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Holidays CAN be healthy: St Patricks Day Recipes!
It seems that the holidays have become a fabulous excuse to eat pure junk food. As someone who breaks down and only buys foods like chips or soda when certain holidays come around, I totally get it. But it doesn’t have to be that way especially finding St Patricks Day Recipes! In fact, there are so many delicious and festive alternatives abounding these days, your holiday celebrations can be healthy AND fun at the same time — and your kids won’t complain, I promise 🙂
With St. Patrick’s Day right around the corner, now is the perfect time to gather your healthy St Patricks day recipes be planning your healthy family celebration — and what could be healthier than a holiday involving GREEN foods. Don’t worry, I’m not going to suggest a day-long celebration solely of leafy greens and broccoli … my kids wouldn’t exactly anticipate that with joyful glee.
But I am suggesting skipping the green jello and food dye to transform your holiday meal, and trying one of these delicious naturally green alternatives for a healthy celebration!
BREAKFAST
Step aside Lucky Charms! A delicious and festive breakfast can be as simple as dressing up fruit in rainbow fashion. Think rainbow colored fruit kabobs, a fruit platter in the shape of a rainbow or rainbow fruit parfaits (that one is a favorite at our house!)
If your kids are fans of bell peppers, slice your pepper to resemble a shamrock and fry the pepper with an egg for a fried egg and veggie combo.
St. Patrick’s Day is also a GREAT time to introduce your kids to healthy green smoothies. Simply combining spinach with light colored frozen fruits like melons, pineapple and peaches will yield a bright green festive drink — and your kids might just ask for more the next day 🙂
LUNCH
Celebrating holidays with kids is always a fun excuse to dress up simple meals.
Lunchtime fare means a variety of green veggies like broccoli, celery and snap peas. A side of green fruit salad made with some green apples, kiwi and green grapes will taste great alongside a healthy sandwich — which can easily be dressed up with a shamrock cookie cutter.
I think this year I’ll be ambitious and try making some shamrock tortilla chips (using spinach tortillas, a shamrock cookie cutter and the oven) to dip in guacamole for an after school snack.
If you’re looking for something really simple and you have toddlers at home during the day, simply serve up lunch time food in miniature — itty bitty sandwiches and bite-sized servings of fruit and veggies and call it a feast for a leprechaun.
DINNER
In the past we’ve tried out several dyed green foods … and the results are usually more worthy of a Halloween celebration than St. Patrick’s Day. There just is something unappetizing about a pan of gruesomely green potatoes! Thankfully over the years I’ve found some truly, naturally green dishes that the whole family enjoys.
The most popular dinner involves Rachel Ray’s green rice — and you can dress it up to a main dish by using it as the base for some vegetarian stuffed bell peppers (in green of course!)
Another dinner we’ve tried over the years has been homemade green sauce for our noodles. There are several varieties and recipes out there (with varying degrees of healthiness). The one we use is similar to this recipe I found online.
We love The Lion House restaurant and I was surprised to fall in love with their asparagus soup as well! This dish is a little time consuming — and depending on asparagus prices in your area it could be pretty expensive. Luckily we have had some great asparagus recipes lately so I might just whip up some of this green soup for the kids dinner. Here is a link to the recipe online. I think the soup would be perfectly paired with some whole wheat breadsticks, which could easily be shaped like a shamrock to top off your festive meal!
Here are some links to recipes and ideas you might find helpful!
10. Festive lunch
And if you’re like me, then your holiday isn’t complete without some cheesy gift or clover hunt to find the treat at the end of the rainbow. Rather than a bucket of gold coins (though I might throw a few of those in there too …), look no further than your grocery store for some healthy all-green treats!
Since St. Patrick’s Day fell on a workday last year I made this fun green treat for my hunksband who loves to keep a stock of (mostly healthy) goodies in his desk at work:
So there you have it! A healthy holiday that is fun AND delicious 🙂
