When St. Paddy’s day rolls around, I can only think of either green dishes or Irish dishes…

Yesterday, I had celebrated St. Paddy’s day with a bunch of foodie friends and with lots of Irish dishes. I went totally Irish by taking Shepherd’s pie, Lime pie with pistachio Graham-cracker crust and Creamy shrimp stuffed Jalapenos. Other main dishes we had were: Lamb stew, Potato casserole, Irish Chicken and dumplings, Corn fritters along with Irish soda breads. For dessert, we had: Irish cookies, Irish cake and Pistachio cupcakes. Everything tasted pretty delicious and we were pretty full after devouring all the scrumptious Irish food. After coming home, I couldn’t think of anything but a power nap with a stomach full of Irish food

Here is the collage of the delicious Irish food made by my foodie friends and I:

I’ll post the recipe for Shepherd’s pie and Lime pie soon. If you want to make a green colored appetizer you could make my version of  creamy shrimp stuffed Jalapenos, for a spicy kick off.

While thinking of green dishes to make for St. Paddy’s day, first thing that came to my mind was spinach, one veggie which is always seen in my refrigerator. I love to add spinach to almost everything. From my salads, soups, stews, fried rice, to couscous, you will get a spinach bite. This time I tried a soup with spinach, my husband and I totally loved it. I would say the best way to inject spinach into your body is by sipping this soup, it’s rich, creamy, healthy and it’s colorful.

Winner for Skin MD giveaway chosen by the random number generator at Random.org  is Rini Williams. Congratulations Rini!

Spinach soup

Ingredients:

• Spinach, rinsed- 5 oz bag or 4 cups
• Red or white pearl onions, chopped- 10 no’s
• Garlic, minced- 1 1/2 tsp
• Chicken stock, low sodium, homemade or store bought or vegetable stock- 2 1/2 cups
• Heavy cream, fat-free- 1/2 cup
• Ground pepper- 1/4 tsp
• Olive oil- 1tbsp
• Salt- if required

Preparation:

• In a wide non-stick pan, add olive oil and saute pearl onions in it till tender.
• Add garlic and saute for a minute.

• Now, add the spinach and saute till it’s tender.
• Season with fresh ground pepper.

• Add chicken stock or vegetable stock and let come to a boil.

• Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool down.
• Puree this in a blender to a smooth paste.

• Transfer the pureed soup into the cooking pan.
• Add heavy cream, combine with the soup and heat the soup, avoid boiling the soup.

• Taste the soup, add ground pepper and salt if needed.

• Serve hot in a soup bowl with croutons or your choice bread.

Tips:

• For vegans: Add vegetable stock instead of chicken stock.

Check out other dishes I had made for St. Patrick’s day : Shepherd’s Pie and Lime pie with Pistachio Graham-Cracker crust