St. Patrick’s Day might be one of my most favorite holidays. I’m fortunate that I have a family that loves history and genealogy. I am potato famine Irish and had family come to America in the late 1800s/early 1900s. Now that I’ve been to Ireland, my adoration for the holiday has grown…if that’s even possible! Here are some of my favorite pictures from when I was there… Glenariff Forest, Titanic Museum and where it was built, C.S Lewis’ house, Giant’s Causeway and Antrim Castle Gardens are just a few highlights!
St. Patrick’s Day is also a mostly American thing because it is a celebration of where we came from and our heritage…not just a day to drink cheap green beer. The last few years I have happened to be at or near Ethan’s family, so we have started something of a tradition of me making everyone a big Irish dinner on St. Patrick’s Day! This year, we went with Fish & Chips! My father-in-law has an air fryer and made homemade, fresh cut, french fries. I was in charge of the fish!
2lbs fresh Cod (we’ve used Haddock as well)
1 1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cup liquid (water, buttermilk, Guiness- your choice)
2 teaspoons baking powder
Salt/Pepper to taste
1 1/2 teaspoon Old Bay (optional)
Vegetable or canola oil- You need something to fry these bad boys in!
- Add oil to a shallow pan and begin to heat
- Cut the fish into more manageable pieces and pat dry
- Mix the flour, liquid, and spices until it is about pancake batter consistency
- Dip the cod in the batter on both sides and carefully place in the hot oil
- Cook until each side is golden brown. Depending on the thickness of the fish, this could be 3-5 min to cook the fish and crisp the batter
- Lay on a paper towel to absorb some of the excess oil and cool
The second thing I made was green chocolate chip cookies. It’s a relatively basic cookie recipe with…you guessed it…green food coloring.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 stick butter
1/2 cup butter flavored Crisco
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups sugar
3-5 drops of peppermint oil (optional- depending on how strong you like the flavor)
Chocolate chips of your choice- I used dark chocolate
1. Cream butter and crisco, add sugar, vanilla, peppermint oil and eggs.
2. Add green food coloring to desired shade. I used about 10 drops.
3. Combine flour, cornstarch, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Slowly add it to the “wet” ingredients.
4. Mix in 1 1/2 cups, or half a bag of chocolate chips. It will look like mint-chocolate-chip ice cream.
5. Chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Trust me. Don’t skip this step. Longer is better. But at least an hour.
6. Pre-heat the oven to 350, bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven etc. The cookies will JUST start to turn brown around the edges.
EAT, with a nice big glass of milk!
And now, for some Irish fun facts and baby pics to make your St. Patricks day a little educational and cute-
-Only 9% of the Irish population are natural redheads.
-A book only needs to sell 3,000 copies to top the Irish bestseller list.
-There have never been snakes in Ireland. St. Patrick did nothing with snakes.
-St. Patrick was initially captured as a slave and taken to Ireland. He eventually escaped, joined the church, and decided to go back to the country that had enslaved him to spread Christianity as a missionary.
-We celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on the 17th because that is the supposed date of his death.
-In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is more of a religious holiday….but don’t worry, they still do plenty of partying as well!
The Nurtured Bee 
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