Celebrate St. Paddy’s Day with Green Food

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! It’s a great day to have a green blog 😉

Speaking of green, I grew up with my grandma’s St. Patrick’s day meals, where everything was green — literally!  Green butter, green water, green wine & beer, green horseradish — she really went all out.

The St. Patrick’s Day dinners bring back great memories, and I love the spirit and festivity, but these days, the thought of consuming all that green food coloring makes me cringe.

Fortunately, there are a plethora of green foods out there, so you can still have a green meal without artificial dyes.  As an extra bonus, most naturally green foods are pretty good for you.

Here are a few ideas:

• Green cabbage — a very traditional St. Paddy’s Day food, but the traditional cooking method — boiling forever — robs it of most of the green color (and most of the nutritional value).  Try it fresh in a cabbage salad.
• Spinach — try a simple saute with olive oil and garlic or fresh with your favorite salad toppings.
• Pesto — the basil gives it a fabulous bright green color.  Serve with your favorite [green] veggies and pasta.
• Garnish plates or beverages with fresh herbs such as mint, basil, parsley, or cilantro.

There are a bunch of green foods not on my list, so it’s your turn!  What is your favorite naturally green food?

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We’ll be keeping things fairly traditional with our reuben sandwiches tonight.  Since we made our sauerkraut with purple cabbage, we’ll have to make sure to have a serving of green on the side 🙂