St. Patrick’s March celebrations create opportunities to bring nature’s green food into our meals. Here’s it’s a fun way to eat more greens at breakfast — real food greens. ?
St. Patrick is the patron saint Ireland. Born in the 5th century, kidnapped, brought to Ireland as a slave at the age of 16, he escaped and is credited with bringing Christianity to its people.
Why the shamrock? This traditional symbol is said to have been used by St. Patrick to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish.
Why green? Ireland has been associated with the color when the green harp flag was used by the Irish Catholic Confederation.
10 Facts About the History of St. Patrick’s Day
Originally published March 2017
Menu
Pineapple Mojito Green Smoothie
I used spinach instead of kale; otherwise the kale overpowers the other flavors (pineapple and mint)
I made the frittata with kale and fontina. And got the idea of adding the “clover leaf” green bell pepper from Pinterest
Adapted from Weelicious, this is one of my favorite pancake recipes — it’s not just for St. Patrick’s Day!
Green Fruit Skewers
It also works perfectly well to just put the fruit on a tray.
Day before
Peel and chop pineapple for the smoothie
Make the fruit wands
- Thoroughly wash and dry grapes and pears
- Peel and cut up kiwi, cut up pears
It may seem needlessly time-consuming to put fruit on skewers, but funny enough, it gets kids to eat more fruit. Maybe it’s the “wand”, or pulling off one bite at a time, but whatever the fruit (I’ve made them for Valentine’s, fairy tale tea parties using a watermelon “star” for the wands or just straight grapes). Maybe it’s because food that looks pretty is more enticing to eat.
Morning of
- Make the smoothies; while your family is sipping on them, prepare the rest of brunch
- Make the pancakes, wrap in clean dishtowel as they come off the griddle to keep them warm
- Place Green Fruit Wands on table
- Preheat oven to 400
- Make frittata
Serve and enjoy!
After brunch, set up the children to make
Leprechaun Houses with Graham Crackers
Given our gingerbread house tradition at Christmas, these Graham cracker houses were too tempting to pass up!
It was a really fun activity for my daughter who is six. And it also sent us on a leprechaun discovery jaunt to our local library. We learned that leprechauns are a type of fairy from Irish mythology; only male, they are shoemakers and hid their gold coins in a pot at the end of a rainbow. If a human caught a leprechaun, he had to grant that human three wishes in exchange for his freedom. Hmmm, what to wish for? Oh wait, first we have to catch a leprechaun!
[su_shopping_list_start]
Produce
Baby spinach 5 ounces
Pineapple
Mint
Lime 1
Kale
Garlic
Green grapes
Kiwi
D’anjou (green) pears
Refrigerated
Fontina cheese
Milk (dairy)
Eggs (7)
Pantry
Coconut water
Maple syrup
[su_shopping_list_end]
