Green Day

[Guest blogger! The following post is by my sister, Lydia. She's been married for four months and is already cooking more extravagant meals than me. I've got a lot to learn. Enjoy!!]


Not the band. Though I wonder if they picked that name from any relation to this day.

I like themed events because you get to coordinate clothes, food, decorations, etc. Holidays are the most convenient and traditional of such events, and people are more willing to cooperate. On St. Patrick’s Day, really the only theme is green. And Irish, if you have it. I’m lucky (pun intended) because my husband has red hair.

We decided to start cooking real meals (not just frozen foods) and on our list was Shepherd’s pie. Kevin was adamant that we have it on the 17th.

So, I peeled 2 large potatoes.

 I cut them up and boiled them.

Then I realized that we don’t own a potato masher, so let them boil a little longer before adding butter and a lot of milk. Luckily, they stirred easily.

And to make this Irish meal a little more American style St. Patrick’s Day-y, I added some green food coloring. (Actually blue and yellow was the best I could find, but I know my color basics.)

And voila…

I wonder if that’s how Sam I Am made his eggs green?

I did the rest of the process pretty lazily and just mixed ground beef with a bag of frozen mixed vegetables (darn! We failed!). More advanced cooks would add some kind of soup or gravy to make it less dry. I would suggest that.

And plopped the green potatoes on top. 

With some melted cheddar cheese on top, it was a decent dinner. My leprechaun husband seemed to enjoy it.

Note: this is not a cooking post, nor a recipe. This is holiday inspiration!