut the cookies) on a lightly greased cookie sheet. They can burn quickly, so keep an eye on them.
I also found cream cheese frosting in the cupboard, added a bit more green food coloring, and had tasty cookies.

So not very Irish, but a very tasty nod to our Irish roots. How do you like to celebrate St. Patty's Day?