St Patrick's Day "Green Clover" Pie Recipe

Top this pie with some whipped topping and crushed green peppermint candies for a perfect ending to your St. Patrick's Day meal.

Ingredients:

1 qt. vanilla ice cream, softened
1 (12 oz.) can frozen limeade, thawed
2 drops green food coloring
1 (6 oz.) graham cracker pie crust

St. Patrick's Day Shamrock Cookies and Icing Recipe

Shamrock Cookies

Ice with green icing and serve at your St Patrick’s Day Party.

Ingredients:

½ cup shortening
½ cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
½ tsp salt
5 cups flour
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Party Ideas for St. Patrick’s Day

Come March 17, you can expect to see nearly everyone wearing the color green. Why, you may ask. It’s St. Patrick’s Day, of course! To help you celebrate the day, here are some St. Patrick’s Day party ideas you may want to use.

Obviously, you’ll want to set aside St. Patrick’s Day for your party, if possible. If March 17 is on a weekday, you may want to have your party either the Saturday before or after so as many people as possible can attend. If you make the party during the evening, you may want to celebrate on the exact day.

Leprechaun Cheese and Onion Dip Recipe

Serve this dip with pretzels, cubes of bread or rye rounds and watch it disappear quickly.

Ingredients:
 
1 (15 oz.) jar Cheese Whiz
1/3 C beer * see note below
1/2 C onion, finely chopped

Directions:

Melt the Cheese Whiz in the microwave as directed on the jar label.
Place the melted cheese in a serving bowl.
Stir in the beer until well combined.
Fold the chopped onions into the cheese mixture.
Serve at room temperature or on a warming plate.

Serves: 16

Note:  Use non-acoholic beer if serving to children

Luck of the Irish Kettle Soup Recipe

Ingredients:

2 T butter

1 1/2 C white onion, chopped

1 C celery, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

8 C chicken broth

1 1/2 C carrots, chopped

4 C cabbage, coarsely chopped

1 bay leaf

1 t parsley flakes

1/2 t thyme

1/4 t pepper

2 1/2 C cooked corned beef, chopped

1 (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes with juice

1/4 t salt

Directions:

Melt the butter in a kettle placed over medium heat. Add the onion and celery and stir to coat with the butter. Cook 8 minutes or until the vegetables are fork tender, stiring often. Stir in the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Pour the chicken broth into the kettle. Carefully stir in the carrots and cabbage. Add in the bay leaf, parsley, thyme and pepper and stir to incorporate. Bring the soup to a steady boil.

Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium low and cover the kettle. Allow the soup to simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Up the heat to medium then stir in the corned beef. As the soup begins to boil carefully add in the tomatoes. When the soup has returned to a steady boil reduce the heat again to medium low.

Cook uncovered for 15 minutes.

Sprinkle in the salt and stir to combine.

Serves: 8

Corned beef was originally substituted by the Irish Americans for bacon in the late 1800's. Many believe that eating corned beef with cabbage on St. Patrick's Day brings good luck throughout the year.

St. Patrick's Day Brings Out the Irish Cooking

There is something about St. Patrick's Day that brings out the Irish cook in all of us. At least it seems to have this effect on the women in my family. If you are not of Irish decent it may not have quite this profound effect upon you. If you are, then I'm quite certain you will understand what I mean by this. There's something about revisiting traditions that may have been lost in the fog of coming to a new world and adopting a new way of life that is lifted on this one day of the year. As a result old favorite recipes handed down from mother to daughter over the centuries come out and grand meals are prepared.

If your mother wasn't of Irish decent and you do not have a stockpile of wonderful Irish recipes in your inventory there are a few great websites on the Internet that offer excellent recipes that have already been converted to standard American measurements that will have Irish eyes and any eyes that think they might wish to be Irish smiling once again.

Corned beef and cabbage is a favorite. In our house we add great things like potatoes and carrots to the recipe. This is a great meal because it can be put in the crock pot before the work of the day begins and with very little effort is simply waiting on you to be ready for dinner time. No real effort is necessary in creating an outstanding feast that many will think you've had to miss a parade or two in order to prepare.

Irish stew is another great dish to put on your St. Patrick's Day table. There are also slow cooker or crock pot recipes available for this family favorite if you take the time to search them out. This is a stick to your ribs kind of meal that is very popular in cooler climates for the St. Patrick's Day festivities. This makes a great lunch or dinner for this great day and goes quite well with Irish Soda Bread.

Shepherd's pie is another hale and hearty meal that is a wonderful addition to the St. Patrick's Day festivities. This dish is a favorite among those who have tried it and might just become a staple recipe in your kitchen if you haven't managed to prepare it before. There are many recipes online though I recommend going the path of least resistance and finding the simplest recipe possible.

No Irish meal is really complete without potatoes of some kind on the table. Keep this in mind no matter which meal you cook. There must be potatoes in order to complete the meal or it simply cannot be authentically Irish. This may be a slight exaggeration but you should take a moment to make sure that there are potatoes for this particular event because it's just a very Irish
thing to do.

Of course Irish coffee and green beer are quite often the drink choices for St. Patties day celebrations and they are never a bad choice, provided someone not drinking those drinks is doing the driving. If alcohol isn't your beverage of choice it is definitely not a requirement. However, if you are feeling particularly in line with the green theme of St. Patrick's Day you could make a green milk shake, a green smoothie, green powdered drink mix, or any other green drink that comes to mind. The drinks and even the colors aren't really all that important in the end. It is all in good fun at this point even if it isn't Irish in nature. There are some days when it just pays to be green despite the fact that Kermit still claims, "it ain't easy being green."

"Shamrock" Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

1 package yellow cake mix
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup butter or margarine -- softened
1 tsp vanilla, almond extract or lemon extract
1 egg
Green sugar sprinkles

Instructions:

Heat oven to 375º.

Beat half of the dry cake mix with the shortening, butter, vanilla and egg in a large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, or mix with spoon. Mix in the remaining cake mix.

Divide dough into 4 equal parts. Roll each part 1/8 inch thick on lightly floured surface. Cut with a Shamrock shaped cookie cutter; sprinkle with sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 5 to 7 minutes or until light brown. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool.

The Luck of the Irish - Corn Beef and Cabbage Dinner

Ingredients:

1 5-pound corn beef brisket with spice packet

6 potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 large head of green cabbage, cut into wedges

Instructions:

Open spice packet and rub spices onto the brisket. Be sure to coat both sides. Place brisket in a large cooking pot and cover completely with cold water. On high heat bring water to a rapid boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to medium low, cover pot and simmer brisket for approximately 3 hours.

Remove lid and place quartered potatoes in pot. Recover and simmer 20 to 25 minutes until potatoes are almost fork tender. Remove lid from pot and place cabbage wedges on top. Simmer uncovered for approximate 15 minutes or until cabbage and potatoes are at desired tenderness.