St. Patrick’s Day Dinner- Colcannon w/ Crisp Bacon and Fermented Sauerkraut

I think it’s interesting that we rarely hear the story behind St. Patrick’s Day.  St. Patrick went down in history as being a radical Christian.  He considered himself a pagan when he was growing up. It wasn’t until he was sold into slavery by Irish slave traders that he came to Christ.  His relationship with the Lord grew while he was a slave.  After six years in slavery he escaped to Gaul.  He studied there for 12 years and then felt called by the Lord to Ireland to convert the lost to Christ, and boy did he.

Patrick was made the second bishop to Ireland. He had an exceptional ability to speak publicly and to win people to Christ. He was arrested several times for his boldness in the Lord, he escaped each time. Nothing ever stopped him from preaching the gospel.  He died on March 17th, AD 461- hence, the date we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Here are some of the many stories  that are recorded about him:

• It has been said that he raised people from the dead.
• He originated the symbol of the shamrock, because he used it in his sermons to represent the Holy Trinity.  Each leaf represented the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit- and how they come together to create one entity.
• Patrick’s ministry lasted 29 years. He baptized over 120,000 Irishmen and planted 300 churches.

What will be written about you when you pass from this earth?  I Chronicles 16:8-9, “Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known among the nations what He has done. Sing to Him, sing praise to Him; tell of all His wonderful acts.”

Lord, help it be said of me that I ministered boldly in Your Name!  That I had passion to convert the lost to Christ, and many received You.  In Jesus’ name, Amen!

St. Patrick’s Day is a day to retell the story of a man who made Christ known to the nations and told of all His wonderful acts.  Share the verse and story on St. Patrick’s Day even though it’s not an official holiday.

A Shamrock Plant-Do you see the three leaves?

I’ve got the perfect recipe for you to make this St. Patrick’s Day.  To be true to Irish tradition, serve Colcannon—a dish mainly consisting of creamy mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage. Serve with crisp bacon and fermented sauerkraut.  The corned beef and cabbage tradition is an American tradition not an Irish one.

When you serve Colcannon, make a depression in the middle of the mashed potatoes and put a big ole pat of yummy butter in it.

Want Celtic inspiration while you cook?  Listen to Be Thou My Vision.  I love that song!

Colcannon

5 large organic potatoes, washed, peeled and chopped

1 1/2 sticks of butter

2-3 cups chopped kale- I only had two cups left in my garden

2 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup milk or half and half

1 tablespoon salt

1 lb. Bacon (nitrate free)

Fry bacon.  Set aside.

1. Fry bacon and set aside.  (After I fried the bacon I poured the grease out and added kale and spring onions to the bacon skillet.  Then, added three tablespoons of the bacon grease back to it.  Stir and cook for 5-10 min’s.  YUM!)  In my ingredient list, I included three tablespoons of butter to fry the kale.  You can fry it in butter or bacon grease, which ever suits your taste buds.

2. Put chopped potatoes and salt into pot and cover with water.  Bring to boil.  Cook 12 to 15 minutes. Drain when done.

3. Whip drained potatoes with hand mixer or mash by hand.  Add 5 tablespoons of butter and ½ cup of milk, whip.

4. Add cooked kale and chopped onion mixture to mashed potatoes.  Add more salt to taste.

To serve— mound mashed potatoes on each plate, then make depression in center and add generous pat of butter. Serve with several slices of nitrite free crisp bacon, fermented sauerkraut, and Irish bread (We don’t eat much bread so we didn’t have bread).

Our kale grew the whole winter! I’v been using it, so I only have two cups to use for our Irish Dinner

I chopped wild onion grass for the onion flavor, that’s the only onion growing on our farm right now–I chopped at least 1/3 cup

Chopping potatoes

Cooking kale in left over bacon grease from fried bacon

The house smells wonderful! Homemade bread fresh out of the oven would have been delightful with it! We splurged and had organic root beer with the meal. Typically we always drink water.

The third episode of The Bible comes on Sunday night! Don’t miss it. Here is a clip from it.