Make it a Green St. Patrick's Day: Incorporate the Most Green Into the Day

Unless your family is Irish, chances are you probably don't do much for St. Patrick's Day. Well, why not change that this year? Kids love any chance to celebrate, so your children will especially have a blast if you decide to designate the day as your family "Green Day."

What is a "Green Day?" The concept is rather simple, actually. Basically, everyone in your household tries to incorporate as much green into the day as possible. Green clothing is mandatory, of course. The children can help craft plenty of green decorations for the home (this can be done ahead of time). And-perhaps most fun of all--everyone must try to consume green foods for all meals and snacks.

When you first begin to think about what green foods to serve, vegetables probably come to mind. You can, of course, serve a green salad with lunch. And green peppers, pea pods, and celery sticks would make a great snack served along with some green dip (just add a few drops of green food coloring to any regular vegetable dip to tint it a light green color). Broccoli or peas would be good side dishes to go with dinner. But what other foods can you serve that would be green? Here are some ideas (note that some require advance preparation):

Breakfast

--Spinach breakfast pizza: Take a can of pizza dough, spread it on a baking sheet, and bake at the directed temperature for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté about ½ cup of spinach (frozen; thawed, with excess water squeezed out) in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 1 minute. In a small bowl, beat 4 eggs, seasoning with salt and pepper as you like. Add to the spinach in the sauté pan and cook until scrambled. Remove from heat. When pizza dough comes out of the oven, sprinkle dough with ½ cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Spread spinach and egg mixture over the dough next, then sprinkle another ½ cup of shredded cheddar on top. Put pizza back in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted and pizza crust is golden brown.

--Green pancakes: Use your favorite pancake recipe or any pancake mix and just add several drops of green food coloring to the batter.

Lunch

--Green Alfredo pasta: You can get green pasta in a variety of shapes; purchase any that you like along with any jarred Alfredo sauce. Prepare the pasta as the package directs. Heat the Alfredo sauce in a pan on the stove and add a few drops of green food coloring, just enough to tint it a pale shade of green.

--Fruit and Jell-O Salad: Prepare a package of green Jell-O as the package directs, pouring the mixture into a 13x9x2 inch pan. Meanwhile, prepare the fruit. Wash 1 cup of green grapes and cut them in half. Drain one 8 oz. can of pineapple tidbits. Once the Jell-O has solidified, remove half of the Jell-O and place it into a large mixing bowl. Cut the other half of the Jell-O into small squares and set aside. To the Jell-O in the mixing bowl, add 1 cup of whipped cream (Cool Whip is fine) and beat with a wisk or hand-held mixer for about one minute, or until fluffy. To assemble, you can either use one large trifle bowl or several small parfait glasses, one for each family member. In either case, you are going to layer the ingredients in this order: Jell-O squares, grapes, whipped Jell-O, pineapple. Repeat the layers as necessary. Top with a dollop of whipped cream.

Dinner

--Grilled Chicken Breasts with Pesto Sauce: Grill chicken breasts (one per family member) as you normally would, making sure to season with salt and pepper. To serve, top each chicken breast with some store-bought green pesto sauce. If you like, you could choose to sauté or bake the chicken breasts instead.

--Cheese Quesadillas: Spinach tortillas are green, so these fit well into the "Green Day" theme. And quesadillas are quite simple to make. Heat a sauté pan with about a teaspoon of olive oil and then add one tortilla. Place your cheese on top of the tortilla (whatever cheese you like, and however much you want; adults may want to add onions and/or peppers to their quesadillas). Add the second tortilla on top of the cheese. Press down lightly. Just as with a grilled cheese sandwich, flip the tortillas over with the bottom starts to brown. Remove from the pan when the second tortilla has browned. Use a pizza cutter to cut into wedges. Serve with salsa and sour cream, if desired.

Drinks should be green for your celebration day, too, of course. Green milk can be made by adding food coloring to milk; let your kids do this themselves, as they will really have fun watching the milk change color. Children can also help make green Kool-Aid or Lemon/Lime-Aid.

Making green snacks with your children can be a fun activity for your "Green Day." Here are a couple of suggestions:

--Iced Sugar Cookies: Use your favorite sugar cookie recipe or purchase refrigerated cookie dough. You can make the cookie dough green by adding food coloring to the dough and mixing it in very well. Or, if you prefer, bake the cookies as usual and simply have the kids decorate them with green icing. Green sugar crystals, sprinkles, and candies can also be used to adorn the cookies.

--Chocolate Covered Pretzels: Purchase a bag of small pretzels, any shape you like. Melt 1 cup of milk chocolate chips in the microwave at 50% power for 1 minute; stir. Return chocolate to the microwave for additional melting time at 50% power if necessary, making sure to keep a close eye on it and stirring frequently so the chocolate does not burn. Dip pretzels in chocolate one at a time, using a chopstick or skewer to remove; allow excess chocolate to drain off. Lay pretzels on waxed paper to harden. Once the pretzels have hardened (you can speed this process along by placing the pretzels in the freezer), melt ½ cup of white chocolate chips in the microwave as described above. Stir in green food coloring. Drizzle the now-green chocolate over the pretzels generously and let harden before serving.

Brainstorm other ideas with your family before St. Patrick's Day arrives. You have plenty of time to come up with some plans-the holiday falls in the middle of March. Kids love to be involved in celebration preparations, and "Green Day" is a great way to allow them to be included. Enjoy it and have fun with your family this St. Patrick's Day!