My Favorite March 17th Recipe

Although I won't be able to make this recipe until the weekend I still wanted to share with you my favorite St. Patrick's Day recipe- Colcannon.

According to Wikipedia Colcannon is "a traditional Irish dish mainly consisting of mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage" 

My friend V bought me the Happy Herbivore Abroad cookbook just over two years ago (I remember exactly when because she gave it to me on my last trip to Austin before I moved to Pensacola) and it has become one of my favorites. In it is a vegan recipe for Colcannon that is both super easy and super delicious. I have made it with cabbage and with kale and I am honestly not sure which I prefer...maybe the kale. Either way, this dish is fantastic. 

If you don't have anything on your St. Patrick's Day menu I suggest you try this one out!

Here is a link to an adaptation of the HHA recipe: LINK

Feel free to go the kale route or you can add in some browned cabbage and onions in lieu of the kale OR you can go really crazy and do a kale and cabbage mix. Why not?

P.S. - a quick Pinterest search will not only find you a billion traditional colcannon recipes you can also find an assortment of non-traditional ones like some using cauliflower instead of potatoes

P.P.S.- leftover colcannon makes great potato pancakes :)


Happy eatings!

Love and hugs,
Dacia
xoxoxox

McGuire's St. Patrick's Day 5K

I love St. Patrick's Day and yes, for the most obvious reason- the beer! 

This year E and I celebrated early with the McGuire's St. Patrick's Day 5K. A 5K may seem harmless to most but not this one. It is basically a huge party but in order to gain entrance you must run 3.1 miles first. The McGuire's run is a really big event here in Pensacola. This year ~ 14,000 ran it (or at least registered for it- that's what they said at the start line). They claim it is the largest prediction race (meaning the winner is the person that comes closest to the time they predicted at registration - also meaning no watches or timing devices allowed) in the country. It starts at 9am and when you cross the finish line the party is already underway. Heck, the party is already underway before you even begin running. The post race festivities include live music, beer, Irish wakes and Irish stew. There is also water, soda (including McGuire's own root beer), bananas and oranges for the people, like me, that want to attempt to rehydrate before they dehydrate. 

We had an amazing time running this 'race' together even though navigating the crowds and the groups of walkers that at times spanned the entirety of four lanes (nothing against walkers- I am pro walkers- but I do have something against those that don't follow race rues) during made it quite the cluster. If I had a GPS watch I guarantee I ran closer to 3.5 -3.75 than 3.1 miles. But it's all in fun. We weren't out there to race it- we were out there to enjoy ourselves and that is exactly what we did. 

We spent the after party hanging out with old friends and new and then as things wrapped up at the after party we headed out to grab some lunch and enjoy some more beers. Oh, and then we hit up the local running store that always has a big winter clearance sale the day of the McGuire's run where I scored me some new Newtons for 75.00 that were originally marked 155.00. Not gonna lie, that was one of the best parts of the day ;)

All in all we had an amazing time at the race and the after party. Next year we will prepare more in advance and try to be a bit more festive and come up with some fun costumes or at least a bit more St. Paddy's gear. Also next year we will be sure to bring the sunblock. E and I are both still red from the sunburn. Typically we know better but we are just out of the slathering ourselves in sunblock before we go anywhere habit. Lesson learned. And noted for this week's half marathon. 

Had to represent Fitbloggin'!!!

Did you do any St. Paddy's themed (or Pi Day themed) runs this weekend? Do you celebrate St. Patrick's Day?

Love and hugs,

Dacia

xoxoxoxox

Day 6 and 7 - March Healthy Living Challenge

For Day 6 of the March Healthy Living/Fitness Blogger Blogging Challenge Janice, the Fitness Cheerleader, asked us to share our favorite St. Patrick's Day recipe.

Since I am a vegan, traditional items like corned beef or Shepard's pie are out for me. I should note that last night I made up this Irish Beef Stew for E and he LOVED it. I cannot attest to how it tasted but it certainly did smell scrumptious. So, if you are looking for a good beef stew recipe I would try this one.

As far as my favorite SPD dish goes there is one I absolutely love and thanks to the recipe in  Happy Herbivore Abroad I can still eat - colcannon.

Colcannon is a really simple and very yummy potato dish. It is basically mashed potatoes with kale (or cabbage) mixed in. The recipe from HH Abroad is super simple(five ingredients; potatoes, kale, green onion, non-dairy milk, and dijon mustard) and definitely one of my favorite dishes, not just for St. Patrick's Day it is one of my favorites, period.

I made up a batch last night and will happily be enjoying leftovers for the next few days. Even E, who hates anything green and leafy, liked it. I call that a win in my book. Dang, just talking about it is making me hungry. Lol!

What is your favorite St. Patrick's Day recipe? 

For Day 7 of the March Healthy Living/Fitness Blogger Blogging Challenge Janice, the Fitness Cheerleader, asked us how we were celebrating St. Patrick's Day

As I discussed briefly earlier in the post, last night I made up a huge Irish feast for me (the Italian) and my Salvadorian boyfriend. Even though neither of us are Irish we both enjoy beer and Irish fare so we, of course, wanted to partake in the holiday.

Tonight, after work and the gym, we will be enjoying our leftovers ( I am thinking of making boxtie's/potato pancakes out of the colcannon) and then heading downtown for some beers. Initially I had thought we would be staying in to watch the Boondock Saints but I think we will end up downtown instead. More than likely we will end up at World of Beers to check out their Irish beer selection. I am not a fan of green beer (unless it is Spirulina Wit from Freetail Brewing in San Antonio- that is one of my all time favorite beers) so I will probably just stick with something Irish or whatever sounds good.

How do you celebrate this most famous of Irish holidays? 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Love and hugs,
Dacia
xoxoxox