A Wee Bit 'o the Irish

I'm a 100% gringo. This is not something I find too exciting. I've always had friends that have come from interesting cultures and celebrate their heritages with cool traditions. My family... nothing. So I am determined to have my kids celebrate something from their heritages. Hence, I make a big deal out of St. Paddy's Day since Ben's got some Irish blood in him. I guess the world's way of celebrating St. Patrick's Day includes a lot of partying with the good ol' green brewskies but since I try to not be "of the world", we settle for green food all day long! So for breakfast: green eggs & ham, of course. Also, the kids wanted green OJ and we lucked out finding some green bread at the local store for some yummy green toast with jam. Although the green bread seemed a little iffy, we decided to finish it up with grilled cheese sandwiches along with green grapes and green milk for lunch. Yummy!
Believe it or not, dinner was not green! I made the traditional Irish meal of Corned Beef and Cabbage. Ben grew up eating this and he loves it! I actually hate it!! It seriously makes me gag. But every St. Paddy's Day I make it for him because he loves it and I love him. I also make Irish Soda Bread, which I actually like. So that's what we had for dinner. Well, Ben and the kids, at least-I had to sneak out for a burger after because I honestly can't swallow more than two bites of the stuff! Hey, at least I'm a good sport and make it for him, even if I don't eat it. Our kids actually ate it though! Skylar said she loved the beef but the cabbage was too soggy. Of course, the bread was a hit with everyone.
Since it was FHE we had dessert too. To go with the Leprechaun thing, Skylar and I made rainbow parfaits with fruit of every color: red-apples, orange-oranges, yellow-bananas, green-grapes, blue-blueberry yogurt, and purple-raisins. We even topped it with some vanilla ice cream "clouds". The kids loved it and were so excited that we were eating a "healthy" treat! All in all, it was a fun day with many adventures in eating! Happy St. Paddy's Day Everyone!!