St. Patty's Party!!!

Time for the 2nd annual St. Patrick's Day Party hosted by Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen...Make sure you stop by her blog and link up to all the bloggers who are celebrating right along.

I'm lucky enough to be Irish on both sides of the family.  Anyone traveling to Ireland will no doubt see pubs for both the Foleys and Lynch's.  My niece, Abby, is in Ireland as we speak.  She left on Saturday and I'm anxious to hear about how she celebrated St. Patrick's in the "homeland"

An Irish dish that always looked so good to me was the "Shepherds Pie"... I wanted to try this simple recipe but also did not want such a big dish.  So the answer was to make Individual Shepherds Pie, A Taste of Home recipe.  Actually, by tradition a Shepherds Pie is to have lamb, and if you use ground beef it is know as Cottage Pie.  But I am still calling it Shepherds Pie!  They turned out so cute and tasty...and best of all they taste just as good warmed up the next day!

Now the TREATS !!!!   These are Mini-Mallow Chocolate Cups, also from Taste of Home.  I changed these up by using mint extract and folding in some mini Andes mint chips.  Topping them off with the mini chips, edible glitter and shamrock quins.  It was a labor of love making the little chocolate cups...time consuming but well worth it.

Love working with some of the molds I have, I made little containers out of white and green wafers..filling them with chocolate mousse, then topping them with an assortment of mint flavored molded designs.  What's great about these desserts is that everything is edible!

Had some mousse left over - so dressed up some of my pretty glassware..of course my Annalee Shamrock doll had to be included..

No Irish Beer or Irish Whiskey, just a creamy grasshopper...

My favorite Irish china

And of course, the manufacturer is....

Wishing everyone a very Happy St. Patricks Day,

 may the Luck of the Irish be with you all....

Leaving you with one of the all time favorite Irish songs My Mom loved... Danny Boy

Also take the time to stop by JanMary's blog , HERE, for a St. Patricks Carnival...

you won't be disappointed!!

CATALINA CHICKEN

As I was waiting in line in the grocery the other day I spotted the new Taste of Home 2010 Chicken Cookbook.  Actually, It's a magazine with 250+ chicken recipes for Appetizers, Skillet & Stovetop, Oven, Casseroles, Grilled, Slow Cooker, Cooking for 1 or 2, and Soups, Salads & Sandwiches. What's really great about it is..theres is a photo for every recipe! (I like to visualize what it is supposed to look like!)

First one I tried is the Catalina Chicken... only one substitution.  I didn't have grape jelly, so I used blackberry.  Turned out great...the chicken was nice and moist and the sauce flavor was superb.  Next time, I may decrease the amount of onion soup mix... it tends to overpower the other two ingredients in the sauce.  Even the oldest son gave his approval!

Make sure you brown the chicken breasts before putting it in the oven...I know how easy it is for SOME people to forget steps!

Catalina Chicken

Yield 2 servings


Recipe from Frances Roberts, Silver Springs Maryland


Taste of Home Chicken Cookbook 2010


2 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (5 ounces each)


2 tsp canola oil


¼ Cup Catalina salad dressing


4 ½ tsp onion soup mix


1 Tbsp. Grape jelly


In a large skillet, brown chicken in oil. Transfer to a shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Combine the salad dressing, soup mix and jelly; pour over chicken.


Bake uncovered, at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 170.


Serve over rice, if desired.

I used the rest of the package of onion soup mix on the roasted potatoes and added some sugar snap peas to round out the meal..  I will be making this again!

Look for the magazine...