Happy St. Patrick's Day!

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Isn't it interesting that St. Patrick's Day tends to make everyone wish they were a little bit Irish, no matter how little Irish ancestry they actually have? I don't know of another celebration that's like it in that sense. Now for a lot of people, it's more of an excuse to have some fun and maybe drink some green beer than to give much thought to the saint, but his story is such a good one and shouldn't be forgotten.

Although he's the patron saint of Ireland, Patrick wasn't Irish at all. He was part of a Christian family in Roman Great Britain. Sometime during his teen years, he was captured by Irish marauders and enslaved in Ireland. He spent six years as a herder there, and grew in his faith. Eventually he escaped on a ship to Britain and went back to his family. After having a dream in which he heard the voices of Irishmen begging him to come and walk among them again, he studied for the priesthood and was ordained. He returned to Ireland in 433 and spent the next forty years preaching the gospel and establishing Christian churches in Ireland. During his later years his wrote the Confessio, an autobiography, and this is the source of much of what we know of his life. Saint Patrick, the bishop and apostle of Ireland, died on March 17, 461 at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland.

Many of the well-known stories about Saint Patrick are a mix of legend and history. He used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and he confronted Irish kings and druids with a bold sincerity. A popular legend says that he drove the snakes out of Ireland, but that's probably not literal - the snakes represent paganism. In any case, Saint Patrick and his followers spread the Christian faith throughout Ireland and established the Christian church there. His example of love, commitment, and trust in God are worth remembering.

Christ with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me, Christ within me,

Christ at my right, Christ at my left . . .

~from "The Breastplate", attributed to Saint Patrick

The Irish have observed the date of Patrick's death as a religious feast day for centuries, with church services in the morning and feasting in the afternoon. St. Patrick's Day parades are popular around the world, but the first one was not in Ireland, but in New York City. Irish soldiers serving in the English military first marched there in 1762 and the parades became to be a show of unity for persecuted Irish-American immigrants. Beginning around 1995, the Irish government began to promote St. Patrick's Day because of the tourism interest it generated. In the Republic of Ireland and in Northern Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is a public holiday. It's also a public holiday on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, which was settled by Irish refugees from Saint Kitts and Nevis. And in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, St. Patrick's Day is a designated Paid Holiday, observed on the Monday closest to March 17th. 

So whether you have Irish roots or not, you might want to celebrate Saint Patrick and Ireland this week, and your celebration might be serious or silly or some of each. You might serve a traditional Irish dish like corned beef and cabbage for dinner, or maybe enjoy Irish soda bread, boxty pancakes or kolcannon. When my kids were younger, I always bought a big box of Lucky Charms cereal for a St Patrick's Day breakfast treat! Clearly the silly side of the day!

Grant me a sense of humor, Lord,

the saving grace to see a joke,

To win some happiness from life,

And pass it on to other folks.

~Irish blessing

Barm Brack is an Irish loaf that is a favorite of mine. It's a slightly sweet loaf filled with raisins and currants, and it's often served toasted with butter, along with a cup of tea in the afternoon. The name may come from Irish words meaning "speckled loaf".  Many years ago, the loaf was associated with Irish Halloween celebrations. Small tokens such as a stick and a coin were baked into the loaf, and these had a meaning sort of like fortune-telling for the person who received that slice.

Barm Brack

1 cup cold tea (use leftover after brewing your hot cuppa!)

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup citrus peel (or about 1/8 cup dried peel)

1/2 cup currants

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 melted butter

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Put raisin, peel, currants and sugar in a large bowl and stir in the cold tea. Cover and let stand overnight.

In the morning, beat egg till frothy, then stir into the fruit mixture. Stir in melted butter.  Combine remaining dry ingredients and stir into fruit batter, just until blended. Spoon into a greased loaf pan, and bake at 350* for 60-70 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool completely. Serve sliced with butter.

Very good with coffee. Irish coffee if you prefer.

May joy and peace surround you,

Contentment latch your door

And happiness be with you now

And bless you evermore.

~Irish blessing

The Barm Brack recipe and other parts of this article are adapted from my original post: A Taste of Europe - St Patrick's Day, March 17, 2015

 

Find out more about St. Patrick at Catholic Online

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A Taste of Europe - Czechia

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One of the things I really liked doing with my kids when we studied geography was to learn about the foods that are associated with different regions, ethnic groups, or people groups. There were a few school years when we made it an ongoing project to try foods from the countries or regions we studied. It's been a few years since we did that as part of our homeschool, but the spark of interest is still there - at least for me! And honestly, I need some help and fresh ideas for meal planning too. Since I'd noticed that today (September 28th) is considered a national day in Czechia, I decided to see if I could come up with any meal ideas and then revive this tradition of sampling foods from around the world.

Since today has been a super busy day, and since I didn't come up with the idea until last night, we did not have this for dinner tonight, but it's on the plan for another night this week, and I will do my best to update with how it turned out!

First, a bit of geography and history: The dominant mountain system of Eastern Europe is the Carpathian Mountains, and three landlocked nations share parts of these mountains. Today's Czech Republic - or Czechia - was formerly part of Czechoslovakia, a nation created by the Allies after World War I. The Communist Party in Czechoslovakia was overthrown in the Velvet Revolution of 1989, and in 1993 the nation split peacefully into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Today, the Czech Republic boasts one of the strongest economies in Eastern Europe. There are three main regions of Czechia - Bohemia, the Sudetenland, and Moravia. 

St. Wenceslas Day is celebrated on September 28th. It is the feast day of the patron saint of Bohemia. You may be familiar with the name Wenceslas from the Christmas song 'Good King Wenceslas'. It is the same Wenceslas, a Bohemian duke who ruled between 922 and 935 AD. His grandmother had raised him as a Christian, and during his reign he was supportive of the church, and his main policy goals were to unify Bohemia and to make peace with Germany. On September 28th, 935, Wenceslas was on his way to mass when he was attacked by his brother Boleslav and killed by his supporters. Since he suffered a martyr's death, he was soon venerated as a saint, and the Holy Roman Emperor made him a king posthumously. 

St. Wenceslas Day has also been considered a national holiday as 'Czech Statehood Day' since 2000. The St. Wenceslas Festival is a popular autumn celebration throughout Czechia. Apparently larger retail stores must be closed to commemorate the holiday.

And now, the food! I'm not sure what foods are most often associated with St. Wenceslas Day, but I did look around on the Everything Czech website for some ideas about traditional Czech foods and recipes. Looks like they really like garlic (as do we!) and sauerkraut (not so much), and like many other European countries, they have their own signature breads, cookies, and sweets. Pletenic, or Czech Sweet Braid is a braided sweet bread filled with poppyseeds or apples; and Vetrnik is a traditional Czech cream puff. Or how about Czech Farmers Cheese Bundt Cake? I was also interested in Czech Dumplings and Scrambled Eggs and several other recipes at the Everything Czech website. Potatoes, cabbage, and hearty stews are typical Czech fare, and they use sour cream in a lot of dishes. 

At present, my Czech menu includes Spicy Kielbasa Buns and Czech Sweet Noodles with Tvaroch (Ricotta or Cottage Cheese). I'll be mixing up the bread dough for the kielbasa buns, so hopefully I'll finally get the chance to make some Kolaches for dessert!

See my related post: A Taste of Europe - Garlic Bread Slovakian Style

Information gathered from these websites: Office Holidays, Radio Prague International, Global Table Adventure, and Everything Czech.

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Mid-March Celebrations

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Happy Pi Day! This is one of those silly holidays that's not really a holiday. In this case, a good excuse to eat pie! That's a tradition that we've followed for many years, and if our schedule allows, we try to eat several different kinds of pi(e) on this date. A couple of years ago, I shared some favorite Pi(e) Day recipes, and I'd like to share some of them again today. And in a few days, we'll all be pretending to have an Irish brogue, wearing green, and hoping to find a pot of gold. Although a feast day in honor of a saint, St Patrick's Day is also a fun holiday that celebrates all things Irish. Or, things we like to think are Irish, even if they are not! It's a day to drink Irish breakfast tea for breakfast and Guinness or shamrock shakes the rest of the time. And a good day to try to Irish foods, I think. Our social studies a few years ago included our own attempts at international cooking, and I shared many of our recipes here in the series A Taste of Europe. I pulled up one of those posts about food from Ireland to revisit today.

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Today, March 14th is Pi Day, one of my favorite "holidays" simply because it's the perfect occasion to eat pie! I don't care much for meal planning, so having a day that gives me a chance to be silly and creative in thinking up something for dinner. Believe me, we are not such big fans of math or geometry that we celebrate Pi Day solely for the numbers!

Usually on Pi Day, we try to have every meal include pie. Depending on what day of the week it is, that's sometimes a challenge. Today is one of those very busy days when we're running most of the day so there aren't as many kinds of pie on my menu today.

I planned ahead a little bit and baked butter tarts yesterday. Because tarts are small pies, right? And they are delicious. I made a fairly large batch so we had some to share at co-op and with friends, but I don't think they are my best work. But tasty anyway. 

You can find the recipe in my post Canada Day Butter Tarts.

French-Canadian Tourtiere
(A Hearty Meat Pi)

And speaking of Canada, this is my favorite meat pie - Tourtiere. 

Tourtiere is a French-Canadian meat pie that originated in Quebec. Variations of the dish are also common in other French-Canadian areas and in parts of New England. The recipe I use is probably the most common - with a mixture of finely ground pork and beef - but other meats are used as well; and the dish may or may not include root vegetables. I prefer to serve it with vegetables on the side. What makes Tourtiere different from other meat pies is the use of allspice and cloves.  Also different from most other meat pies - the meats and seasonings are boiled and simmered, not fried. It's best with meat that is very finely ground, but I use what I have available. I use leftover mashed potatoes in the filling, but if I don't happen to have any, the bread crumbs work just fine, and then I make potatoes as a side dish. The hubster and I squirt some ketchup on top of our slices of Tourtiere, but I've heard that in some places it's eaten with maple syrup (so Canadian!) or even molasses. Now I love maple syrup, but I don't know about that.

French-Canadian Tourtiere

Pastry for 4 pie crusts (your own recipe, or use a mix or refrigerated pie crusts)

1 pound ground pork

2 pounds lean ground beef

1 small onion, chopped fine - or use onion powder

1/2 tsp allspice

pinch of ground cloves

2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1-1/2 cups water

3/4 cup mashed potatoes (about 2 medium potatoes, or substitute bread crumbs)

Prepare the pastry, and line two 9-inch pie plates. 

Put all the ingredients except the potatoes into a Dutch oven or stockpot. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the potatoes and stir. The mixture should be moist and thick. Remove from heat and allow it to cool for a bit. Fill the two pastry-lined pie plates with meat mixture. Cover with pastry, seal and crimp the edges, dampening with water if necessary. Cut several slits in the top crust. Bake at 375*F for one hour, until browned. 

You may also cut the recipe in half, and make one deep dish 10-inch pie, or two 8-inch pies.

If I'd made these on Pi Day, the vents would have been cut in the shape of the pi symbol.

Kotopita me Feta

(Greek Chicken and Feta Cheese Pi)

This savory chicken pi takes a bit of time to assemble, thanks to the phyllo crust, but is so good! I really wanted this for dinner today, but had no time. If you want to try it, you can find my version of the recipe at Favorite Pi(e) Recipes for Pi Day

We're having just very basic chicken pot pie for dinner tonight. And now for dessert!

Pasta Frola
(Paraguayan Guava Jelly Pi)

I love this South American pie! I first learned about this delicious dessert from a Paraguayan friend and use her recipe. It's also popular in other parts of South America, sometimes made with other fillings, and the recipe may originally come from Italy where the name 'pasta frolla' refers to the cookie-like crust. Find this recipe in my post Eating the Americas - Pasta Frola or Favorite Pi(e) Recipes for Pi Day.

   

Even simpler? Just cut a pi symbol into the top crust of your favorite pie. Done.

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And now for a little fun with food for St. Patrick's Day! (I'm thinking about a more serious post about St. Patrick for another day. We'll see how that turns out!) We have a silly tradition in our family - we have Lucky Charms for breakfast on St Patrick's Day! I've already purchased the big package of Lucky Charms in preparation for the day, although I'm starting to wonder if there will be any left by then! 

   

This might be my favorite Irish recipe - a sweet loaf filled with raisins and currants called Barm Brack. It's often served toasted with butter, along with a cup of tea in the afternoon. The name may come from Irish words meaning "speckled loaf".  Many years ago, the loaf was associated with Irish Halloween celebrations. Small tokens such as a stick and a coin were baked into the loaf, and these had a meaning sort of like fortune-telling for the person who received that slice.

Barm Brack

1 cup cold tea (use leftover after brewing your hot cuppa!)

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup citrus peel (or about 1/8 cup dried peel)

1/2 cup currants

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1/4 melted butter

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Put raisin, peel, currants and sugar in a large bowl and stir in the cold tea. Cover and let stand overnight.

In the morning, beat egg till frothy, then stir into the fruit mixture. Stir in melted butter.  Combine remaining dry ingredients and stir into fruit batter, just until blended. Spoon into a greased loaf pan, and bake at 350* for 60-70 minutes. Cool 10 minutes before turning out on a rack to cool completely. Serve sliced with butter.

A little more silly fun for St. Patrick's Day - I share this video every year!

An earlier version of the Pi Day recipe collection appeared on Homeschool Coffee Break in March 2017 as Favorite Pi(e) Recipes for Pi Day and an earlier version of the St Patrick's Day recipes appeared in March 2015 as A Taste of Europe - St Patrick's Day

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 ©2006-2019 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

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Recipes from Around the World (Blogging Through The Alphabet)

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After so many years of homeschooling, I've had plenty of opportunities to try curriculum and explore all kinds of resources, so during this Blogging Through the Alphabet tour, I'm highlighting some of the many homeschooling resources that have been stand-outs. Sometimes it will be a walk down memory lane as I share something we enjoyed many years ago, and sometimes it will be something we're using currently. Sometimes I'll focus on a specific curriculum, and sometimes on a subject area. And I imagine I'll have to be a bit creative with a couple letters of the alphabet! This week I'm sharing how we've added some fun and creativity to our studies by using Recipes from Around the World.

Way back when my kids were little, we did things like having a medieval feast during our study of the Middle Ages, or trying pemmican and hardtack biscuits when we studied the journey of Lewis and Clark. More recently, we tried to include foods from around the world as we studied geography and history. We spent one year focusing on the history and geography of the Americas and although we fell short of the lofty goal I'd set, we still had a lot of fun with our Eating the Americas project. Then when Kennady started her Cultural Geography study we spent a year focused on Europe, which prompted A Taste of Europe and European Bread Basket as we tried a whole new set of recipes. Here are some of the highlights and links to my original posts where you'll find those recipes. And of course, the resources we found most helpful.


(Find all the Eating the Americas posts!)

Recipes we tried from South America that stood out were things like Coca-Cola rice from Colombia, Ecuadorian potato cakes, Alfajores, Trini Stew Chicken and Orange Rice, and Pasta Frola. We enjoyed hot dogs Uruguayan style with salsa golf, and our culinary visit to Argentina and Bolivia introduced us to the wonders of Fried Cheese.

Eating the Americas - Alfajores

Eating the Americas - Trinidad and Tobago (Trini Stew Chicken and Orange Rice)

Eating the Americas - Pasta Frola

North and Central America gave us winners like Guatemalan Hot Cocoa, Cuban sandwiches, and Caribbean Tres Leches Cake. We revisited favorites from Canada like Poutine, Nanaimo Bars, and French-Canadian Tourtiere.

Eating the Americas - Guatemalan Hot Cocoa

Eating the Americas - Poutine

Eating the Americas - Nanaimo Bars

So what IS a Nanaimo Bar? It's a three-layer dessert bar, believed to have originated in the city of Nanaimo, British Columbia.

French-Canadian Tourtiere

Tourtiere is a French-Canadian meat pie that originated in Quebec. Variations of the dish are also common in other French-Canadian areas, such as St Boniface in Manitoba, as well as in many parts of New England.

 (Find all the A Taste of Europe and European Bread Basket posts!)

We enjoyed so many amazing foods from Europe! Shortbread, scones, Chelsea buns, Barm Brack, and Irish soda bread from the United Kingdom and Ireland; Chicken and Feta Pie from Greece; Chicken Cordon Bleu, baguettes, Croque Monsieur, and Bifteck Hache from France; Tomato Parmesan bread and delicious past dishes from Italy; Macedonian pizza; Chicken Paprika from Hungary; Slovakian-style Garlic Bread; Chicken Kiev from Ukraine; Tapas from Spain; and so much more!

A Taste of Europe - Greece

Middle School Monday - France

A Taste of Europe - Adding Some French Flair to American Fare (our recipes for Croque Monsieur and Bifteck Hache)

Now you tell me which sounds classier - "Hot Hamburg Sammich" or "Bifteck Hache". Yeah, even if you mess up the pronunciation of the French one, it's still FRENCH. And that somehow makes it better. And less subject to criticism from the monsieur. Like this:
Monsieur: What's for dinner, and how soon will it be ready?
Madame: Bifteck Hache - dinner is at 6.
Monsieur: says nothing, because he is anticipating a fancy French dinner.

A Taste of Europe - Chicken Kiev

And in From the High School Lesson Book - Rosh Hashanah I added some traditional Challah to our European Bread Basket too.

Challah isn't hard to bake from scratch, especially if you use the techniques and recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.

Our post about Hamentaschen was well before either of these ongoing projects, but I included it here because it's one of the recipes suggested by the middle school textbook America the Beautiful because the baking and sharing of these cookies has been an important part of Purim celebrations by Jewish immigrants to America.

And I promised to share some of our favorite resources for the recipes too! Here they are - starting with the wonderful website  Global Table Adventure. I found a lot of our recipes there, as well as fascinating background information and just entertaining writing! The cookbooks I turned to over and over were:

Eat Your Way Around the World by Jamie Aramini

Emeril's There's a Chef in My World! by Emeril Lagasse

The 2nd International Cookbook for Kids by Matthew Locricchio

Passport on a Plate: A Round-the-World Cookbook for Children by Diane Simone Vezza
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois
Holidays of the World Cookbook for Students (Cookbooks for Students) by Lois Sinaiko Webb

    

    

Blogging Through the Alphabet again? Yes, I'm taking the challenge, along with several other Crew members, including our three co-hosts for this round - Amanda at Hopkins Homeschool, DaLynn at Biblical Womanhood, and Kirsten at DoodleMom's Homeschooling Life. The link is open from Thursday to Wednesday each week, so join in if you'd like!

This post is linked at Blogging Through the Alphabet for Week 18, Letter R.

This post is part of a #breakthrulinkup  at Breakthrough Homeschooling - Join us! It's also linked at a weekly recipe link-up hosted by A Net In Time; at the Encouraging Hearts & Home Blog Hop hosted by Apron Strings & Other Things, and at the Homeschool Linky Party on the Homeschool Review Crew blog.

  

  

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 ©2006-2018 Homeschool Coffee Break. All rights reserved. All text, photographs, artwork, and other content may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form without the written consent of the author. http://kympossibleblog.blogspot.com/ 

 We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.