These Shamrock cookies will make a great addition to any St. Patrick’s Day party and are easy to make.

Ingredients:
½ cup shortening
½ cup butter or margarine
2 cups sugar
3 eggs, beaten
½ tsp salt
5 cups flour
¼ cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 350ºF.

Mix shortening and sugar until creamy using an electric mixer. Add the eggs and combine well. Stir in milk, vanilla and salt. Then carefully mix in the flour. Work the dough with your hands for a minute.

Flour a rolling pin and roll out the dough to about 1/8 inch thick. Use more flour if needed if dough sticks to your rolling pin.

With a shamrock cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place them on a greased baking sheet. Bake in the oven for about 10 minutes or until the cookies turn golden brown.

Shamrock Cookies Green Icing:

Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
½ tsp vanilla
10 drops green food coloring
¼ cup margarine
5 tbsp milk
¼ tsp salt

Instructions:
Place the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. With a mixing spoon, work the margarine into the sugar, then add salt and vanilla. Stir in the milk slowly while stirring continuously. The icing should be soft and smooth. Add the food coloring, combine well and spread onto your shamrock cookies.

Ice the Shamrock cookies with the green icing and serve at your St Patrick’s Day Party.

Original post can be found here: Shamrock Cookies with Green Icing

Ingredients:
½ gallon lime sherbet, softened in fridge before using
2 liters Sprite or 7-up

Instructions:
With a hand mixer, blend softened sherbet and soda in a big punch bowl. Serve immediately or chill in the fridge until party tim

Original post can be found here: St Patrick’s Day Lime Punch

Serves 6

Ingredients:
4 cups cooked, cubed chicken breast meat
1 cup onion, chopped
2/3 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 ½ cups carrots, chopped
6 cups chicken stock
1 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp garlic salt
1 (10 ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
3 cups cooked red potatoes, diced
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/8 cup all-purpose flour
Handful of fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions:
In a frying pan, sauté chopped onion until soft and translucent.

In a large saucepan combine chicken, mushrooms, sautéed onion, carrots and chicken stock. Over medium heat, simmer for about 10 minutes or until the carrots are cooked.

Add the herbs, garlic salt and mixed vegetables, potatoes and celery and cook for a further few minutes until heated through. Stir in the flour und heat for a minute until sauce begins to thicken. Sprinkle with fresh parsley and serve immediately

Original post can be found here: St. Patrick’s Day Stew

With St. Patrick’s Day almost upon us, it will soon be time to get out the decorations. Here are some easy St. Patrick’s Day crafts for your kids to enjoy.

1. Buy green construction paper and trace shamrocks from either a coloring book or a template online, and make a string of shamrocks to hang in your home.

2. You can’t celebrate the day without hats! You can easily make St. Patrick’s Day hats by using construction paper. While there are tons of templates available online, you can accomplish this task easily. Take two pieces of green construction paper and tape them together forming about a 14” long piece. Fold it into a circle and tape one side to the other. Take another piece of green construction paper to make the top of the hat by using a paper plate to trace a circle. Cut it out and use clear tape to attach it to the top of the hat.

Next, you’ll need to make the brim of the hat. Again, using green construction paper; cut out a larger circle and apply glue so that the hat will attach itself to the brim. Finally, you need the buckle to place just above the brim of the hat. For this you can use brown construction paper and cut a wide strip and glue or tape it to the hat.

In addition, you may want to assist your kids in making a rainbow Jello mold. You can even make a pot of gold using yellow apples! Or how about the old standby; cupcakes with green icing, with a shamrock cookie on top!

There is no end to the many creative and imaginative ideas you can incorporate when engaging in a fun activity such as decorations for St. Patrick’s Day. Put on some Irish CD’s, and have a great time!

Original post can be found here: Easy St.Patrick’s Day Crafts