Foody Friday - Colcannon (Potato) Puffs

I love potatoes. I totally could have been Irish and eaten potatoes every day at every meal. I read, in The Irish Americans: A History, that before the Great Potato Famine (1845-1852) that the average Irish child consumed 5 pounds of potatoes a day! Just a child!! An adult consumed more! 

Anyway, back to food. I love potatoes and I always prepare too much of any kind of potato dish I make and am never short of leftover potatoes...usually mashed. 

But...I've found a yummy way to use up those extra mashed potatoes without resorting to simply throwing them back in the microwave. 

Colcannon Puffs

(Colcannon is a traditional name for an Irish potato dish) 

a couple cups of leftover mashed potatoes

a cup or so of spinach, cut or torn into small pieces

1t. onion powder

1/2 t. garlic powder 

1/2 t. thyme

1/4 t. pepper

2 T. milk

2 T. corn starch

Preheat oven to 425. Combine all the ingredients and stir well. Using a well rounded tablespoon, form into balls. Place them on an oiled baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Carefully turn over and bake for 20 more minutes until lightly browned. 

Potatoes, potatoes....I could eat em' all day long! 

Foody Friday - Cabbage Casserole

I love cabbage!! I know, weird right? I can't help it, cabbage is one of my favorite things to eat. Since St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow I thought I'd share my newest cabbage recipe! Just because we'll be wearing the green tomorrow doesn't mean we can't shake up the traditional corned beef and cabbage! 

Cabbage Casserole 

(Here's the original recipe, but I made a few changes to it.)

butter

3 cups chopped cabbage (red makes it prettier!)

1/2 cup chopped carrots

1/2 chopped onion

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 c. milk

3 T. shredded cheese

1/4 t. seasoned salt

parsley 

Parmesan cheese

Saute the cabbage, carrot and onion in butter until crisp tender, just a few minutes. In a bowl, combine the egg, milk, shredded cheese and seasoned salt. Add the cabbage mixture and combine thoroughly. Pour mixture into greased 8x8 inch baking dish. Sprinkle with parsley and Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until knife inserted newar the center comes out clean. 

My kids did choke down one spoonful and my husband kept giving my distrustful glances as he dutifully ate his. None of them asked for seconds, but that's okay....because I LOVED IT and I'll gladly eat it all! If you are a cabbage or veggie lover, then this casserole is for you. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow! 

Is anyone else celebrating with cabbage? 

Or green beer? 

Happy St. Patrick's to my cousin (you know who you are) who will be celebrating in Terre Haute with LOTS of green beer!! Wish we could join you!! 

Photo Thursday - Happy St. Patrick's Day!

This is one of those four leaf clovers from my freaky brother!

Sunday Devotionals for Kids - St. Patrick

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Well, almost anyway....do you have your green to wear on Thursday?

St. Patrick was born in a well to do family in Britain around the year 380. It was very probable that he had a house full of servants and lived a very comfortable life. At this time Britain was part of the Roman Empire and a Christian country. Ireland on the other hand, though not far away, was very different. The island was full or warring tribes whose religion believed in many gods. Life here was not so comfortable. People lived in mud huts and life was very hard.

When Patrick was about 15 years old an Irish kind attacked Britain. Patrick was captured and taken back to Ireland as a slave. He became a swineherd and lived in the hills taking care of animals. He was very sad and missed his family. As he worked he prayed and prayed to God. Soon he was having dreams from God telling him to escape. After 6 years as a slave he was able to return to his home in England. But when he returned, his home was destroyed! The Romans had been chased out of England and all the people and places he had known were gone.

For many years after this Patrick prayed and studied and became a bishop. During this time God told him he needed to return to Ireland. His job was to unite all the warring Irish tribes and make Ireland a Christian land. He did return to Ireland and after many years built many churches and converted the Irish from the believe of many gods to that of only one God.

There are many legends about St. Patrick that may or may not be true. It is said he used the shamrock with its three leaves to convey the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It has also been told that he drove all the snakes from Ireland.

People around the world will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day on Thursday. You may celebrate by watching parades and wearing green. If you live in Ireland you would celebrate by going to church for three days. However you celebrate remember that St. Patrick was serving God. He didn't do what was easy or what he wanted to do. Instead he did as he was told by God. Even when it was hard and lonely and dangerous, he never gave up his service to God.

John 12:26 - "Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me."

Dear God, Thank you for making me a servant for You. Please help me learn your will so that I may spread your word. Amen.

Marker Monday - St. Patrick's Day Activities!

There have been a lot of little St. Patrick's Day crafts, books and activities the boys and I have been enjoying lately. None of them are too detailed so I'm going to clump a bunch together into one post. Hope you can find something good to share with your little ones.

Number 1 - Pot of Gold Sandwich

First of pot of gold sandwiches...nothing special...just ham and cheese sandwiches. I was just lucky enough to find a cookie cutter shaped like a pot of gold. The boys liked the mustard "gold" we added at the top.

Number 2 - Shamrock Hat

Start by painting a paper plate green on both sides. After it has dried use an exacto knife to cut 2 large X's through the middle, like you would cut a pie into 8 pieces. Stop the cuts 1 or 2 inches from the edge. Bend the points up to form the crown. For the final touch glue green shamrocks to the point. This could easily be adapted for any holiday or painted gold or silver for a crown. You could even put paper candles on it for a birthday crown.

Number 3 - Shamrock Sucker
We made a bunch of these with the kids at church this week.


Cut out three (or four for luck) hearts and punch a hole at the bottom of each. Stick the sucker stick down through the holes. Add a bit of glue to keep it all together.


Number 4

We watched Darby O'Gill and the Little People. I love this movie! I don't care how old he gets, this mama will always swoon over Sean Connery :)



Number 5


Then we practiced mixing colors by making pictures of rainbows.

Number 6
We found this fun four leaf clover game. There are 10 four leaf clovers hidden in a field of three leaf clovers. The goal is to click on all ten as fast as possible without losing points by clicking on a three leaf clover. Tricky!

Number 7

And my all time favorite...a leprechaun trap! Yip and Yap and I were talking about how we could catch a leprechaun. "Maybe we could build a trap.", we decided. So Yap has went ahead and drawn up these plans below for Daddy to build a leprechaun trap :)

Sorry I can't quite decipher this blueprint for you!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!