Irish Breakfast Suggestions

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. Many people are busy dragging out their recipes for corned beef and cabbage, Guiness beef pie, Irish soda bread, or Bailey's Irish cream cake. Instead of putting all of the emphasis on a big meal at the end of the day, why not start the celebrations with a St. Patrick's Day breakfast or brunch. Consider this a great way to get into the spirit of the day, fuel yourself for parade watching, and to enjoy the festivities without quite so much work.

There are three different approaches you can take for making your St. Patrick's Day Breakfast. The first is to take those traditional St. Patrick's Day foods and modify them for a breakfast or brunch menu. The second is to create a traditional Irish Breakfast, also called a Fry Up. If you're making more mindful choices for how you eat, you may want to slightly modify the menu. While it's very difficult to eat a truly traditional St. Patrick's Day meal without some of the less healthy nutritional choices, you can make some changes, enjoy the day and then return to your normal healthier eating habits.

St. Patrick's Day Breakfast/Brunch

Irish Breakfast tea - a strong, robust mix of black teas with a very distinct flavor. Try to purchase a decaffinated variety to avoid the excess caffeine.
Colcannon - a basic peasant dish of mashed potatoes and cabbage with a cooked egg on top. Leaving the skins on the potatoes will add a modest amount of fiber. Free range eggs are the healthiest choice for this recipe as they provide more omega 3 essential fatty acids, more beta carotene, more vitamin A and less cholesterol.
Corned Beef Hash - this would require preparing or purchasing the corned beef in advance so that it can be turned into hash. Corned beef is very high in sodium and frequently starts as a more fatty cut, use it in moderation so that you can enjoy the recipe without derailing your health too much.
Soda Bread Scones - modify the basic recipe to use whole wheat flour

Irish Breakfast or Fry-Up

Sausage - choose organic, lean meat sausage
Bacon - choose organic, nitrate-free varieties
Fried eggs - choose free range (see note above)
Sauteed/fried potatoes - leave the skin on for some extra fiber
Fried tomato
Baked beans
Brown bread - choose or make a whole wheat variety
Jam or marmalade
Orange juice - choose fresh sqeezed
Irish Breakfast tea - see note above

Round out either menu with a list of healthier green fare:

Honeydew melon and green grapes fruit salad
Lima beans or green peas to go alongside the meat and potatoes
Sauteed spinach (or other greens) with some shredded Dubliner cheese on top

And that third choice mentioned above? It may not be considered festive but it's certainly authentic. Oatmeal. According to Darina Allen, star chef and owner of the Ballymaloe Cooking School, "From the time that Ireland became a society of farmers rather than hunter-gatherers, oatmeal has been a staple food."

Oatmeal is available four different ways, flaked or rolled, quick cooking, steel cut, or the whole oat, also called groats. Of these quick cooked is the least healthy as the fiber has been broken down quite a bit. Flaked or rolled is good because the oats are pressed and a lot of the nutrition is maintained. Steel cut also maintains a lot of nutrition, the oat groats are cut with burrs down to a size similar to bulghur wheat. Groats provide the complete nutrition and is the best choice.

Consider creating an authentic Irish breakfast with oatmeal. Make an oatmeal bar; offer your guests a choice of steel cut, rolled oats or groats with variety of toppings: fresh fruit, dried fruit, nuts, honey, maple syrup, buttermilk (a very traditional Irish way to serve it), milk, and/or butter. Each person can make their own, individualized bowl of oatmeal. You could also make homemade granola for another offering on the breakfast bar.

Whatever you do for your St. Patrick's Day breakfast, don't forget to include an Irish blessing or two, after all, it's something the Irish do so very well. Here's one to get you started:

May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!