Make it a Green St. Patrick's Day: Incorporate the Most Green Into the Day

Unless your family is Irish, chances are you probably don't do much for St. Patrick's Day. Well, why not change that this year? Kids love any chance to celebrate, so your children will especially have a blast if you decide to designate the day as your family "Green Day."

What is a "Green Day?" The concept is rather simple, actually. Basically, everyone in your household tries to incorporate as much green into the day as possible. Green clothing is mandatory, of course. The children can help craft plenty of green decorations for the home (this can be done ahead of time). And-perhaps most fun of all--everyone must try to consume green foods for all meals and snacks.

When you first begin to think about what green foods to serve, vegetables probably come to mind. You can, of course, serve a green salad with lunch. And green peppers, pea pods, and celery sticks would make a great snack served along with some green dip (just add a few drops of green food coloring to any regular vegetable dip to tint it a light green color). Broccoli or peas would be good side dishes to go with dinner. But what other foods can you serve that would be green? Here are some ideas (note that some require advance preparation):

Breakfast

--Spinach breakfast pizza: Take a can of pizza dough, spread it on a baking sheet, and bake at the directed temperature for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, sauté about ½ cup of spinach (frozen; thawed, with excess water squeezed out) in 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 1 minute. In a small bowl, beat 4 eggs, seasoning with salt and pepper as you like. Add to the spinach in the sauté pan and cook until scrambled. Remove from heat. When pizza dough comes out of the oven, sprinkle dough with ½ cup of shredded cheddar cheese. Spread spinach and egg mixture over the dough next, then sprinkle another ½ cup of shredded cheddar on top. Put pizza back in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until cheese is melted and pizza crust is golden brown.

--Green pancakes: Use your favorite pancake recipe or any pancake mix and just add several drops of green food coloring to the batter.

Lunch