St. Patricks Day

Our kids were not ones who liked Corned Beef and Cabbage for a traditional St. Patrick's Day meal. So I tried to be creative to make green foods or add coloring to make things green to eat for the Holiday. Of course green jello was always a hit but others didn't go over very well. The first time that I made green waffles and milk my oldest daughter refused to eat, but in years after they all got into the spirit of the day. Some things are easy like spinach, peas, green beans, others just need a little help. Here are a few ideas that I have done these are regular pictures but work well for the Holiday, Be Creative and Have fun. Of course who could forget Shamrock Sugar Cookies.

Asparagus wrapped in bacon and roasted, who doesn't love bacon, and the green is already there.

Split pea soup...

Mashed potatoes with green food coloring, easy

Homemade egg noodles with a little green added?

Waffles my favorite breakfast with the added color... Pancakes work well too!

Breadsticks or rolls with green added.

How about a quiche, " green eggs," or even just scrambled eggs.

Chicken Enchilada's, the guacamole is easy but add the color to the meat as well.

My favorite dinner is to make Shepherd Pie and add food color to the potatoes.

Shepherds Pie or Green Bean Casserole

1 lb. lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 15 ½ oz. can green beans, drained
1 10 ¾ oz. can of tomato soup
3-4 medium potatoes
cheddar cheese, grated

Peel potatoes and cut into smaller pieces to speed up the cooking time, add to salted boiling water. In a large frying pan brown the ground beef, add the onions when the meat is no longer pink. When the onions become translucent, stir in the green beans and tomato soup, heat through. Place the meat mixture into an oven safe casserole dish and top with the mashed potatoes and cheese. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes until the cheese is bubbly on top.

(For a Harry Potter class I taught I made what I called a Hagrid Pie. It was simply was a huge chicken pot pie that had green food coloring mixed into the gravy and pie crust. It was probably the best chicken pot pie I have ever made and it was hysterical to see the responses of people in my class that night, some people just couldn't bring themselves to taste it. But it was so much fun to come up with crazy ideas for my class and just have fun.)

The real reason that we celebrate today in our family is Spencer, we have actually renamed it St. Spencer's day. Our cute little grandson turns four today Happy St. Spencer's day Spencer!!!!!!!