Shakin’ Things Up for St. Patty’s Day

HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

My husband’s family comes from Irish-Catholic roots, so we don’t like to let this holiday of Irish-Catholic heritage pass by without at least a nod.

I actually changed my menu plan up a bit because I was able to find some corned beef with no unnatural nitrates added for a *fairly* reasonable price at Trader Joe’s. Another reason to love me some Trader Joe’s. It’ll be a-boilin’ along with some cabbage and potatoes here shortly.

In the meantime, we rustled up that Green Smoothie I was talking about on Menu Plan Monday.

Now, I know we often tell our kids not to play with their food, but that’s because we don’t want them to waste it. And we don’t want to clean up ketchup packet squirts on the ceiling or spaghetti dried on the walls. Because that sort of thing has happened around here a time or two. Not that I’d know, but I can imagine.

But, kids like to be involved in making what they eat. And, as I began laying out the ingredients for the GREEN smoothie, my Mimmy Moo started placing the fruits and veggies into the happy face above. Despite his rather sizeable nose, I think her artistic rendering of St. Patty turned out pretty cute.

You can see that St. Patty is comprised of kale, parsley and mint hair, a pear nose, lime eyes, and a kiwi smile. But wait – there’s even more green around here…

We also added a green apple, at least a cup of spinach and some wheat grass to our tray. And ice. Because we like it cold. GREEN and cold.

Then Mimmy added about a cup of water.

Then she just started right in putting the green stuff in the Vita-Mix.

It usually works best to put the more wet items toward the bottom. And, since we do have a heavy duty, tough as nails machine, I don’t do anything more than cut the hard stuff in quarters. I don’t remove the cores or the peels of most, though I did peel the kiwi.

Yes, sweet girl, ALL of that spinach.

If you are just learning about greeeen smoothies, the trick is to find out how many greens you can add without the veggie taste overpowering the sweet taste of the fruits.

Pile it in there. Stick it upside down and sideways. Squish it in.

Really! Have fun, cuz it just doesn’t matter, as long as those hard working blades can get to them. Now, you can create a log jam of sorts if you cram it in too tightly, you don’t layer, or if you have a standard blender. If you don’t have a mean, green-splitting machine, you will want to cut things into smaller pieces and maybe blend between every few additions. But it’s still easy-peasy and well worth it.

Squirt the juice of about one half of a lime (or to taste). Make sure you don’t get it in your eye.

Notice the log jam I created when I was too lazy forgot to cut the apples and pears into quarters (also known as fourths for the rest of you third graders who are learning about fractions like Mimmy is). I left them in halves and let her pile them in top of each other instead of layering them. It worked out okay, but took longer and created some warmth I usually only want for soup.

More ice please.

Turn that baby on and turn her up as fast as you can. We have to use the tamper that came with our machine.

Then you lick your lips in anticipation.

I TOLD YA --- it is GREEN!

Give it the ole taste test… You can add a little more mint, or a little honey or stevia to sweeten. A banana works well for sweetener too, but banana is strong and likes to take over (which can be a good thing if your kids don’t like the other tastes yet).

… goof around with your brother a little, if you have one of those around. If you don’t, a sister -- or even a parent or grandparent will do. Not as nicely.

But it will work.

CHEERS!

"The Blessing"

(Click on above to hear beautiful song)
In the morning when you rise
I bless the sun, I bless the skies
I bless your lips, I bless your eyes
My blessing goes with you
In the nighttime when you sleep
Oh I bless you while a watch I keep
As you lie in slumber deep
My blessing goes with you
This is my prayer for you
There for you, ever true
Each, every day for you
In everything you do
And when you come to me
And hold me close to you
I bless you
And you bless me, too
When your weary heart is tired
If the world would leave you uninspired
When nothing more of love's desired
My blessing goes with you
When the storms of life are strong
When you're wounded, when you don't belong
When you no longer hear my song
My blessing goes with you
This is my prayer for you
There for you, ever true
Each, every day for you
In everything you do
And when you come to me
And hold me close to you
I bless you
And you bless me, too
I bless you
And you bless me, too