St. Patrick's Day 2024

I hope you're enjoying St. Patrick's Day.  It's a bit different when it falls on a Sunday. Yesterday was a work day at The Whitney, so I didn't do any advance meal prep.  As always, Sunday mornings is attending worship service at church, so it was around 12:30 when I got in my kitchen to begin preparing our St. Patrick's Day dinner.   I decided it was going to be a 'progressive dinner' to keep hunger pangs away.       

In a recent recipe e-mail from Paula Deen to her followers, she featured Shepherd's Pie Stuffed Potatoes.  She suggested air-frying the potatoes, but I oped to bake mine.  I put them in the oven to bake, while I started making the Reuben Soup.  It's a delicious recipe that I got from a tearoom cookbook and I've made it several years on St. Patrick's Day.

When the soup was done, I called hubby to the table for the first course of our 'progressive dinner.'  I was a bit lazy this year and didn't set a fancy table - just the bare necessities, but I did give a nod to St. Patrick's Day with some dishware and a few figurines.

When The Whitney's tea blender blended our Irish Cream black tea to serve throughout the month of March, she gifted me with a complimentary half lb. bag, so we had Irish Cream black tea to go with our soup.

After the soup course, I started working on the meat filling to go inside the baked potato shells.  I scooped the potatoes from the shells, mashed them, and began assembling the stuffed potato. Since everything was cooked they only had to go in the oven long enough to melt the cheese on top.  My hubby returned to the table for course #2 of the 'progresive dinner.'  The potatoes were yummy and would be a nice savory for a tea party using a smaller potato.  I have served Shepherd's Pie in au gratin dishes before, but this presentation is a nice alternative.

The last course was Irish Soda Bread.  I always make the recipe from the Silver Palate Cookbook, but this year I decided to try a new recipe from the Internet, and it didn't disappoint.  The only thing missing was the Kerrygold Irish Butter that I forgot when I was shopping.  We had to settle for American butter!  ;-)  Currants were hard to find so I had to substitute raisins.  I should have ordered them online and will next time.

A slice of Irish Soda Bread is a close cousin to a scone [in my opinion].

When we took our last bite of Irish Soda Bread, I declared the 'progressive dinner' was over and I was relaxing the rest of the day [after cleaning up the kitchen].  I enjoyed prepping and eating all the Irish food and tomorrow I'll return to my low-carb diet!   Even though my mom was of Irish descent and very proud of her Irish heritage, I don't ever remember her celebrating St. Patrick's Day by making traditional Irish dishes.  It's a special day to me and I always enjoy celebrating it.

I saw many Irish blessings posted on Facebook today as well as quotes from St. Patrick.  He was a remarkable Christian missionary and hero of the faith, with an inspiring legacy.  One of his prayers is good for all Christians today:

"Christ above me, Christ in front of me, Christ to my right, Christ to my left, Christ below me, Christ behind me, Christ within me, Christ in my every thought, Christ in my every word, Christ in my every deed."

How have you celebrated St. Patrick's Day?