St. Patrick's Day Food

This year was my first time ever making green foods in honor of St. Patrick's Day. I got in the spirit of things after reading through many hubs on this topic. One hub in particular really caught my eye. Victoria Lynn's Easy Slow Cooker Cabbage for St. Patrick's Day strongly appealed to me and my taste buds! So, I set off to the fridge to see what I could come up with for today! The end result was tasty, hearty, and very green!

For an appetizer, I made a dip. I had a package of frozen spinach in my freezer and I found another hub that gave me the useful knowledge of a great way to use up some spinach.

In large bowl I combined:

1 package of frozen (or fresh) spinach

1 container of sour cream

Garlic powder to taste

Pepper to taste

Note:

*Many spinach dips include a hefty amount of fat, but no butter was included in this recipe above. However, the dip was served with some tasty and buttery Keebler Club crackers which makes up for the zero extra fat tidbit, and complements the dip nicely.

Corned beef and cabbage. Corned beef and cabbage. And... Corned beef and cabbage.

I know! I have heard it before that this meal is in fact what people like to have for St. Patrick's Day, so I changed it just a little.

I omitted cabbage for this dish, which you may find strange because this is a staple for lots of people on this holiday, but we're not huge cabbage eaters here, and frankly I've never cooked cabbage before and wouldn't know where to begin with that!

Ingredients:

4 large potatoes

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp. pepper

3 carrots, sliced long

1 tsp. mustard

At least 1 cup water

Ham sliced thin

I added all ingredients into a large pot because I don't own a slow cooker. I did cook it on fairly low heat for about an hour. Then, I added thin slices of cooked ham to the top and let all the flavors combine while preparing my next course...drinks!

When brainstorming green beverage ideas, I immediately ruled out adding green dye to something plain, like lemonade, to make an easy green drink. I wanted to be creative. Then it came to me. Midori Sour's are one of our favorite drinks around here, and they are the perfect color for today!

Ingredients for Midori Sour's:

1 oz or shot glass Midori (or to taste)

6 oz. Sweet and Sour mix (or to taste)

Ice

I could have easily opted for the delicious mint chocolate ice cream for desert, but wanted to be a tad more creative. When rummaging through cabinets finding ingredients for today, I also found leftover green Wilton chocolates from Christmastime. They're still fresh and the perfect accessory to homemade chocolate chip cookies.

What to Do:

I simply melted the candy melts in a pan just like I did a few months ago when making little candies to give away for gifts.

I then drizzled the green candy (or meant to) over each cookie and allowed it to dry on top. The way it ended up, I more like frosted each cookie. If you want a thinner glazer I read that adding solid shortening would be exactly what you need to do that.

These frosted cookies are a great way to make a regular dessert a bit more festive for St. Patty's Day.

This was kind of a hosh posh kind of meal. It was randomly assembled, and at the last minute, too. But it was fun, delicious and an exciting way to pull together a new meal idea. Thanks hubbers for your great ideas too, because you surely were at the routes of my creative thinking.