Monday, March 17, 2008

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

This is a picture of Little Dude last St. Patrick's Day.

Well, today is St. Patrick's Day! Yay! My family is Irish, so this holiday has always been a big deal in my parents home. Even though my husband's family isn't Irish, I have gotten him to fall in love with all the things I cook or decorate for St. Patrick's.

Every St. Patrick's Day I simmer a corned beef brisket all day, which, let me tell you, makes the whole house smell yummy! About an hour before we are going to eat I chop up potatoes, cabbage and carrots and throw them in the pot. SUPER YUMMY!

My mom makes soda bread; however I stink at making the dough and still have never gotten it as good as hers. I will be trying again this year. Cross your fingers for me. *Sigh*

Then we make an awesome Irish Cake that my Granny always called "Tipsy Cake". I included the recipe and though it says a 1/2 cup of whiskey (my Granny always added more), you could put in some rum flavor extract or leave it out completely for a tipsy tasting yet alcohol free cake. And, on another note, I never cook it the day before. My mom would, and it would be great, but I usually don't have time until the day of to cook it, so it will turn out great even if you don't let it sit in the whiskey for a long time.

2 1/2 cups of buttermilk
2 cups of sugar
5 cups of flour
2 sticks of butter
5 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
2 teaspoons baking soda
Dash of salt
1 (16-ounce box) of brown raisins
1 (16-ounce) box of golden raisins
1/2 cup whiskey, optional

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a Dutch Oven. Cream sugar and butter in large bowl. Add in eggs one at a time. Add seasonings. Mix baking soda into the buttermilk. Alternate adding flour, buttermilk and raisins into mix. Bake for 2 1/2 to 3 hours in covered Dutch Oven. Cake is finished when knife inserted into middle comes out clean.

Optional- pour 1/2 cup of whiskey over cake immediately after removing from oven. Cake is best when cut after a few days.

Also, for anyone interested, I found a great site that has the history of St. Patrick, the traditions, and general information: http://www.history.com/minisites/stpatricksday/

Enjoy the day and don't get pinched!

3 comments:

Stephanie Wilson she/her @babysteph said...

Thanks for the great linkage!! I was trying to comment on the post above but it wouldn't let me ! Anyway! Those are great sling pics!

Steph

Miche said...

I wrote today's post, then looked at your blog and saw the awesome babywearing blogger graphic,so I went ahead and wrote a post for that, but then went back and decided to just save the babywearing info for tomorrow. You'll see the link and pics all back up either late tonight or tomorrow morn. I wish I had more pictures to share-with this next baby I will be sure to get more pics of me "wearing" him! By the way, I think that is the cutest was of describing motherhood and slings! Good call!

Andrea said...

I bet your dinner was so yummy! Give my Popple lots of lovin' for me!

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