Saturday, March 17, 2012

More Green Than Anything Else




  Top O' The Morning To Ya!
 

 I woke up this morning to the mingled smell of corned beef and coffee. Now to some of you that may be rather unappetizing, but for this Irish/Scotch/and a little bit of everything else-lady, it popped me right out of bed so I could go stand over the roaster and breathe in deep like a child.
   Did you notice that I went to the roaster BEFORE I went to the coffee pot? Ha--yeah. There are some mornings like that believe it or not. Just like there are some mornings I look like someone drug me out from under a rock, and beat me, then sent me on my way with eyes pasted shut, finding the coffee cups, and brewing coffee by instinct and smell. (nice picture, right?)
    When I was a child, this holiday was by far my favorite, even over Christmas. We always had little flashing or cute pins we got to wear to school, my mom used green food coloring in everything, and we celebrated my father's heritage (and ours) as a family. We practiced the whole "Pinch if you arent wearing green" and I can remember at around 10 stressing over whether I should step out my bedroom door in a certain shirt because it happened to have a splash of pink on it...which of course meant my big brother would swoop in on me and chase me around the house. I dont really remember the ending of that memory------might be the amount of green food coloring I consumed that day, and in my lifetime, I dont know. :)

   We always had green everything..even green eggs and ham one year, although to this day I can not figure out how in the world my mother did it. If you think this picture was weird, you should have seen ours! Now that I have children, I have chosen to forgo a lot of the green food coloring and look for ways to make things green naturally and taste good at the same time. I am SO blessed to have three children who love fresh fruits and veggies, and we have been careful to introduce them to things at an early age for just that reason. Believe it or not, I have toddlers (who just turned two yesterday! *sniff*) who LOVE salad, or even munching on swiss chard or bok choy for a snack. I am going to have to keep those little rabbits out of the garden this year if I want to have a harvest I think.
   ANYHOW, I just wanted to give you an idea of what we like to have on this day for a meal, as well as some links for some fun activities for your kids. :)

St Patty's Day Meal Plan:
Breakfast: Banana Bread Muffins with Green Cream Cheese Frosting and a chocolate coin stuck in on top.
Snack:  Banana Kiwi and Spinach Smoothies (I promise, they wont taste the spinach unless you let them watch while you make it, it just gives it a nice green color), and yes.bad mamma.......a bag of small chocolate coins per child.
Lunch: Broccoli and Sour cream topped potatoes (if you have been cooking corned beef, we sometimes drizzle a little bit of the juice over the potatoes to make them even tastier), and Chocolate Mint Cookies (ok, yeah a little green food coloring~and I use my own Master Cookie Mix)
Dinner: OF COURSE is corned beef and cabbage in the roaster (or cast iron dutch oven, just depends on the year) with baby potatoes that are cooked in olive oil and seasoned with basil, garlic and onion.

While browsing around the other day, I found some great ideas for fun things to do with your kids. Since St Patty's Day this year falls on a Saturday, have fun! :)

* I love the napkin rings on this one, and dont think you need to use craft foam, just plain paper. And what kid doesnt love to finger paint?

            http://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/807969/st-patrick-s-day-crafts-for-kids


*This site is SO much fun, and my favorite craft on here is the printable "God Says I am More Precious Than Gold"!  But LOTS of great ideas!

            http://www.scottsdaledaycare.com/easy-st-pattys-day-crafts-for-kids.htm




*and then THIS ONE has so many ideas I couldnt pick one to do with kids, but my girls are going to have so much fun! Lots of printables too! :)
         
            http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/stpatrick/


   Have a wonderful day! And stay away from the green beer! :)
Many Blessings to you and yours,
Heather

2 comments:

  1. so now that St Paddy's day has worn off a few corrections for you. It is Irish/SCOT/HEIZ 57. Scotch is a drink. A very tasty, warming drink but still a drink. As far as the other correction goes... of course I pinched you. I got in troube for it but c'est la vie. Love you.
    P.S. St. Paddy's day is still top in my books though Halloween comes a close second.
    Your bleary eyed mostly recovered brother

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. *ahem* OBVIOUSLY still not totally recovered dear brother when you spell Heinz: HEIZ. At least you didn't spell it HEIL or we would be having issues. I don't mind the idea of the scotch. LOL. I noticed you didn't correct my PATTY and skipped over that part. Oy vey. We are Jewish, right? :)

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