St. Paddy's Day treats

It's been awhile since I posted. My sincere apologies. Dinners have been bare bones around here, by and large, which is good timing for Lent even if it wasn't intentional. I did manage to muster the fortitude to party on St. Patrick's Day and my kids (and husband and mother) were most appreciative.

We enjoyed Jessica's Guinness Stew which never fails to please, served over a pile of buttery mashed potatoes. Yum. And, of course, Soda Bread.

We also enjoyed a silly St. Paddy's Day fruit salad, which, fortunately was nutritious and tasty as well as silly. I thought I had accounted for all my colors in the rainbow, but when assembling realized I missed violet. Oh well.

Red: strawberries
Orange: orange slices
Yellow: bananas
Green: kiwi
Blue: blueberries
Indigo: blackberries

The pots of gold are rolos and the clouds are marshmallows (or the marshmallows are clouds, in case ya didn't get that).




We also enjoyed some Leprechaun Bait. I saw it on Pinterest as Bunny Bait and if you google Bunny Bait you'll see a hundred recipes so I'll not link, not knowing the "original."

This is a flexible recipe and you could make it with lots of ingredients or just a few. I used popcorn, crispix cereal and pretzel M&Ms -- just the green and orange -- Ireland's flag colors, and vanilla candy coating. I have to say the popcorn got rather soggy so I don't know if I used too much vanilla coating or the popcorn is supposed to get soft, but I didn't like it and would use something different next time -- maybe plain Bugles, or corn chex and pretzels. You could add nuts if your people like nuts and colored sprinkles if you can find the right colors. I could not find just green sprinkles at the grocer. For Bunny bait you can use pastel M&Ms and pastel sprinkles -- cute, cute. And for Elf Bait, you can use Christmas M&Ms and Turkey Bait -- fall M&Ms. You get the idea -- a multi-holiday treat.

If you serve it, be certain to tell your family that it's sweet. Both my mother and husband grabbed a handful and thought it was salty popcorn which resulted in some strange facial expressions.


My mom also brought over some Shamrock Shortbread cookies. I don't have a recipe, but if you want it, I'll get it. Just ask.

Sweet Irish Treats

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The Feast of St. Patrick's Day is always a big one to celebrate in our house. It's hardly possible to completely miss it with so many reminders in our culture. Secretly I always get a little giggle out of the fact that our secular world celebrates this great saint's day. Yesterday I was driving my son home from his drum lesson and a local elementary school was letting a huge sea of green out the front doors. Too funny! I just wish all those children really knew what a great saint they are celebrating!

Last night's dinner of Irish fish and chips and Fried Cabbage was a great way to celebrate this great saint, and our desserts, two new "recipes" offered a tasty ending to the day. We don't normally indulge in dessert during Lent, but St. Patrick's Day and St. Joseph's Day are two exceptions to the rule. There are an awful lot of Irish saints on the liturgical calendar, so you won't have to work too hard to come up with an excuse to celebrate with a yummy Irish dessert.

Both desserts are simple and should be assembled just before serving. The Irish Jig is a simple mix of whipping cream, sweeteners, whiskey and coconut cookies. The whiskey is really the flavor of the dessert, so if you don't like whiskey, you won't like it. I had some Southern Comfort on-hand and used it instead of whiskey. Southern Comfort is a fruit, spice and whiskey flavored liquer which was created by an Irish bartender -- so close enough for me.  The younger children enjoyed Shamrock Shakes instead -- a homemade take on that fast food treat.

Irish Jig

serves 4

2 cups cold whipping cream

2 T. sugar

1 T. powdered sugar

1/2 t. vanilla

2 T. Irish whiskey

1 cup crumbled coconut macaroons (I used Archway brand)

Whip cream in a mixer on high speed with sugars until thick and soft peaks form. Add whiskey and vanilla and finish beating until stiff. Fold in cookie crumbs. Serve in dessert glasses.

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Shamrock Shake

serves 2

3/4 cup milk

2 cups vanilla ice cream

1/2 t. peppermint flavoring

4 drops green food color

2 T. sugar

whipping cream (from the can) 

green sprinkles

In a blender, or large plastic glass for use with an immersion blender, combine all ingredients except whipped cream and sprinkles. Blend until thick and creamy. Pour into two fancy glasses and top with whipped cream and green sprinkles.

Printer version

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