Three Green Things

My mother used to dye our milk green. It's not really my number one green recommendations. Here are a few I like a little better.

1. Grasshopper Cake. It's not traditional, but it's green and tastes amazing.

2. Chocolate Mint Brownies. Clearly I care not at all about tradition unless tradition is rich chocolaty mint.

3. Green Drink. Of course there's this for people who aren't going for colcannon, but would like to not weigh 10 extra pounds after St. Patty's Day. There's also this one with avocado or this one with kale and avocado. 

Irish Soda Bread and Other Recipes for St. Patrick's Day

Cheap Eat Challenge: Watch as our family of 6 learns to eat on $6/day.

Of course, you could simply dye your milk green. This is what my mother did and we loved it. And there are always green eggs to be had. Or you could make a cake with mint frosting that is actually dyed green.

But if you're looking for something more traditional, here are two recipes I'm itching to try:

Roasted Cabbage with Lemon from Kalyn's Kitchen
Colcannon from Simply Recipes

And here is a favortie of my own. I have to use all my will power not to sub out some of the white flour for wheat, as I do in my other Irish Soda Bread recipe. Because this recipe is really best in its wicked all-white (not quite perfectly traditional) way. Enjoy.

Irish Soda Bread
adapted from The New Best Recipe Cookbook
Serves 8-10
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

4 C all-purpose flour
4 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter, softened
1 1/2 C buttermilk (or a scant 1 1/2 C milk with 1 1/2 Tbsp vinegar mixed in)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt together in a large bowl. Work the butter in with your fingertips until the mixture is like course crumbs (it only takes a minute or two, I promise).

Add buttermilk and sitr with a fork until the dough begins to come together. Turn out onto a flour-coated surface and dry to get it into some sort of ball. Knead just until the dough becomes cohesive and bumpy. This is going to be about 12-14 turns. It's going to be kind of shaggy and seem drier and less incorportated than you think it should be. You're going to think to yourself, "I have to knead this more; it's a mess." Do not knead it more. If you knead it until smooth, you'll have a tough tough loaf. Glob and gather it into a ball, then 12-14 turns. No more than 16. Seriously.

Pat the dough into a round of about 6 inches in diameter and 2 inches high. (You can also do 2 smaller loaves.) Place on greased baking sheet.

Score the top with a sharp knife, making an X. (I went a little crazy in my scoring. You don't have to do it so deep and crazy style like me.)

Bake 40-50 minutes or until golden brown and done in the middle (about 170-180 degrees if you've got a handy instant read thermometer).

Feel free to brush the warm loaf with butter if the all-white-flour thing wasn't decadent enough for you.

PRINTABLE RECIPE