Celebrating Irish Food

This month, I tried six different recipes from the United Kingdom and Ireland Allrecipes site in recognition of St. Patrick's Day.  Since the holiday isn't for a few more days, perhaps you can find something you'd like to try too.


The first recipe I made was Bacon and Leek Potato Soup. It was good but not my favorite potato soup.  The potatoes were blended into a smooth puree; personally, I prefer a chunkier soup. But I did experience a new food - leeks.

I made another recipe which we Americans call a Coke Float, but those in the UK and Ireland call it a  Mock Guinness. The submitter said she serves it to her cub pack on St. Patrick's Day.  Sure enough, it's brown and makes a head.

My next recipe is a very good bread, Honey and Rosemary Soda Bread. I loved it, but my husband didn't.  It was too sweet for him. I did have a little difficulty making it.  I'm not a bread baker, so getting it to the right kneading consistency was a little difficult for me. But it turned out fine in spite of not quite knowing what I was doing. I made two small round loaves instead of the one big one.

Another recipe I made didn't seem Irish at all. It was Mexican Vegtable Dip. It is a mixture of cream cheese, sour cream, and taco seasoning topped with salsa, lettuce, onions, tomatoes, and cheese.  It's a wonderful tasting dip recipe for Tostadoes and Fritos. This is definitely one I will make again. 

Tonight, I made my favorite recipe of all the ones I tried, Beer Braised Stew and Colcannon. It is pure comfort food! Stew meat and carrots in a rich Guinness gravy served atop mashed potatoes and cabbage. Delicious!

I also made Guinness Bread. Again, it is a sweet bread. I don't really care for sweet breads accompanying my dinner entree.  But I'm certain this bread would be delicious for breakfast with a little honey butter spread on it!

My St. Patrick's Day recommendation for you is the Beer Braised Stew and Colcannon. It's on the American site if you don't want to figure out the conversions. Go ahead and try it. You won't regret it! Just be sure to use the regular Guinness.  I saw that a few people used the stout variety and said the broth was bitter.  I didn't find that to be the case at all, and I don't even like beer. Enjoy!

Celebrating Breakfast for Dinner

Is anything better than having breakfast for dinner?  Other than an all vegetable meal...or a big pot of white beans and cornbread...or chili on a cold winter's night?  Ok...forget I asked.  But seriously, I love breakfast and think it's best at dinnertime. I usually fix breakfast for dinner when I'm low on food and need to make a trip to the grocery store.  Tonight was no different.  I had made out next week's menus today and plan on going to the store tomorrow.


First of all, I decided to fix Simple Sausage Casserole.  Someone had reviewed it today and posted a picture (the reason why daily reviews and photos are important, Allrecipes Powers-That-Be).  I immediately looked in my frig, and sure enough, had all the ingredients.

The next recipe I found was Six-Week Bran Muffins. I noticed it desperately needed a picture :) I calculated 15 servings, put it all together in the morning, and refrigerated it until time for dinner.

I rounded out the meal with scrambled eggs and fruit.  I had heard about putting mayo in eggs and decided to try Scrambled Eggs Done Right.

Who would imagine I was at the end of my groceries with a meal like this?

Celebrating Smoothies

As I've begun writing my blogs, I realize I am following a theme here...celebrating. I want to celebrate life...enjoy it...look for the good in it. Life is too short to be caught up in envying, back-biting, wishing for the what-ifs, and being miserable. So, celebrating is my theme and my chosen view for life.


This week I have celebrated smoothies...green ones to be precise. I have made smoothies before and thoroughly enjoyed them, but I had never tried green ones. I went to the store with the intent of buying kale, but it looked terrible. I then went to Sam's, again to buy kale, but they didn't have any, so I bought spinach instead.


I became interested in green smoothies by reading Alaskansnobunni's AR blog. She lives in North Pole, Alaska. I got started reading her blog (and petey's) just because their lives are so different from mine, in different places, with very different circumstances, not to mention weather! In Karla's blog, she mentioned the benefits of green smoothies, and I got interested.


So, my first green smoothie to try was...drum roll please...Green Smoothie! This particular day, I had read and reread all the recipes and other sites. I guess I got myself confused, because I kind of made this recipe...and I kind of didn't. I guess I now officially belong to Zeebee's RTA, Recipe Tweakers Anonymous. I used spinach instead of kale, I didn't freeze my banana, I added ice cubes, and I added vanilla yogurt. What? Not the recipe at all you say? Oh well, read the reviews. The others aren't either! But I was hooked on green smoothies. I couldn't taste the spinach at all!

The next day, I tried Groovy Green Smoothie. I did follow the recipe this time...except I put in 2 cups of spinach instead of 1 1/2 cups. Again, it was delicious. I've had people who don't drink green smoothies ask me what it tastes like, and all I can say is that it is a predominant banana and yogurt fruity deliciousness with a beautiful shade of green.

Now, these two smoothies were very sweet. Probably because of the vanilla yogurt. So when I went to the grocery store, I bought something I had never tasted but had been wanting to try - Vanilla Almond Breeze. My thoughts were that this would diminish the sweet taste considerably. So, for my next green smoothie, I made up the recipe myself. I used 1/2 cup Vanilla Almond Breeze, about a cup of grapes, a banana, 2 cups spinach, and some whole frozen strawberries. Sure enough, this smoothie was less sweet but still very good, and I still could not taste the spinach. The only thing is that it was a much darker shade of green, not as pretty as the others I had made. It looked much better when it had just 1 cup spinach in it, but that's an easy fix. And because I was sick with a terrible head cold, I forgot to take a picture. Wish I had so you could see how ugly it was :)


Today for lunch, I decided to try Green Slime Smoothie. (The title should have given me a clue) I put my spinach in the freezer an hour before I wanted lunch and waited. From reading the reviews, I realized I would probably have to add liquid, especially since I don't own a Vitamix. I had some pineapple juice in the frig from some canned fruit and decided to use 1/2 cup of that to start with. Then I added my banana and blended well. After that, I added half the spinach and blended and then added the other half and blended again. I then added 1 cup of my frozen strawberries. My smoothie was quite thick at this point, so I just added another cup of refrigerated strawberries.  It was so thick, I knew I didn't need any ice.  And because I'm not fond of honey, I omitted that, too. I got the not so sweet smoothie I was looking for, but the color was less than desirable. It was a pale chocolate color. Odd to look at and then drink. I'm not sure what the predominant flavor was. Definitely not banana. Maybe a mix between pineapple juice and strawberries? But it was still good and I felt as though I was feeding my cold something good and healthy to make it go away faster.

My next green smoothie experiment will be to try the kale. Hopefully, I'll be able to find some that looks decent. I'd also like to try some green smoothies with carrots and other veggies in them. I'm wondering what they're like.


When I checked my recipe box, I realized I have tried 22 smoothie recipes and liked most of them! Do you have any favorite ones? What about any TNT or personal recipes for green smoothies, especially ones that aren't quite so sweet? And finally, what about recipes with Vanilla Almond Breeze?