Old Fashioned Living: Irish Recipes, Tea and St. Patrick's Day ideas

Welcome to the new Old Fashioned Living Newsletter

This is the first official issue of the Old Fashioned Living newsletter and we hope to bring you some fun ideas and tasty recipes for St. Patrick's Day as well as Irish-American Heritage Month. We welcome your feedback and comments, so please feel free to add your two cents at the end of this newsletter by clicking on the word "comment".

In This Issue

Tea Time: Irish Tea Traditions
Crafter's Attic: Irish Blessing Wall Hanging
History: St. Patrick - Patron Saint of Ireland
Kids: St. Patrick's Day Fun
Recipes: Irish Cuisine

TEA TIME
Irish Tea Traditions

In Gaelic "cupan tae" mean cup of tea, and the Irish make it a strong cup. Irish tea is blended to be mixed with a lot of rich milk-up to 1/3 of the cup for some. The custom is to add the milk to the tea cup first, then pour in the tea. Irish breakfast tea is often a strong blend of Assam and Ceylon and most people would only drink it for breakfast, though the Irish love it strong and would use this blend all day long. Even during the traditional Irish wake, after a family member has passed away, it's expected that a pot would be continously boiling to make tea for company.

Irish tea is served generally three times a day; 11:00 in the morning, 3:00-5:00 for afternoon tea and a high tea at 6:00 pm, serving as the evening meal. Many think of high tea as formal or fancy, but it's actually a working man's tea that serves as a meal. Afternoon tea is the more "fancy" of the three teas-the one with scones, breads, jam, curds and other dainties.

Irish Shortbread

(8 ounces)1 cup butter
(4 ounces) 1/2 cup caster sugar (superfine/baking sugar)
(8 ounces) 1 cup all-purpose flour
(2 ounces) 1/4 cup cornstarch

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the flour and cornstarch. Roll out and cut into squares or rounds and bake in a slow (300 degree) oven until done.

Drop Tea Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1 level teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 level tablespoon caster sugar (superfine/baking sugar)
1 level tablespoon golden syrup or corn syrup
1 egg
1/4 pint milk

Sift the flour, soda, cream of tartar and salt into a bowl. Add the sugar. Beat in the syrup, egg and milk to form a smooth batter. preheat a lightly greased griddle or thick frying pan. Drop medium spoons full of the mixture and cook at medium heat until bubbles appear-much like cooking a pancake. Turn and cook on the other side. Remove and place in a clean tea towel or cloth until ready to serve. Serve with butter, honey or jam. Makes 15.

Too see all the recipes with this feature, please visit Irish Tea Traditions on OFL.

CRAFTER'S ATTIC
Irish Blessing Wall Hanging

St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner. With that in mind Mary Wilkins shares this little wall hanging with us. It makes a wonderful welcome to your home or a very thoughtful housewarming gift for someone else.

Below are the supplies you will need, please visit OFL for the instructions!

Supplies Needed:

14" square of plain cream colored fabric or muslin
14" square fabric for backing
14" square of batting
4 strips of co-ordinating fabric for binding each 2" wide
Scrap of green fabric for shamrock
Scrap of black or brown fabric for stem
5 brass buttons
1 ribbon rose for middle
Fusible web
Black permanent fine tip marker

To get the instructions for this craft, click here.

HISTORY
St. Patrick - Patron Saint of Ireland

Since many stories and legends have been told regarding St. Patrick it is difficult to separate the facts from the myths. Here are some of the facts:

Patrick was born around 387 AD in Roman Britain
He was of noble birth
At 16 he was carried off by a band of Irish raiders and was made a slave in Ireland
After six years, Patrick was set free and allowed to return home
Upon returning home he prepared himself to become a priest
In 432, now a Bishop, set out for Ireland as a missionary
He taught that it was wrong to worship creation rather than the creator
Explained the Trinity using a shamrock- with one stem and three leaves, the Trinity is one God in three persons
Patrick also founded schools, colleges, and monasteries

Read more details on The Patron Saint of Ireland here

KIDS
St. Patrick's Day Fun

If you're looking for some cute and simple projects to make with your little ones, we have a few for you! From a little man puppet, shamrock puzzles, and leprechaun mischief, we have some fun in store for your kids. Check them all our here.

RECIPES
Irish Cuisine

Whether you are Irish or not, it's fun to celebrate with those us who are by serving Irish fare on St. Patrick's Day. Irish cooking is traditionally hearty and simple, reflecting the way of life most Irish folk lived in the past, and still today.

Shamrock Salad

1 can (16 ounces) pear halves
1 package lime gelatin (3 ounces)
1 cup boiling water
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tsp.. powdered sugar
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Lime slices

Drain pears, reserving 1/2 cup syrup and 3 pear halves. Dice remaining pears. Dissolved gelatin in boiling water. Stir in cold water and reserved pear syrup. Pour 3/4 cup of the gelatin in a one quart mold . Arrange pear halves in shamrock shape in the bottom of the mold. Chill until almost set. In the meantime, chill remaining gelatin until it is thick like egg whites. Whip cream, adding powdered sugar, and fold into the gelatin. Fold in diced pears and nuts. Pour over the layer of pears in the mold and chill until firm. Unmold the salad on a platter and garnish with lime slices. Serves 6-8.

Irish Lamb Stew

2 tablespoons flour
1 tsp. salt
1 1/2 pounds lamb, cut into 2" pieces
2 tablespoons oil or bacon fat
1 garlic clove, minced
1 bay leaf
1/8 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 cups water
1 large onion chopped
3 carrots, cut into 1" slices
2 peeled, cubed potatoes
1/2 cup light cream
1 tablespoon flour

Mix 2 tablespoons flour, salt and pepper; Roll meat in mixture and brown in hot fat, add onions to brown lightly. Add herbs, garlic and water. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Add carrots and potatoes. Cover and cook 25 more minutes until vegetables are tender. Combine cream and 1 tablespoon flour; stirring until smooth; blend into stew and cook until thickened, stirring well to avoid lumps. Remove Bay leaf. Makes 4 servings. Note: You can substitute good beef stew meat, or a nice cut of roast cut into cubes. I also like to use baby carrots in place of the regular carrots. Don't be afraid to substitute!

Irish Champ

8 medium potatoes
1/2 cup milk
5 tablespoon butter
one bunch scallions or green onions, chopped

Peel and cube potatoes and boil in salted water until tender. Drain and mash slightly. In a small pan, heat milk and butter until butter is melted. Add chopped scallions. Fold mixture into the potatoes until well blended. Potatoes will be still be somewhat lumpy. Makes 6 servings.

Irish Potato Pie

6-8 potatoes, peeled
6 bacon strips
3-4 leeks
salt
pepper
one cup grated Cheddar cheese

Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender. Drain. In skillet, fry bacon until crisp and drain on paper towels. Trim leeks so that you have the white part and a small amount of green. Wash well, and slice thin. Add leeks to pan, and saute over medium heat until soft. Slice the boiled potatoes, and arrange half in the bottom of a pie plate.Season with salt and pepper. Layer with bacon, leeks and one half of the cheese. Cover with remaining with remaining potatoes and season again. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until top is browned and cheese is melted. Makes 6 servings.

Irish Scones

1/2 cup butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk

In a bowl, combine butter and flour with pastry blender or fingers. Add baking powder, salt and sugar. In another bowl, beat egg and stir in milk. Mix into dry ingredients to make a dough. Turn onto floured surface and roll to one inch thickness or pat carefully with hands. With a cookie cutter cut dough into 2 inch rounds. Place on greased cookie sheet, about one inch apart and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Makes about 18 scones. You can also add raisins, dates or other dried fruits to the dough.

Still want more recipes?

Here you'll find Soda Bread and Colcannon.

Our friends at Annie's Recipes have a few to share as well:

Corned Beef and Cheese Rolls
Corned Beef and Hot Slaw on Rye
Corned Beef and Cabbage

Alicia's has a few too!

Thanks for joining us for our first issue. Please visit www.oldfashionedliving.com for all sorts of great tea recipes, crafts, gardening advice, home & hearth and plenty more! Our site has been recently redesigned, so if you have trouble finding anything or just have a comment, please click comments below and leave us a shout! :)