St. Patrick's Day Archives | The Good Hearted Woman

St Pat’s Irish Soda Bread

Perfected and approved by real Irish persons, for your pleasure, this Irish Soda Bread is amazingly easy to make.

As you may know, St Patrick’s Day is my favorite holiday. In fact, I love all things Celtic – even my wedding ring has emeralds and Celtic knots on it – and I’ve always had a thing for Ireland and the Irish people. I can literally take on a light brogue just thinking about it. (In fact, as I write this, I’m falling into it).

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My affinity for Ireland dates back to before I can remember, so it should be no surprise that every St. Pat’s Day is a real celebration at our house. On that day each year, I serve up a feast of “Once-a-Year” mashed potatoes (so called because they are so rich and creamy you should only eat them once a year), slow-cooked corned beef, corn, cabbage, and soda bread; and then I usually throw in something new year to year to mix things up.

However, before even one fork full passes, I deliver my compulsory pre-St Patrick’s Day dinner monologue (which I will share with you one of these years) about the fascinating and inspiring life of the real man who become St Patrick. It takes all of about three minutes, and my kids sigh and groan and laugh through it every year. At this point, they can repeat it almost verbatim. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

(If you’d like to learn more about the real Saint Patrick, I highly recommend that you read “How the Irish Saved Civilization,” by Thomas Cahill.)

Today I am sharing with you one of my most prized St. Pat’s recipes: my Irish Soda Bread. Perfected and approved by real Irish persons, for your pleasure, this Soda Bread is amazingly easy to make.

(If you are interested learning more about St Patrick, I highly recommend reading How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill.)

St Pat’s Irish Soda Bread

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 40 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes

Servings 12 servings

Author Renée ♥︎ The Good Hearted Woman

Ingredients

4 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup white sugar Use 1/3 cup if you like your Soda Bread a little less sweet.
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1 ½ cups raisins I use a mix of golden and craisions. Just use your favorite raisin.
2 teaspoons caraway seeds Optional. (Not really.)
1¼ cups buttermilk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup melted butter melted (I use salted butter.)
2 eggs lightly beaten

Brush on Top

2 Tablespoons butter melted
2 tablespoons buttermilk

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease a 9-inch round cast iron skillet or 9-inch round baking pan.
In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, raisins and caraway seeds.
In a medium bowl, buttermilk and sour cream and melted butter. Blend in eggs.
Fold the flour mixture into the liquid mixture, mixing just until well combined. Knead dough in bowl about 10 to 15 strokes. Dough will be very sticky. Mound the dough in the prepared skillet or pan using a spatula or wooden spoon. (Don’t use a mixture for this – it will bake up too heavy.)
In a small bowl, combine 2 Tbls. melted butter with 2 Tbls. buttermilk; brush the mounded dough/loaf with this mixture. Use a sharp, wet knife to cut an ‘X’ into the top of the loaf.
Allow dough to rest in the pan for about 20 minutes before putting into oven. (This step is optional, but the “rest” time will give you a lighter loaf in the end.)
Bake preheated oven for 60 to 75 minutes. You can brush the loaf with the buttermilk/butter mixture once or twice during baking if you wish. Test loaf for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center – it should come out clean.
Let cool and turn bread onto a wire rack.

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More for St. Patrick’s Day from GHW

Irish Blessing {Free St Patrick’s Day Art Print}

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Emerald Sunrise {Includes Kid-friendly Option}

Irish Blessing {St Patrick’s Day Art Print}

March 17 By Renée ♥ 5 Comments

This watercolor Irish Blessing is my St. Patrick’s Day gift to you. (Especially you, Fred.)

****UPDATE March 25, 2019: This print is now available to download from our Etsy store at The Harmony Cat.

Now, I’ll bet you think I’m going to write about St. Patrick’s Day. Think again.

I set a goal this year to create more art. To draw, to paint, to write, to create. More. So this year, as St. Patrick’s Day approached, I decided to create something to celebrate the season that would be meaningful year-round.

When Mr B and I went to school together back at old Madison High, one of the best parts of our day was our concert choir class. (Mr B is a gifted baritone, and I a passable soprano.) Our choir director, Fred Hammack, was a talented, warm, demanding, wonderful man who taught us far more than music, and wove his way into our hearts so deeply that even now – decades later – we remember him with abiding admiration, gratitude, and affection.

Ultimately, it is because of Mr. Hammack that I created this Irish Blessing piece. It was his practice to end every concert with a four-part choral version of An Irish Blessing. It’s not surprising then, that after four years of practice and performance, lyrics and music found a permanent place entwined in our musical memory.

♫ ♪ May the road rise up to meet you… May the wind be always at your back
May the sun fall warm upon your face ~ The rain fall soft upon your fields
… And may God hold you in the palm of His hand. ♪♫

Whenever those lines roll their way through my mind, I remember our choir and the people with whom we sang with great fondness. Music saved Mr B and I in high school (and so many others), so to us, this blessing symbolizes much more that a simply holiday in March.

If you would like a copy of this Irish Blessing print for yourself – to hang on the wall or send to a friend – ~~click the thumbnail on the left for a printable PDF. This Celtic Knot Irish Blessing art print is available free to you in PDF form for a limited time.~~

****UPDATE March 25, 2019: This print is now available to download from our Etsy store at The Harmony Cat.

NOTE: This probably could go without saying, but there’s always that one guy, so… © Renée Butcher. You may print it for your own use, but you may not alter it in any way, repurpose it, or sell it in any form. You may use this image online; however, if you do so, you must use proper attribution and link directly back to this post.

If you feel inspired to do some drawing yourself, I used this tutorial from Dragon Art to sketch the Celtic-knot shamrock.

THANK YOU so much for being a faithful reader and supporter of The Good Hearted Woman. ❤ Be sure to PIN this post!

Emerald Sunrise {Cocktail}

March 14 By Mr. B 18 Comments

Forget the green beer! Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in style with this beautiful spin on a Tequila Sunrise.

An original cocktail from Mr B
One day last spring, I was mixing myself up a Tequila Sunrise and decided to use Blue Curaçao in place of the traditional grenadine, which turned the whole drink a bright green. (Curaçao is a liqueur flavored with the dried peel of the laraha citrus fruit, similar in flavor to an orange, and is grown on the island of Curaçao, hence the name.)

Anyway, all this happened just after St Patrick’s Day, which thanks to my wife is a very big deal around our house, and when I saw that tall glass of green, I had a flash of inspiration! I garnished it with a mandarin slice, and there I had the Irish flag! Renée even added a shamrock to make it official.

So here it is: my contribution to what my lovely wife calls the “perpetuation of negative cultural stereotypes” – and what I like to call my Emerald Sunrise. Enjoy!

Emerald Sunrise {Cocktail}

Course Beverage

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Author Mr. B

Ingredients

For each drink:

1 1/5 ounces 1800 Tequila
1 1/2 ounces Blue Curaçao
4-6 ounces Orange Juice

Instructions

Fill an 8-10 ounce glass half full of ice. Add Blue Curaçao and tequila and mix. Stir in orange juice. Garnish with a mandarin orange slice and a shamrock. (A mint leaf or sorrel will work fine too.)

Tip:
No Alcohol for you? Mix up a kid-friendly St Pat’s Day beverage by combining three parts orange juice with one part lemon-lime soda, and then stir in a few drops of blue food coloring.

A Few Thoughts from Mrs B
First things first. YES! Shamrocks are edible, and they make a lovely garnish. (I just felt like we needed to get that out of the way.) So are false shamrocks, better known as sorrel.

Shamrocks have three leaves (not four) and were used by St Patrick to teach the concept of the Holy Trinity to the Irish people. Like the Irish people themselves, shamrocks are one of those plants that survive under very difficult circumstances, which is why there is a pot of them (shamrocks, not Irish people) thriving on my kitchen windowsill year-round.

Next, if you are going to perpetuate this St Patrick’s Day green beverage tradition, I do think Mr B’s Emerald Sunrise is a far better choice than green beer. Plus, I love the name. (If you know us, you’ll know that it’s a little nod to our birthstone too!)

Finally, if you are at all interested in an actual Irish person’s perspective on US traditions visa-vie St. Patrick’s Day, I encourage you to check out this post – Surviving St. Patrick’s Day in America [Sass & Shamrocks]. Highlights include meeting Patrick’s forgotten sister Patty, and learning the proper response to the traditional Irish greeting, “Ciúnas bothar cailín bainne!” Check it out!