Irish Soda Bread

Tomorrow is St. Patricks day!  Can you believe it's already here?  I feel like this year has already come and gone and all the fun plans for each and everyone of my holidays has been put on the back burner because we have just been so busy with regular life.  My husband is headed out of town tomorrow so my plans on cooking the traditional corned beef and cabbage is not going to happen...  I can not eat all that food  by myself and my kids still eat tiny portions. Left overs it is!
 I decided to celebrate tonight by making some Irish Soda Bread. It's soda bread because it has baking soda and buttermilk instead of the normal yeast used in bread.  And what makes it a traditional 'Irish' soda bread is the caraway seeds and the raisins or currents added into the bread...( you can probably tell that I did not have any of those 3 things on hand tonight but next year I'll do better!!  Right?... hopefully?...  Hey at least I did something for a holiday that is for the Irish when we have not even a hint of Irish blood in us... Sadly because I would love to have a sign that says 'Kiss me I'm Irish' ,  But I'm not. So I guess I'm out of Luck.  haha..luck.)  I'm tired.  can you tell by the rambling?  Anyway back to the recipe.


Irish Soda Bread

4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
6 T. shortening
1/2 c. raisins or currents
1 T. caraway seeds
1 1/4 c. buttermilk (or regular milk with about a tsp and 1/4 of lemon juice)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 T. butter, melted
Cinnamon/sugar

In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Cut in the shortening with 2 butter knives (or a pastry cutter) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  Stir in the raisins or currents and the caraway seeds.  Combine buttermilk and egg; add to crumb mixture.  Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead gently 5 or 6 times. (be careful not to handle the dough too much or it wont be as flaky as you want it)  Divide dough in half; shape into two balls.  Place on a lightly greased baking sheets and pat each ball into a round loaf, about 6in.  Using a sharp knife, cut a 4in cross about 1/4in deep, on top of each loaf.  brush with the melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Bake at 375* for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Colored Celery

When I was little my mom always had something fun to teach us.  I remember this one very clearly.  We would take celery and color it, or mix baking soda and vinegar to make it foam up and lots of other fun things.  The kitchen is where we created many memories as kids and it is a place I hope to create many memories for my own children. 

This week we decided to do some "science in the kitchen" for St. Patrick's Day. 

Colored Celery
1 bundle of celery ( divided into stalks, do not remove the leaves)
6 jars
water
food coloring

Divide the bundle of celery into stalks, leaving the leaves on.  You must have the leaves intact to make this work.  Next fill jars 1/2 with water and add 3-5 drops of food coloring to each.  We made the colors of the rainbow, but you can do whatever colors you want.

Cut about 1/4 inch off the bottom of each stack of celery to give it a fresh edge, this will also help the celery absorb the colored water.

Let sit on  counter overnight.  Then remove from colored water, cut, and serve with your favorite garnish.  We like peanut butter, ranch, or cheese spread.  You could also use them in a salad.

Orange-Ginger Glazed Sugar Snap Peas

Orange-Ginger Glazed Sugar Snap Peas
1 small bag (8 oz) sugar snap peas or about 1 1/2 c.
3 TBSP orange marmalade
1/4 tsp cider vinegar
1/8 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground pepper
1 TBSP butter

Wash peas and remove tips and strings.  Cook fresh peas, covered in a small amount of boiling water in microwave for about 4 minutes, or till crisp-tender (you don't want to overcook these or they will be mushy and they won't taste as good).  Drain well.

In a small saucepan heat marmalade just till melted, then add vinegar and ginger and pepper.  Pour sauce over hot cooked peas.  Add butter, tossing lightly to melt butter and coat peas.  Makes 2 servings.

I am trying to get my family to venture outside of the box with our vegetables.  We have our usual veggies that we eat regularly, you know the ones; corn, green beans, or a green salad.  So I wanted something different.  I ran across a version of this recipe in an old cookbook I have and revamped it.  I was a bit skeptical because I don't really like my veggies sweetened, but these were perfect. They turned out amazing.  Honestly we just sat and ate the whole plate. 

*As a side note, these can be made diary free by replacing the butter with earth balance buttery spread or stick.  Also,  these are gluten free, however check your marmalade as I have noticed that some brands say they "may contain traces of wheat"  this means that they were made in the same factory where other products containing wheat or gluten were made"  Just keep an eye out for this.

Rainbow Dipper Cookies

We are getting ready for St. Patrick's Day at our house.  Nothing big, but we always do a little something.  Sometimes we get bored on Sundays so we take an old favorite recipe and change it up a bit.  These cookies were the result of a fun Sunday afternoon spent baking in the kitchen with all of my kids.  The kitchen is our favorite place for family time.

Donna's Sugar Cookies
3/4 c butter
1 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and almond extract in a bowl.  Mix till well blended.  Then stir in flour, baking powder and salt.  *Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour.  Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and cut with cookie cutters.  Bake on greased cookie sheet at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

*This is my very favorite sugar cookie recipe.  To make the rainbow dippers follow instructions for cookies above.  Then divide the dough evenly into 6 bowls.  Using food coloring, make all the colors of the rainbow   Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Purple (or Violet).  Then cover each bowl and chill in fridge for 1 hour.  

Next on a clean flat surface roll out your first color (red).  That will be your base layer, then using a sheet of wax paper, roll out the next color on the wax paper till it is about the same shape and thickness as your first layer.   Then turn that over onto your red dough.   Do this for each color, continue rolling out each color of dough onto the wax paper and transferring to your "stack" of dough.  You should end up with a stack of colored dough about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Next using a long knife, starting on one end of your stack of dough, cut a strip about 1/2 inch thick from your stack of dough.  Then lay the trip on its side and cut it into 2 inch segments.  Lay these segments on your prepared cookie sheet and bake as directed. Dip your cookies in the cookie glaze and enjoy!

Glaze (powdered sugar icing)
1 c powdered sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2  TBSP milk

Mix powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 TBSP milk add a little more milk if necessary till it reaches a drizzling consistency.