One of my favorite parts about teaching my kids at home is the great reading we get to do together. A book that we read early on was St Patrick: Pioneer Missionary to Ireland. It tells the story of Patrick, how he was kidnapped by Celts, how God saved him, how he escaped from Ireland, and how he later returned to Ireland to preach the good news of Christ. It’s a great read aloud.
We often reread this book during the month of March and we always have a simple, special meal come St. Patrick’s Day. We enjoy Irish Stew and Soda Bread. If I’m feeling extra “splurgy” (is that a word?) I might buy Irish butter or Dubliner cheese to go with. (Costco sells both of these.)
This stew is amazingly simple to make. Patrick lived very simply; I imagine that this stew might be something like what he might have eaten.
Irish Stew
Our stew is pretty simple, containing few ingredients and cooking in the crockpot. I leave the baby carrots whole and chop the potatoes rather large, but you can chop them how you like them.
2 pounds chuck roast, cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 T. vegetable oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
bay leaf
2 cups baby carrots
4 medium potatoes, peeled, and cut into 1-inch chunks
Place beef cubes, flour, and salt and pepper in a large ziptop bag. Seal and shake to coat all cubes with flour. In large skillet, heat oil until shimmering. Add beef cubes and brown on all sides. Do not crowd meat in pan. Do this in batches if your pan is not large enough to accommodate all the meat at one time. As meat browns, remove it to crockpot. Add onions to the drippings in skillet and sauté until tender. Add onions to the crockpot. Stir in beef broth and bay leaf. Cook on low for four hours. Add carrots and potatoes and stir gently to combine. Cook on low another four hours or until meat and vegetables are tender. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper to taste.
What special recipe do you make for St. Patrick’s Day? Share it with us.
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Thanks for hosting!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
~Liz
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The stew sounds yummy and simple! What ages would you recommend for the book? Any book ideas for preschoolers?
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I left a link to a soda bread that isn’t exactly “traditional” but really, really delicious! I also celebrate this holiday as a way to teach my children about this missionary and follower of Christ. Here is a link to more info and some books we like http://praiseworthythings.blogspot.com/2008/03/remembering-patrick.html
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that recipe looks great — I didn’t think about having Irish Stew in honor of St. Patty’s Day!
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to answer your question about cheese type in green mac n cheese,
yup, you could add the spinach puree to any cheese sauce base. i’m not sure it would work if you just added shredded cheese to the spinach puree as you might not get a smooth sauce that coats the pasta. thx for hosting a recipe swap, thursday is one of my favorite blogging days
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We always make Blarney Stones:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1610,146177-232202,00.html
To make them gluten free, just substitute your favorite gluten free flour mix for the flour and add 2 t xanthan gum. This year I have the added challenge of making them without refined sugar. If I succeed, I’ll post the recipe on my site.
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We’re a big Irish family and this is the stew I grew up on… the exact same one!! I make it all the time! How funny…food brings people all over the country and world together!!
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Oh, I have that book…and definitely need to go pull it out as our read aloud for the month. Thanks for the reminder.
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And as I keep checking Mr. Linky around midnight ECT, I just realized that you are a west coast girl now. That means that us East Coast girls will be in poor shape to home school if we wait for it to post on thursdays at midnight.
Bummer.
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I was introduced to the “Carnival” concept this week, so your blog is the first time I used Mr. Linky’s Magical Widgets. I mistakenly added #28 without the recipe name, so I added #29. If you would like to delete #28, please do so!
Thank you for hosting this sharing!
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Hmmm…not seeing a link, so I’m probably totally doing this wrong (or it’s over and I missed it), but anyway…
Here’s the link to our Irish Supper Menu:
http://www.raisingarrows.net/2010/03/irish-supper-menu.html
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Jessica Fisher Reply:
March 16th, 2010 at 8:51 am
@Amy @ Raising Arrows, this is last year’s post. Mr Linky had some issues back then, but I was able to recover the links people shared. Thanks for sharing yours!
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ROFLOL! When people tweet something I figure they are current! Thanks for the smile this morning.
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Love finding new St. Pat day’s recipes, thanks for sharing. Here is a fun meal fit for a leprechaun, the kids love all the green. As a bonus it is super easy to make!
http://jackkhcktt.blogspot.com/2010/03/meal-fit-for-leprechaun.html
Slainte!
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