St. Patrick’s Day Traditions In Our Home
I’m so excited to share St. Patrick’s Day traditions in our home. We miss having all my daughters and their families nearby, but I know they are still carrying on at least some of our St. Patrick’s Day traditions to this day. There is something about having our kids and grandkids wake up in the morning on this very fun holiday and see the look in their eyes when they see all the green stuff. It’s magical, and I find so much joy at that very moment!! I wish I could say that these items are colored with natural foods, no, I use green food coloring and lots of it.
There are so few holidays when we use food coloring and I go all out for the holidays and love every minute of it. As I write this post I can still picture the meals I fixed over the years on this very special holiday. Mark doesn’t care for corned beef and cabbage, but I grew up on it, so it works for me. I learned very quickly after I purchased my first pressure cooker how tender you can make that tough piece of corned beef meat. Oh, baby, this recipe rocks!
St. Patrick’s Day Traditions
Corned Beef and Cabbage
- 4 pounds Corned beef with seasonings included
- Cabbage-washed and sliced as desired
- 2 cups Carrots-washed and sliced amount desired
- 2 Potatoes-washed and cut into pieces desired
- 1 Large onion-peeled and chopped
- Water to cover corned beef
- ***Mustard and 1/2 cup brown sugar for the last 20-30 minutes to brown and crisp the top of the meat.
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Remove the outer plastic package the meat comes packaged in and place the meat in the slow cooker with the seasoning packet enclosed and the juice from the bag. Completely cover the meat with water. Secure the lid on the slow cooker. I set my slow cooker for ten hours on LOW the night before.
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The next morning, grab a cutting board and chop the potatoes, carrots, and onions into thick wedges.
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Add carrots, potatoes, and onions to the slow cooker. Set the slow cooker to cook for another 6 hours on HIGH.
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Chop or slice the cabbage. I typically only use about 3/4 of the cabbage.
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Cover the vegetables with the cabbage and set the slow cooker to cook for another 6 hours on HIGH. You may add more water, if needed.
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After cooking the corned beef in the slow cooker or Instant Pot, remove the corned beef and place it in a greased baking pan.
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Here is an awesome trick that makes the corned beef look and taste fabulous. Heat your oven to (350°F) = (176°C) and place just the corned beef on a greased shallow pan FAT side up. Lather the fat with mustard and sprinkle with 1/2 cup brown sugar.
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Bake 20-30 minutes until the brown sugar looks crispy. This is absolutely the most tender recipe you will ever make. The meat will be 'fork tender' when finished cooking. Delicious! Serve immediately with vegetables.
PRESSURE Cooker Recipe:
*same ingredients as above*
- Add your corned beef to your pressure cooker with the juices from the packaging plus one cup of water. Cook on high for 90 minutes and check for tenderness. If it’s still too tough, pressure for an additional 30 minutes.
- Add the cabbage and vegetables of choice and pressure for another 15 minutes.
- Remove the meat from the pan and do the same as above to give the meat a yummy texture and flavor.
- Heat your oven to (350°F) = (176°C) degrees and place just the corned beef on a greased shallow pan FAT side up. Lather the fat with mustard and sprinkle with 1/2 cup brown sugar.
- Bake 20-30 minutes until the brown sugar looks crispy. Serve immediately with vegetables.
St. Patrick’s Day Green Bread
- 4 Cups Warm Milk
- 8 Tsp. SAF Instant Yeast
- 4 Eggs
- 1/2 Cup Oil (I use olive oil)
- 3 Tsp. Sea Salt
- 1 Cup Sugar
- 1 Cup Warm Water
- 13-14 Cups White Flour
- 1 Ounce Food Coloring (Green for St. Patrick’s Day)
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Start with a Bosch Mixer, although you could make this in a bowl. Put the yeast, warm water, salt, oil, and sugar in the bowl.
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Add the eggs and lightly mix it in the Bosch so the eggs do not “cook.” This is where I add the food coloring.
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Then add the warm milk and flour slowly.
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Continue to add flour until the bread dough pulls away from the sides of the Bosch bowl.
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Knead for about 7-8 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.
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Let the dough rise until double the original size.
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Punch down the dough and make into loaves and place these in greased pans (I make eight-1-pound loaves).
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Let it rise once again (using the same plastic wrap) until it doubles and then bake them at 350 degrees for 27 minutes.
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Lightly butter the tops of each loaf after baking and remove from the pans.
I like to use different colors of food coloring for different holidays. It takes a whole bottle (1 ounce) of green food coloring for this recipe. ***You can cut the bread into circles, that’s really fun. You can also make French Toast with green bread, I love it!
Green Finger Jello
- 2 6-ounce boxes Jello Gelatin (choose any flavor of gelatin you want)
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 5 1-ounce packages Knox Original Unflavored Gelatin
- 2-1/2 cups cool water
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Boil the Jello, sugar, and water (3 cups) stirring constantly.
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Dissolve the Knox Unflavored Gelatin by stirring in the cool water (2-1/2 cups) and set aside.
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After boiling the lime Jello, combine it with the Knox Unflavored Gelatin mixture and pour into a greased (spray with vegetable oil) 9-inch by 13-inch pan.
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Set in the refrigerator until it sets up and is ready to cut into cubes, or use cookie cutters.
Green St. Patrick’s Day Traditions
Green Milk, milk with green food coloring
Green orange juice, add green food coloring
Green pancakes, pancakes with green food coloring
Green waffles, waffles with green food coloring
Mashed potatoes with green food coloring
Green gelatin cut into Shamrocks
Pancakes, 1/2-dollar size (gold coins)
Cold cereal with green milk
Green breadsticks (bread dough with green food coloring)
Sugar Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting by Linda
Please share your St. Patrick’s Day traditions with me, I would love to hear what you do, enjoy. Thanks again for being prepared for the unexpected
Copyright pictures:
St. Patrick’s Day: AdobeStock_103485383 by Tierney
Corned Beef: AdobeStock_79368053 by Brent Hofacker
I love your green bread, Linda!
Hugs, Mare
Hi Mare, my grandkids do too!! Hugs, Linda
Oh and I could only think of corned beef..and cabbage..now to make more..thanks
Hi Jeanne, I love St. Patrick’s Day with all the green! I think with all the negative stuff going on in the world, a little green can make us all smile! Linda
We cook our corned beef in the instant pot and I comes out so tender. I will never cook it another way again. We love corned beef and cabbage. We will stick with a more traditional Irish soda bread.
Hi Liz, I know the pressure cookers are the only way to cook it! It comes out so tender! I love traditional soda bread as well! Linda
The only pressure cooker I have is for canning – it’s 22 quarts. Would the Corned Beef work in there? At what pressure – 10 Lbs?
Hi Kathie, you have a pressure canner, that is different than a pressure cooker. I would contact your local state extension service to see if a pressure canner would work. I only have a pressure cooker. I’m just not sure on the pounds, I wish I could answer that. Linda
Aaargh! In my house the corned beef cooks in a large spaghetti pot for about three hours(bring the water to a boil first, then add the corned beef.) The last hour add potatoes or yams and carrots(I like the baby ones best).
Ten minutes before serving, add the quartered cabbage(In my pot I usually have to take out the corned beef for the cabbage to fit.) Press into the water and let cook for exactly ten minutes. people who have said they hate cabbage have raved over mine. Serve with Bubbies’ horseradish.Oh, Now I am so hungry!!!
Hi, Jan, now my mouth is watering! I need to get a corned beef Asap! I remember my mom boiling hers and cooking it similar to how you cook your corned beef. It’s something that hits the spot at least once a year! Linda
Linda: You’ll probably think this is a funny place to put this, but I didn’t know how to message you unless I did it here. I wanted to let you know about the Hash Browns I buy at Costco – they are the best hash browns ever! I believe they are dehydrated, but the label doesn’t say. Since you add boiling water and let them sit for 12 minutes, I figured they are dehydrated. They come in a small milk carton-like container. I never noticed until I got ready to send this to you that there is a note on the label that says something to the effect that this product may by partially modified. They last a long time, but it’s one of those things I use a lot of, so even though I have six cases in my food closed (8 containers per case), I use them often. Every time I use them I think how nice that I will have them on hand in case we do have an emergency! I tried to paste a picture here, but I couldn’t see how to do it. The brand is Golden Grill, and it says 100% real potatoes on the label.
Hi, Kathie, oh my gosh!! I have seen those boxes in the small milk carton type containers. I love hash browns, yes they would be dehydrated I’m sure. I love to hear when people love a product, thank you so much! You guessed it, I will be buying some on my next Costco run! Great comment for all of us!!! Linda