Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

We had a little shindig over the weekend to celebrate both an early St. Patrick’s Day and the fact that my hubster, and most of his grad school pals, completed their comprehensive exams last week. A HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT. Now they just have ot pass all their classes, and they will be good to go!

And in the spirit of St. P’s, I attempted to make as many green-colored foods and drinks as I could. And so I give you, a few of my favorite simple foods with a green twist…

Green Champagne

A quick tip on green champagne…We put our food color right into the bottle, BUT here’s the thing. I have Americolor food coloring, which is really made to color icings and cakes and cookies and things. It’s more of a paste than a liquid. I recommend using the good ol’ cheap grocery store stuff. The Americolor dropped into the bottle in a few clumps, and with the first pour, looked like the photo above. But by the end of the night, it was completely dark emerald green – the clump of food color had slowly dissolved with all the bubbles!! It was kind of a fun experiment, but seriously. Use the cheap, watery stuff…

Crinkle Cake Cookies

These cookies are SO GOOD. And I love them because you can make so many varieties.

Ingredients:

1 box cake mix (I used french vanilla)
2 eggs
6 tablespoons of butter, melted
1/2 cup powdered sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon cornstarch

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix together cake mix, eggs, and butter. Add food coloring (if you want! Or you can use colored cake. Or anything you want…endless options!). Form into balls and roll in powdered sugar mixture. Coat them good!! Place on baking sheet and cook for 8 minutes. YUM. Add extracts for yummy flavors, too.

Skinny Taste Spinach and Artichoke Dip

What did we do before skinny taste? I seriously LOVE this spinach and artichoke dip. Made it exactly to recipe, and it is AMAZING. Check out the recipe!!

Turkey and Zucchini Roll Ups

Couldn’t be easier. Use an apple peeler to make some ribbons of zucchini. Wrap a slice of zucchini, a slice of turkey, a dab of mustard, and a pinch of broccoli slaw all up together, and secure with a toothpick. Healthy! Easy! Green!!

Baked Brie has ALWAYS been my go to party recipe. I made it here and here and used brie another way here. But I haven’t switched it up much over the years. I was in the mood for a good baked brie, and thought long and hard about how to make it St. Patrick’s themed. And then I realized: Green Pepper Jelly! Delicious and green. Also, green apples and pears served for dipping (and wheat thins, but they aren’t pretty or green). I even added a little shamrock on top. OH HEY.

Baked Brie with a shamrock 🙂

Baked Brie with Green Pepper Jelly