Ten days ago was St. Patrick’s Day (more on that in a bit) and in 5 days it will be Easter. What are your plans for the holiday? Do you have any family traditions that you participate in? Please leave your comments. I would love to know what your family does!
In this family we usually gather for dinner. One year I held a brunch and it was a lot of fun. It just seems hard to get people together in the morning when you have grown children who have commitments with other families now too. This year we are gathering at 4 pm and it has been at my house for many years now. It started out that way because I had small children and it was just easier for everyone to come here and it has stayed that way. My house is just a rallying point for many holidays. Actually, all holidays but two are spent here. My oldest son hosts Thanksgiving (don’t worry, I still am assigned cooking duties) and my brother, Doug, always makes the corned beef and cabbage dinner for St. Patrick’s Day.
We usually have ham for Easter and all that would usually accompany that. This year I am adding a turkey breast to the mix as one of my children is not wild about ham. I won’t mention any names but her initials are MMG. Anyway, we are having a half ham, a turkey breast, mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, gravy, deviled eggs, and cupcakes for dessert. Whoops, almost forgot that I have an almond coffee cake from the Broadway Market to serve as well.
We go to the Broadway Market every year and I love it! There is something old world about it and I love the independent businesses that are represented there. There is music, dancing, food, and fun! Oh, and butter lambs! What is not to like?!
Since St. Patrick’s Day and Easter are so close together this year I am kind of going back a few days to bring you a recipe I made for the annual dinner at Doug and Hank’s house. They made the main dinner of corned beef, potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage and also had a lemon cheesecake for dessert. I brought the Irish Soda Bread. Everything was DELICIOUS! It always is.
Easy Irish Soda Bread
(adapted from www.sunset.com)
- 3 cups flour, plus about 1 tbsp. for kneading and shaping
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon table salt or fine sea salt
- 9 tablespoons cold salted butter, cut into chunks
- 1 tablespoon caraway seeds (optional)
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1/3 cup dried currants
- About 1 1/8 cup buttermilk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients. Then put the butter chunks in and use a pastry blender to cut them into the dry ingredients until pieces are pea sized. I didn’t use the caraway seeds or either fruit but if you want to now is the time to incorporate them. I didn’t use buttermilk. Instead I added a dash of apple cider vinegar to regular milk to sour it. Fully incorporate the milk and then transfer to a floured board. Knead the dough for 60 seconds until smooth. Form into a round loaf. Place into a greased round baking pan. Score the top of the loaf and bake for approximately 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown. Check center of bread for doneness with a toothpick.
* I baked mine a little too long for my taste. It was still delicious and by no means burned but I would cut back 3 to 5 minutes the next time I bake it.
Info and Tips
*CHECK YOUR CREDIT CARD REWARD POINTS! I had a major score since my last post. I’m not sure why but I never checked this one AARP Rewards credit card I have for rewards. It says right in the name that it has rewards but I had never even thought of it. For some reason when I received my statement this time I noticed a large rewards balance. I went to the website and sure enough I had over 29,000 points. Of course you can use the points for travel and gift cards, etc. I traded in my points for $200 worth of gift cards. I still didn’t use all of them!
*It seems that I have always wrestled with cupcake liners. The thin plastic containers they come in are always cracking or the lids are popping off and some liners inevitably get ruined. This past week I had an epiphany when I looked at my vintage canning jar that I use for birthday candles! I call it one small step for me and a huge step for kitchens everywhere! See the picture below.
*I have told you about the Honey web browser extension that checks coupon codes for you when shopping online. I always use it and have saved quite a little bit over the 2 or so years I have had it. Even when you don’t get coupon codes to save money while shopping you can still get Honey Points that accumulate. I turned mine it this past week and scored two $10 Walmart gift cards which I used when I placed my order for 40 pounds of bird seed and 40 pounds of sunflower seed. I actually had to make a physical run to our local Walmart to purchase some bird food because I hadn’t ordered any online soon enough. Keeping that in mind I ordered 80 pounds of seed yesterday using the gift cards. Those little birds in my backyard don’t like it when I run out! If you have forgotten to sign up for Honey just follow the link below.
*TAKE YOUR OWN PEN WITH YOU! We all try to stay healthy during the flu season and really any time. I have just adopted a new habit that I would like to share with you. You know how we’re always being offered a pen in stores, doctors’ offices, post offices, etc. to sign something. Just think how many people have handled those pens? Yucky, right? Like, where have those hands been? It is extremely bothersome to me because I have developed allergies which bother my eyes. I catch myself unconsciously rubbing them. What a way to transfer those germs! Now, when I am offered a pen I tell them “no thank you” and have my own pen at the ready.
Project
This week I decided to redo my kitchen curtains. Who knows why I get these bugs to do things?! However, I like the end result so I don’t need an answer to that question.
Previously I had Mexican themed curtains and valances that I had made out of vintage material in the form of napkins and dish towels. I had sewed rod pockets into them and they worked great for a long time.
This time I went for the cafe curtain look. I purchased tension rods and clip curtain rings at Walmart. The tensions were slightly less than $4 each and the ring clips were $2.84 a bag. I used 4 tension rods and 3 bags of clips (14 clips in each bag). For the curtains themselves I used vintage dish towels that I already had in my collection. So, for less than $25 I have a totally new no-sew look in my kitchen. Super cool, right?!
Hope you found some interesting and usable ideas in this post!
Have a wonderful Easter no matter where you spend it or who you spend it with. Please share some of your traditions with us in the comments. Any comments are much appreciated.
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