Irish Dinner & St. Patrick's Day Ideas

We really enjoy celebrating the holiday's at our house and try to make them special for our kids. For me holiday's are exciting, mostly because I enjoy planning and preparing food. Last year for St. Patrick's day my sister and her kids joined us for our St. Patrick's day dinner, and this is what we came up with. We made Corned Beef Grilled Cheese on Rye, Curried Split Pea Soup, and Pistachio pudding served in lime bowls. It was a delicious St. Patty's day feast, and we ate it right up. I got the idea at Prudence Pennywise. Click here for the recipe. I did Pastrami instead of the Corned Beef, which was delicious. It was a little more peppy, and we loved it. This year I am going to make my own Irish Soda Bread, also found at Prudence Pennywise. Go here for the recipe. The bread looks delicious, and I want to make my meal as Irish as possible! The Curried Split Pea Soup isn't so much Irish, but it is green!!! This recipe was found at the Food Network from Alton Brown. Get the recipe here. This soup was delicious. I had never had Split Peas before, and had a great experience with this soup. We added carrots just to throw in more veggies. It was perfect, and the curry is so perfect in this soup. This was a perfect meal, and definitely filled us up.


Next, we made a Pistachio Pudding Salad. I love this salad. The pistachio taste is so perfect, and I love the crunch. It's all in a pudding box, and fantastic. This is one of those "throw-it-together" salads, that never dissapoints. If you have never had Pistachio Pudding Salad, and you are thinking "Yuck", just try it. Those thoughts will change! We served it in a hollowed Lime. More green!

Pistachio Pudding Salad

1 small box Pistachio Instant Pudding
1 small can mandarin oranges drained
1 can fruit cocktail drained
1 8 oz. Cool Whip

Combine all ingredients and stir to combine. Allow a few hours to sit and set up in the fridge before serving. Yumm!

More green!!! Break out the food coloring!

What would St. Patrick's Day be without a green breakfast!?! We made our favorite Wheat blender pancakes and threw in drops of food coloring to get a good St. Patty's Day green. Because I am not talented in making Shamrock shaped pancakes, we made our own shamrocks with the round pancakes put together, and added a piece for the stem. We added food coloring to the eggs too. I know that you may not think this looks very appetizing, but do it for the kids!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!