Yes, I am part Irish. When it comes to food, however, my tastebuds think they’re Italian. Or Thai. Or Indian. Anything but Irish. I am not particularly a fan of traditional Irish food. I don’t even understand what corned beef is. But when St. Patrick’s day rolls around, I can’t resist pulling out the green and celebrating just a wee bit! Here are a few ideas for injecting a little Irish festivity into your tablescape or meal.
I baked some low carb tortillas at 350 degrees. Before they had a chance to cool off and harden, I used my shamrock cookie cutter to cut several large shamrocks (two appear on the platter pictured above. Once they cooled off, I topped them with a mixture of 8 oz. cream cheese mixed with 2 tablespoons Hidden Valley Ranch dressing mix (dry) and 1/2 sour cream, into which I stirred finely chopped broccoli, red onion, orange pepper. I sprinkled additional chopped broccoli on top to bring more green to the forefront. The resulting snack was crunchy (the baked tortilla), creamy (the cream cheese mixture), and loaded with nutrients and flavor from the vegetables!
These take mere minutes to pull together and can be done sugar-free, if you like. Go grab some lime jello already prepared in the single serving size in the refrigerator section of the grocery store. Grab some vanilla pudding, too, along with some sour cream. Have your whipped cream ready. POpen the lime jello and pour into a quart baggie and break the it up a bit. Mix the pudding in a 1 to 1 ratio with sour cream so it’s not so sweet. Pour into a quart baggie. Cut a corner off each of the baggies. Squirt in the pudding/sour cream mixture. Follow it with the lime Jello. Top with whipped cream. Sprinkle on some shamrock thingies, if you happen to have them. Done! [If I had to do over again — and I’m sure I will, I would make more layers and just make each one a little thinner. It would have more pizzazz that way.]
Normally I’m not keen on dyed flowers, but these little green-tipped daisies were just what I was looking for to spruce up the table. The placemats were layered on top of the tablecloth. I didn’t have any Irish-looking napkin rings, so I simply placed the napkins on top of the plates, nealty folded. We’re ready for our supper. Hope someone is cooking it up now!
Would I buy these placemats again? NO! I learned they don’t sit totally flat, so it makes it difficult to balance glasses on them. Not so bad if the shape is a big rectangle, but for a small circle, where your glass could be half on and half off, not a good idea. A pretty green print dishtowel formed the center attraction and helped tie things together for our light lunch/snack.
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! May the luck of the Irish be with you!
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