Irish Blessing:

May your troubles be less, your blessings be more, and nothing but happiness come through your door!

                  History of St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patricks Day is a cultural and religious celebration held on March 17th, which is the traditional death date of Saint Patrick, the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Little is known about who he actually was. What we do know is he was a Roman citizen (Britain was Roman back then), he was enslaved and taken to Ireland where he possible escaped and became a priest. Moving back to Ireland.  It was originally a Christian feast day in the early 17th century by the Catholic church. It commemorates St. Patrick and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland and celebrates the heritage and culture of the Irish. The celebrations generally involve public parades and festivals, the wearing of green attire or shamrocks. Historically the holiday falls during Lent and the restrictions on eating and drinking alcohol were lifted for the specific day, which has encouraged and propagated the holiday’s tradition of alcohol consumption. It is one of the most celebrated cultural holidays throughout the world and is considered a public holiday.

 

Leprechaun Hat Smores

Ingredients:

Keebler Fudge Stripes Cookies

Large Marshmallows

Dark Chocolate candy melts                                              

Green candy melts

Green sprinkles or green cake sprinkles

Directions:

Melt dark chocolate candy in the microwave, in 30-second intervals on 50% power. Stir after each heating. Repeat until completely melted. Dip Fudge Stripe Cookies into chocolate, coating completely. Shake off any excess. Set on parchment paper, top side down, until candy coating is completely set. Using a toothpick, dip the marshmallow into chocolate and coat almost entirely. Shake off any excess. Set on parchment paper, until candy coating is completely set. Remove toothpick. Melt green candy just as you did the chocolate. Flip marshmallow upside down and insert a new toothpick on top. 

Dip into green candy, just barely, to create a small band of green around the bottom. Coat green candy band with sprinkles and shake off excess. Place marshmallow in the center of chocolate covered cookie. Carefully remove toothpick. Touch up the toothpick hole with a small dab of melted chocolate. Spoon some of the remaining melted green candy into a piping bag. Ziplock bag or squeeze bottle. On parchment paper, make three small dots of candy in the shape of a triangle. Each dot should be about the size of a chocolate chip. Using a toothpick, swirl the three dots together to form a shamrock shape. Swirl the bottom two dots together first, then the top dot. Pull toothpick straight down to form the stem. Before it hardens, cover with sprinkles. Once it has set, dust off sprinkles. To finish the hat, attach a glittering shamrock with a small dab of melted green. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

 

Slow Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage 

10min. Prep time

8hr cook time

Serves 6-8

 

 

Ingredients:

2.5# corned beef brisket

1 medium onion

6 red potatoes, peeled and halved

2 cups baby carrots

1 beef bouillon cube

1 garlic clove, minced

1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. Dry mustard

The spice packet that comes with the corned beef brisket (optional)

1 small cabbage, cut into wedges

1 tsp. Caraway seed

2 cups beef broth

Directions:

Trim brisket of all visible fat. Then, spray a large slow cooker with nonstick cooking spray. Place the onion, potatoes, and carrots into the bottom of the slow cooker. Then, place the corned beef on top. 

Next, whisk together the bouillon, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, dry mustard, and beef broth. Pour the liquid over brisket. Sprinkle the included spice packet over the corned beef (optional). Cover pot. Cook on low setting for 8-10 hours, or on high for 4-5 hours, checking on it every few hours to make sure it doesn’t over-cook. Add the cabbage wedges and caraway seed for the last hour of cooking. To serve, discard cooking liquid, slice meat and serve with mustard if desired.

 

Pistachio Pudding Pie

(Makes 10 servings)

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups crushed chocolate graham crackers

3 tbsp. Butter, melted

1/4c. Chopped pistachios

1 qt. Fat-free vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt softened

1 (4-serving) instant pistachio flavored pudding and pie filling

1/2c. chocolate fat-free fudge topping warmed

 

Directions:

Preheat oven 375 degrees. In a 9” pie plate, stir together graham crackers crumbs and butter, press on bottom and up sides. Bake for 8 min. And then let cool. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, quickly combine the pistachios, ice cream and pudding until well mixed. Transfer mixture into cooled crust. Freeze, covered for at least 4 hours or until firm. Serve with warmed chocolate fudge topping on each slice.

 

Fun projects for St. Patrick’s Day

 

Catch a Leprechaun Kit (for kids)

Supplies:

Special detective badge- green construction paper, black magic marker, scissors

(bond money)Play gold coins- sandwich bag, white construction paper, black magic marker

(field notes) Small green post-it-black magic marker

(sketching tools) Crayons or colored pencils and mini sketch pad

Flashlight

Fake mustaches for disguise

Fake glasses for disguise

(Evidence collection)Disposable camera

(leprechaun bait) Irish spring soap bar

Sandwich bags and colored strips of construction paper for evidence collection

Cardboard box- St.Patricks day tape, stickers to decorate

 

 

Centerpiece with Split Peas

Supplies:

3 glass vases

3 glass candlesticks holders

3 candles that fit in the vases

Bag of dried split peas

E6000 glue

Toothpicks

Directions:

Apply glue onto the rim of candlestick holders with a toothpick. Put the vases on top of them and apply some pressure. Let dry. Add candles to help with added pressure. When dry add dried split peas to the bottom of vases and rest candles on top.

Shamrock Button Canvas Art

Supplies:

8×8 stretched canvas

A mix of green buttons and beads

Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Scissors

scrapbook paper

Pencil

 

Directions:

Cut out 3 pieces of paper 4”x4”, fold in half, and cut out a heart on the folded line making sure to cut from edge to edge so that your heart is about 4”x4”. Arrange hearts onto your canvas so that they make a clover. Trace the outside edges, and hand-draw the bottom stem of the clover. Next, carefully glue your largest buttons inside the drawn clover, do not go outside pencil line. Then start filling in your smaller areas with your smaller buttons and begin layering then on top of your large buttons to make sure there are no spaces. Now carefully fill in your empty spaces and outlines with your hot glue a little at a time and top with your tiny beads. Let your clover dry completely, shake off any excess beads and display.

 

 

 

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