A St. Patrick's Day Post

With March officially here, I thought I would do a St. Patty's Day post.

 I am not Irish.

 I do not drink. 

I have never caught a leprechaun or found a Pot-'O-Gold at the end of a rainbow. Darn. 

But I love Green.

 I love the word "Shamrock".

I love rainbows and God's promises that they represent. 

I would love to find a Pot of gold. It wouldn't even have to be at the end of a rainbow. ;)

I love Lucky Charms. Does that count?

I would love to go to Ireland some day. 

So I am sorta Irish right? 

Like some kind of honorary Irish for loving Shamrocks and green and for sure the Lucky Charms! 

Here are some St. Patty's day things that you can do just for fun! 

 I made a little "love box" to send to two special families! It had a St. Patty's Day theme. I grabbed some notebooks, cupcake mix, icing, cupcake liners, green jello, shamrock stickers, and a mishmash of other fun things! 

I also added these little treat bags I made. I painted some rainbows on some watercolor paper, and cut them out when they were dry. I threw some shamrock sprinkles in the bottom of a clear cello bag and added some gold foil coins. Lastly I added the rainbows. Then I tied the bag shut. I love them. I thought they were so adorable! And I had fun making them!  

 Make an easy Shamrock Bark grab by some grabbing some Nestle's mint and chocolate chips, melt on 50 % power in the microwave, spread over crushed pretzels on parchment paper and sprinkle some shamrock sprinkles on top. Chill in fridge. Yummy! 

And my favorite... Irish strips! I found this recipe while rummaging through my Nanny's recipe box. 

I healthified it... so if you are following my 12 Week Challenge ( which you should!) these are a better choice. I will post the original recipe and the changes that I made.  

* And just a note...I made both versions of these, my brother who thinks a salad is a little lettuce with a 1/4 cup of cheese and a 1/2 cup of ranch dressing, liked the healthier version best! But both were yummy! *

Irish Strips

1 stick of butter ( I used margarine)

2 eggs

1 cup of sugar ( I used half sugar, half Splenda)

2.5 cups of flour ( I used whole wheat flour)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp real vanilla extract

1/2 cup cooled coffee

1 cup of chocolate chips ( I used dark chocolate)

Topping:

3/4 cup brown sugar ( I used Brown Sugar Splenda)

1 tsp cinnamon

Go:

Preheat oven to 375. 

Cream butter, sugar and eggs together. Slowly add dry ingredients. Add coffee and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add chocolate chips. ( I'm not gonna lie, I used more than a cup.)

Cover a small baking sheet ( I used one a little larger than a 9x13 cake pan) with parchment. 

Press out dough onto pan. Mix the brown sugar and cinnamon together. Cover the top of the dough. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Cut into strips. Goes great with coffee and tea. 

One little added extra... did you know that we see shamrocks at St. Patrick's Day because St. Patrick  used it to represent and teach the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish? And, St. Patrick's Day is used to celebrate the arrival of Christianity to Ireland! 

Now every time I see a Shamrock, I will think of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.