3 Kid Friendly Recipes for Saint Patrick's Day
It’s that time of year where everyone suddenly becomes Irish--or, at least, wants to celebrate like one--and everything turns green!
We’re talking shamrock cookies and shakes, pancake batter tinted with food coloring by fun parents, and frosted green cupcakes. We want to join in the fun.
Here’s three tasty, super-simple kid friendly recipes for our favorite blog readers (you). Who said it’s not easy being green? (Yes, we know it was Kermit. It’s a rhetorical question.)
Enjoy!
Key Lime Pie ---Kids’ Version
Okay. This is not a traditional key lime pie. This recipe based on Taste of Home’s is greener, fluffier, and more kid friendly. What I like is the light-green top to decorate any way you like. White chocolate curls would be a lovely and oh-so-tasty topping. You could also buy these shamrock toppers and place around the edge with a rosette of whipped cream or finish with a dusting of green sprinkles. Just make sure you pour the hot water and let the children help with everything else.
- 1/4 cup boiling water
- 1 package (3.0 ounce) lime gelatin
- 2 cartons (6 ounces each) key lime yogurt
- 1 carton (8 ounces) thawed frozen whipped topping
- 1 graham cracker crust (9 inches)
- In a large bowl, add boiling water to gelatin; stir 2 minutes to completely dissolve. Whisk in yogurt. Fold in whipped topping. Then, pour the fluff into the crust.
- Refrigerate, covered, until set.
White Chocolate Curls:
- Heat 4 ounces chopped white chocolate and 1 teaspoon shortening in a microwaveable bowl in a microwave for 20-second at a time until melted. Stir it all together.
- Turn a rimmed baking sheet pan upside down, and spread chocolate mixture on the bottom. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Working from 1 edge and using a thin flexible spatula, or a bench scraper, scrape chocolate vertically into curls into 1/2-inch-wide curls. If the chocolate is too hard, let it stand to warm slightly. If chocolate is too soft, refrigerate until it’s easier to work with. Transfer curls to a platter or sheet in the refrigerator as you go. Refrigerate curls until firm.
St. Patrick’s Snack Board
I don’t know about you, but I was convinced I’d eat more vegetables when I was a child if my mom would just buy those veggie-rosette makers advertised on TV. They turned the least favorite part of meals into beautiful roses. Well, I never got to find out if this as-seen-on-tv product worked, but this next recipe goes by that principle.
I love this fruit and veggie plate from Eating by Elaine. Whenever we think kid-friendly, we tend to think cookies, desserts, and jello. But making a rainbow of beautiful local produce, with lots of green grapes and kiwi thrown into the background, is sure to inspire kids to munch on some healthy snacks.
If you have a shamrock-shaped cookie cutter, you can cut the festive clovers out of bread and spread them with a greenish dip--or add a drop of food coloring to a favorite spread. If you don’t have a shamrock cutter, a small heart-shaped one will do. Just assemble three bread pieces next to each other so they form a clover shape.
For a fruit dip, you can combine 8 oz. of cream cheese, 7 oz. of marshmallow fluff, and a tablespoon or so of orange zest, according to taste. Or, if you want to be a bit healthier, how about some fruity Greek yogurt? Maybe leave the fruit dip naturally colored, though. You don’t want anyone mixing up the veggie spread with the sweet one!
Green Milkshake
We all know McDonald’s has their famous shamrock shake, but it’s fun to make your own--and it’s so easy. This recipe makes one serving.
- 1 ½ cups mint ice cream
- ¼ cup heavy cream or whole milk
- Food coloring -- 5-10 drops, depending on how green you want to go
- Whipped cream and cherry on top
You can add a drop of mint extract--not peppermint--if you want the taste to be even mintier. You could also throw in a few Oreo Cookies or Girl Scout Thin Mints, if you want to turn the shake into a green cookie shake. Add more milk, if needed.
And I know sneaky moms often hide a small handful of spinach leaves in a blueberry shake, when they have a good blender that hides the evidence. With this vibrant color, does it seem a missed opportunity to not throw in ¼ cup of baby spinach leaves? No? Just me? Maybe without the fruit, it wouldn’t work. Well, if anyone tries it, let me know!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!