Thursday, December 8, 2011

Slainte (Ireland)

We have made the Irish Tri-Color, written our names in a style that was inspired by the Celts, made table decorations, and stamped our passports. The only thing left to do on our tour of Ireland was eat. I found some Irish music and created the trivia questions to be asked during dinner. 

The table was set. 

The lovely tea towel in the middle of the table was another gift from my parents when they recently visited Ireland. 
The menu has been created and now it's time to get cooking. Irish Soda Bread, Irish Guinness Stew (a vegetarian and a beef version), and Butter Tart Squares were being cooked up in our globe spinning household. I made a nonalcoholic version of Irish Rose to drink (which is one part lemon juice,one part cherry juice and three parts soda water). 

I bought some Dubliner Cheese imported from Ireland at the grocery store.
I had never had it before, but it was really good cheese and I plan to buy it again.



Yummmmmm. This food was all so delicious, and as we were sitting and enjoying this scrumptious hearty spread, I realized that one of the best parts was how easy it all was. The bread took next to no time to make (and has only four ingredients). The stews, while there was some time involved with cutting all of the vegetables, were just left to cook once put together. To make this process a little easier, I did combine the two recipes a little bit, by picking my favorite ingredients from each recipe and then adding beef to only one. The dessert was only slightly more labor intensive than the bread. We decided that every part of this meal was something that we want to eat again, and since it was so easy to make, it is very likely that we will eat it all again. In fact, just writing about it is making me hungry again. I'm off to scrounge up some left overs. Slainte! (Cheers!)

Coming Soon: I'm asking you for your input, preparing for the winter holidays, and dishing up some honesty. 

JUST FOR FUN: If you're looking for a good book to read to your littles that offers some information about the Irish Monks and The Vikings, check out The Magic Tree House Book # 15 "Viking Ships at Sunrise" by Mary Pope Osbourne. It has Jack and Annie trying to rescue a book from the Monks before the Vikings attack and take it. 





6 comments:

  1. Yum! As always. I'm bookmarking this for St. Paddie's Day feasting. I have been reluctant to read Magic Treehouse books to my kids b/c I expect them to be annoying. Are they tolerable read-alouds?

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  2. I LOVE the Magic Tree House books! They are filled with facts and so while the kids are listening to a fun adventure story, they are learning. We had read "The Viking Ships at Sunrise" a while ago and Aiden remembered some of the information from it, so when we were talking about The Book of Kells, he said, "Remember? Jack and Annie were trying to rescue a book that the monks were writing!" The information is worked into the story so well! I have not found them to be annoying at all.

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  3. Raina, this meal inspired my christmas meal this year. We're decorating with holly leaves and berries (made from construction paper), leaving a candle in the window, and this stew (which sounds wicked yummy). Still looking for a special dessert. Thanks.

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  4. Haley, I am so happy that you've been inspired :) Your Christmas crafting and decorating sounds lovely! You should try the bread too! SO easy, it doesn't need to be left to rise (which is always what keeps me from making bread), you just make it with four ingredients, then toss it in the oven! It goes perfectly with stew! I even made it again a week later to have with a different soup that I made.

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  5. I think it went well. The stew was a hit, as was the rosemary soda bread that I made. Who would have thought that so many foods had alcohol in them? Love looking at your blog!

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  6. Thanks for the update Haley! I'm glad that you all enjoyed it! I always feel funny putting alcohol in foods that I know my kids will be eating, I mean I know that it cooks off, but it still feels weird to me, that said, it just might be the alcohol that makes it so yummy ;)Thanks for reading my blog!

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