IRISH SODA BREAD

Posted by Lori~

We arrived back from NYC on Sunday night, and Monday was St. Patrick’s Day! 

I will confess that I was a little sad I didn’t get to celebrate all things GREEN in NYC.  Around 5 years ago (pre-Mur-Man), Steve and I were there for St. Patrick’s Day.  We were able to celebrate with my dear friend Janelle.  And, let’s just say it was a different trip, complete with lots of green beer!  The St. Patrick’s Day parade was fabulous—there were men in uniform everywhere (great for Janelle)!  I was happy to be her partner in crime (along with Steve).

This trip was also amazing, but different.  I enjoyed NYC with my mom!  What could be better!?!

We had different plans this year and were back a day prior—just in time to celebrate with Mur-Man.  

First, we started with Dublin Coddle Hotpot.  It was delicious! 

We also created Irish Soda Bread.  The Soda Bread was amazing and so easy to create.  Mur-Man also joined in on the fun.  I found the recipe here.

Irish Soda Bread supplies needed:

3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 pint sour cream
2 eggs
3/4 cup raisins (I despise raisins, but I put them in anyways.  It was still good).

Irish Soda Bread Directions: 

Combine dry ingredients together in a large bowl. In a small bowl beat eggs and stir in sour cream.

Add the egg and sour cream mixture to the dry ingredients and stir. 

The batter will be very thick.  Now add the raisins and stir well.  You may even need to knead the batter with your hands. 

Place batter in a greased pan. (It called for a spring-form pan, but my traditional pan worked just fine—it popped right out).

Dust the top with enough flour so that you can pat the batter like bread dough evenly in the pan without it sticking to your hands.

With a knife make a shallow crisscross on the top.

Bake for 50 minutes in a preheated 350 oven.

We had friends over for the St. Patrick’s Day feast.  The bread and Irish Hotpot were both delicious!  A great way to ring in the holiday (better than cold NYC—I hear they had snow!).

MUR-MAN SHAMROCK SHIRT!

Posted by Lori~

I am back from NYC and it was an AMAZING ADVENTURE!  I promise to report my celebrity sightings, delicious food, and broadway/television show adventures soon.   But first, I am back home and whipped up (like in 5 minutes) an applique shamrock shirt for Mur-Man.

It is literally that simple.  All you need is fabric, a shirt (or clothing item to appliqué on), and fusible interfacing. 

First up, I cut out/printed my pattern.  I then traced the pattern onto the fusible interfacing and cut it out.

Iron the fusible interfacing shape onto the back side of the fabric.

Cut out the fabric and peel off the layer of fusible interfacing.

Iron your design to your shirt.

From here, you will want to sew the appliqué to the shirt.  However, I was in a HUGE HURRY to whip this up fast.  I will eventually sew it on after St. Patrick's Day.  

I love these quick and easy projects.  Plus, homemade shirts are the best.  And, I spent NOTHING on this project.  Everything was already in my craft stash (and the shirt was in Mur-Man's drawer).  PERFECTION!

SHAMROCK ON A STICK DECOR!

Posted by Lori~

Here's another great way to repurpose foam from the stash to make holiday decor!  Here, I used the Christmas trees that I got post-Christmas-sale for pennies and traced and cut them into shamrocks.

Make the shape and size shamrock that fits.

Cut - the hardest part!

Gold straws

Cut two slits in the middle of the shamrock and gently slide the straw through the slits

And now they're awesome mantel decoration!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

ST PATTY'S DAY (LUCKY) WREATH!

Posted by Lori~

It's March (and that mean it is almost St. Patrick's Day).  I am roughly 1/4 Irish...and I like to celebrate.

This year, Steve, Crafty G-Ma (AKA my mom), and I will be in NYC for St. Patrick's Day weekend, and I CANNOT WAIT! Steve has a conference and Mom and I will explore.

I promise to post about all my adventures (trip planning) and a trip recap (after we are exhausted from our adventure).

Prior to leaving, I want to be sure the house looks festive and GREEN!  Mur-man is probably like 1/45th Irish, so he needs to celebrate too.

I knew I wanted to whip-up some St. Patrick's Day decor, but I wanted to spend NOTHING!

I crashed my craft stash and found some light colored foam Christmas cutouts (purchased at 90% off after Christmas).

I searched on Google Images for a four leaf clover design and printed it.  I then traced the design onto the foam and cut-out.

I decided to go with a variety of green clovers (including glittery clovers too). 

Using straight pins, I poked them into a green foam wreath (also in my craft stash).

Next, I attached ribbon to the wreath.  I also taped on the LUCKY letters (found in the $ section of Target).

Cute...right?  Total cost...nothing!