Kids Cuisine

St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner. For grown ups, the 17th is often a day of drunken revelry, but kids can celebrate too. Whether or not your family has Irish roots, why not take some time next week to enjoy some Irish (or Irish inspired) recipes?

Welsh Rarebit (pronounce “rabbit” but containing no actual bunnies) is one of my favorites — an interesting twist on a grilled cheese. The bread is served open faced, with a strong cheddar cheese spread broiled until bubbly.

Corned Beef and Cabbage is a traditional food that many like, though you won’t find it in my beef-free house.  As with the rarebit, there is no actual corn involved in the recipe. In this case, the “corn” is large granules of salt used to cure the meat.

If these authentic foods aren’t appealing to you, you could always go the other route. When I was a kid, my mother only served green food on St. Patrick’s Day. She accomplished this mostly with food dye; any white food can easily be greened — think fish, mashed potatoes, milk, pudding, ice cream.

If food dye doesn’t appeal to you, perhaps you would enjoy this decidedly non-Irish green food menu. They may not be traditional, but you can’t go wrong with green goddess dressing, spinach artichoke dip, pesto pizza, and creamy broccoli soup.

For dessert, if you still have room, I’d recommend either chocolate stout cake (using Irish Guinness) or mint chocolate chip ice cream, if you prefer the green food theme. Don’t worry, the alcohol will bake off, making the cake kid-friendly, if not particularly healthy. But hey, it’s a celebration, right?

(Photo used under creative commons license, taken by Flickr user Sister72)