Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

I’ve always loved St. Patrick’s Day. I remember creating rainbows and leprechaun art projects and hunting for gold nuggets (painted rocks) in elementary school. The whole pinching someone if they didn’t wear green was also a HUGE thing in school. Glad to see that little tidbit has faded with adulthood :). I’m sure it’s still a big thing for the little ones. I also remember my Mom’s corned beef and cabbage dinners. They were delicious and filled with fun family memories.

I decided last minute to run to the store for the quick and easy St. Patrick’s Day supply list to make a St. Patrick’s Day spirited baked potato lunch.

Ingredients:

Cabbage
Potatoes – I usually like Yukon Gold, but they only had tiny ones left.
Corned Beef – cubed
Kerry Gold Sweet Cheddar Cheese
Butter
Sour Cream
Green Onions
Salt
Pepper

Directions:
I baked my potatoes in  the advantium oven – 8-10 minutes for 10-12 ounce potatoes. No advantium needed, it’s just a faster way to bake potatoes and I happen to own one, you can just bake your potatoes however you are used to baking them.

I purchased a slab of corned beef from the grocery store deli – I then cut it into small cubes. You could make these potatoes with your leftover corned beef and cabbage as well. I cut my cabbage into chunks, removing the harder core sections. I then added water to the dish, ground pepper, salt and some garlic gold nuggets. Not necessary, it was just a last minute decision.

I put the lid on my dish and microwaved the cabbage for 4.5 minutes. I prepared my potato mixture while the cabbage was cooking. I split the potatoes in 1/2 and scooped out the majority of the cooked potato into a bowl. I then added a tablespoon of butter per potato, 2 generous handfuls of shredded cheese and a few grinds of pepper and sea salt to the mixture. I then added a tablespoon of sour cream and mixed things really well. I scooped the potato mixture back into the potato halves and then topped that with cabbage strips, corned beef, more sweet cheddar cheese, green onion, more ground pepper and more sour cream. Nothing was precise, the reason I didn’t put down measurements.

The potatoes were delicious and super easy! Just what I needed this Sunday. I somehow managed to injure my hip digging a giant bush out of the yard last weekend, so I’m trying not to put much weight on it, so hours in the kitchen wasn’t going to work this year.

I will also be having Jameson and ginger ale and store bought chocolate dipped cake pops later this evening. Sounds pretty perfect to me.

Now for some home decor… with St. Patrick’s Day and Easter so close, thought I’d take pictures before swapping out shamrocks for Easter eggs, bunnies and carrots.

I just add little clover and green accents for St. Patrick’s Day. I definitely don’t go all out. You will see repeats of some of my staple decor items – I actually moved my numbered apothecary cabinet to the top of the entertainment center, I’m missing it as a backdrop for my ingredient photos. It might be moving back soon.

I cut up a garland and clipped shamrocks to my photo clips on the shelf I found last year at an antique fair. You saw the same shelf with snowflakes for Christmas and I added hearts to it for Valentine’s Day – it’s been fun to figure out what to hang on it each holiday.

Just a simple wood green clover, some ribbon and a lucky horseshoe on the suitcase I found last month.

I placed random shamrocks on my Pottery Barn shelves in my entry way… similar to what I did with snowflakes and hearts for previous holidays.

Shamrock garland on my vintage door.

More shamrocks and green accents…

I loved putting my winged angel schnauzer on display… St. Patrick’s Day will forever be special to us because it’s the day we brought our new puppy home. What an amazing year we’ve had. So hard to believe how fast it’s gone by. I hope you are having a great St. Patrick’s Day and that it’s filled with family, friends and good eats and drinks!