Irish Food for St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick's Day will soon be here, and everyone will be Irish for the day!

The Irish love food and drink, and these recipes will allow you to have your

own Irish feast to celebrate the day.

Start your meal off with a traditional Irish soup. This is my version of Mulligatawny.

MULLIGATAWNY

1 neck of lamb

1/2 turnip

1 carrot

1 onion

1 small apple

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp mace

1 tsp curry powder

Remove the excess fat from the neck of lamb. Traditionally, this is used to grease the

pan to fry the vegetables, but for health purposes, you can skip this step and spray the pan with nonstick spray.

Fry the vegetables in the pan for about 5 minutes. Add the meat and fry it until it is golden brown. Add the apple, thyme, and mace. If you like, add a little corn flour to thicken the soup. Bring to a boil and add the curry powder. Simmer for 3 hours on low. Take the meat off the bones and discard the bones.Chop up the meat and add it back to the soup. Season with salt and pepper, and enjoy. This makes 6 hearty servings.

Continue your meal with a meat dish.

BACON AND CABBAGE

turkey bacon

1 lb cabbage

onion

crushed garlic

I use turkey bacon; you can also use regular bacon. Fry 3 or 4 slices of bacon and a chopped onion in olive oil for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute or two. Add 1 lb. shredded cabbage to the pan. Put a lid on the pan if you like your cabbage soft, and cook for about 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve the meat with baked or mashed potatoes, of course!

For dessert, finish up with a Sherry Trifle:

1 sponge cake

jam of your choice

ready-made custard (from dairy aisle)

1 cup sherry

Cut the sponge cake in half horizontally. Spread jam on the bottom layer; top with the top layer. Poor sherry over the cake, then pour custard carefully over the cake as well. Let stand for one hour. You can decorate the cake with candy mint leaves and cherries if you like.

Now you're all set for a lovely St. Patrick's Day!

After your meal, the adults may like to toast the day with an Irish Flag:

Irish Flag

1 part green creme de menthe

1 part Bailey's Irish Creme

1 part orange liqueur

In individual shot glasses, pour green creme de menthe into the bottom of each glass. Then, carefully pour the Bailey's Irish Creme over the back of a large spoon into the glass so that it floats evenly on the creme de menthe. Now, carefully pour an equal amount of the orange liqueur over the spoon on top of the Irish creme, making sure the layers stay separate. Now each glass represents the green, white and orange Irish flag! Slainte'!