Irish Coffee

I start with good Irish Flavored Coffee (I use Gevalia).

Add to 12 cups of coffee: 6 Tablespoons of orange Juice, 6 tablespoons of lemon Juice and 3/4 cup of brown sugar. Blend well. Pour coffee into a clear mug and fill about 3/4 of the way. Top off with whipped cream and sprinkle nutmeg on top. I like to melt cool whip in the microwave just enough to smooth it out a bit (about 10 seconds for 1/2 cup of cool whip - don't melt it completely.  It should still have some consistency. 

Irish Cream Soda

Fill a clear glass with ice. Add 2 oz. Irish Cream syrup and stir. Pour onto the top 1 oz Irish Cream flavored creamer or half and half. Add a straw and a spoon before serving.

Sparkling Green Tea

Fill a clear glass with ice. Fill half of the glass with Stewarts Key Lime soda (sold at most Wal-marts). Fill the remainder of the glass with green tea. stir and add a cherry and an orange to garnish.

Irish Oatcakes and Cheese

Oatcakes - I don't have an original recipe that is any better than the one found at this link. http://www.online-cookbook.com/goto/cook/rpage/001797

This recipe is not an original Irish oatcake recipe but it is good. I found the oatcake recipes did not turn out like I wanted. So for me it is better to buy!

You can buy them at http://www.igourmet.com/search/search.asp?keywords=oatcakes for a reasonable price.

You can purchase Irish Cheeses or serving cheddar cheese is appropriate. cheese balls are good too.

Blue-eyed Bacon and Apple Salad

Toss 1 large head of iceberg lettuce and 1 small bunch of red leaf lettuce with 2 small peeled and chopped apples. Cook 6 slices of bacon, cool dice and add to the salad mixture. Salt and pepper to taste. Toss together. Just before serving add the dressing and sprinkle with 4 oz of blue cheese crumbles.

Dressing: Mix 1 cup of sour cream with 2 tablespoons of apple cider or apple juice. Add about 2 tsp of cider vinegar and a dash of sugar as needed to suit taste.

Carol's Irish Stew

Ingredients: 2-3 lbs of lamb chops, 16 baby carrots, 8-10 new potatoes (you can add more if desired), 1 small onion cut into wedges. 1 1/2

TBS chicken base, 4 cups water, 1 TBS.olive oil, salt, pepper, 1 TBS marjoram, 1 TBS, parsley, 1 TBS Allspice, 1 tsp chives, 1 bay leaf.

Season lamb chops with salt, pepper, 1 TBS marjoram, 1 TBS allspice, 1 TBS parsley, place in a skillet and fry in the olive oil. Meanwhile place the carrots, potatoes, onion, chives and bay leaf in a large pot. Add the chicken base. Bring to a boil, cover and simmer. Remove chops from skillet when meat is cooked through. Cut off of the bone and cut in chunks. Add to the soup base. Also add the bones for more flavor and remove the bones when done. Cover and let the soup simmer for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.  Thicken using either a flour or cornstarch mixture. 

As a note:  I have added 1 cup of pureed corn to this recipe too and it gives it an extaordinary flavor. 

(Serves 4)

This recipe can also do well with the meat portion cut in half and add more potatoes if you desire. It is also best to get the small new potatoes and not cut them, but cook them whole. It has a great effect on dining when served this way.

Soda Bread

Once again I defer to good online recipes for Soda Bread. Here are three links for the recipes.

This one is a sweeter version.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Irresistible-Irish-Soda-Bread/Detail.aspx

The Easy recipe.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amazingly-Easy-Irish-Soda-Bread/Detail.aspx

The traditional recipe for Soda Bread

http://www.sodabread.us/Recipes/sodabreadrecipes.htm

Irish Caramel Coffee Cake

Ingredients: 2 1/4 cups flour, 2 1/2 Tsp baking powder, 1/2 Tsp baking soda, 1/2 Tsp salt, 1 1/4 cups sugar, 1/2 cup margarine, 1 cup of peeled and diced apples, 1 tsp Irish cream syrup, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1/4 cup Irish coffee, 1/4 cup of milk. Caramel topping.

Caramel Base

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/4 cup margarine (Partially Melted), 1/2 cup cool whip, 1/3 cup chopped pecans (Optional).

Baking Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 11x9 cake pan. Mix flour, baking powder, soda, salt and sugar. Add 1/2 cup margarine (melted) apples, and syrup. Mix at medium speed for 2 minutes. Mix coffee and milk together, pour 1/3 cup plus 1 TBS of the liquid mixture into the batter; mix together. Add remaining cake ingredients mix well. 

Blend together the caramel base ingredients. Spread over the bottom of the 11x9 pan. Spoon cake mixture over the caramel base and bake 30-40 minutes or until a pic inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove from oven, cool and drizzle caramel topping over the cake.