St. Patrick's Day Treats And Eats

I love the week of St. Patrick's Day; what a great time of the year it is. We have made it through February and are heading full force through March. The first day of spring is just days away and we will be turning our clocks ahead tonight. Before you know it, we will be getting the last bits of fall leaves out of our gardens, tending to any damaged branches from the winter and giving our yards a good spring cleaning. Crocus, tulips and hyacinth will soon make their grand debut and the sun seems to grow stronger with each passing day. 

This is not to say that I would be surprised should we get a late season snow; this is New England, after all. For now, I'll take comfort in knowing that we have officially rounded the corner from winter's blues to spring's blooms, at least in my book, anyway.

Although we are not of direct Irish decent in our home, we still enjoy decorating and making St. Paddy's Day treats. As my grandmother used to say, "Everybody is a little Irish on St. Paddy's Day." Here are some ideas for you and a recipe for rainbow cupcakes that is both fun and delicious. My kids love making the cupcakes and think it is "cool" to mix colors and make a whole different color.

St. Patrick's Day Fun

• Some green food coloring added to rice crispy treats or sugar cookies makes for some festive snacks.
• A scavenger hunt for chocolate gold coins that are hidden inside or out is fun for kids of all ages. Write clues on pieces of green construction paper cut in shapes of clovers. Give your child the first one with the remaining clues hidden until the last clue leads to the treasure at the end of the rainbow.
• One of my favorite Corned Beef Dinner recipes can be found in one of my older columns, by

Rainbow Cupcakes

Ingredients: 

• White cake mix, food coloring, baking cups, whipped cream or frosting.

Directions: 

1.  Follow directions for cake mix and divide batter evenly into 6 bowls.
2. Add drops of food coloring to each bowl to achieve each color of the rainbow, mix well.
   1. Purple: 9 red + 6 blue
   2. Blue: 12 blue
   3. Green: 12 green
   4. Yellow: 12 yellow
   5. Orange:  10 yellow + 4 red
   6. Red: 18 red (red takes  a lot or it will turn out pink)
3. Fill baking cups with small amount of each color in the order shown above. Bake as recipe calls for; let cool before frosting.