My kids look forward to waking up and finding as many as they can before school. Another tradition we embrace is the wearing of the green. Unfortunately, this year my favorite green sweater will now be worn by my 6 year old daughter because the dear husband, being the big helper that he is, has put it in the dryer one too many times. Whoops.
Last year, I made a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dinner of stew and Irish Soda Bread. It was pretty good, but I don’t want to make the same this year. We are still on King Cake Bun overload and the Irish Soda Bread just sounds too heavy. I also want to bring the green color that we’ll be wearing into our dinner. When I eat green I feel like I’m doing something great for my health. I think it is important to introduce healthy eating habits to our kids at a very young age. Don't get me wrong, everyone in my family has a HUGE sweet tooth. I allow us to partake in our favorite treats every now and then because I know the rest of the time we’re filling our bodies with nutritious food.
I decided to get my green from peas…English peas for the Irish holiday.
Huh?
My family is a blend, so we’re combining my husband’s English roots with the smidge of my Irish heritage. Sounds good to me.
I don’t want to just make ordinary peas though. I have to be creative. I conjured up an idea in my head and once again, I didn’t know how it would turn out, but here goes…
When researching alternative St. Patrick’s Day meals I couldn’t shake the idea of pork chops. They were just screaming out to me. Not to mention they were on sale at the grocery store, buy one get one free. You can’t pass that up.
The great deal was on the whole pork loin. It’s very, very simple to save a few bucks by cutting the loin into boneless chops. Score!
In my research, I learned before St. Patrick’s Day was the big crazy celebration that it is today, the Irish actually made boiled pork instead of corned beef because pork was plentiful in Ireland and beef was imported and expensive. The recipes have evolved, but the very early original was boiled pork. Ha! My roots were singing to me. I may be a little more Irish than I thought.
Start with the side dish because the pork takes little time. Place a head of garlic in foil and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 375° for about an hour or until soft.
While the garlic is in the oven, boil 1 lb. of parsnips and 4 smallish potatoes until soft. Steam an entire bag of beautiful green peas and then stick them in the food processor (or blender, or just hand mash) until mostly smooth.
Mix the mashed veggies together with your soft garlic and ½ cup Greek yogurt. Done with that! You could flavor it a little more with parmesan cheese and/or a little sea salt, but it really doesn’t need it.
Let’s back up to talk about parsnips. Parsnips look like white carrots and they taste a little sweet. They are full of fiber, potassium and folic acid and are lower in calories than potatoes. A good trick if you’re a mashed potato lover like me, but want to watch your carbs is use half potatoes and half parsnips. You may find that the taste is extraordinary and forego the gravy altogether. Bonus.
On to the pork…in a heavy, oven safe pan, sear your pork on high heat with just a touch of olive oil. Once browned on both sides add sliced shallots.
Put the uncovered pan in the oven and bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes. This will cook your pork to a medium temperature, depending on the thickness of your chops. I cut mine about ¾ in thick. I like my pork a little more well done so I baked my chops for 10 minutes.
Place the pork chops back in the pan to heat and sprinkle in a little parsley at the last minute.
There you have it. A somewhat traditional, Pleasing of your Palate, St. Patty’s Day Dinner. But wait…I said pistachios too. Along with my green dinner, I need green dessert. This recipe came from my grandmother (I don’t know where it exactly started). She made this for my birthday every year using chocolate pudding. I thought green pistachio pudding would work great.
Combine ¾ cup flour with 1 ½ sticks of softened butter until crumbly. Pat in the bottom of a 13x9 in pan sprayed with cooking spray and bake at 350° for 15 minutes. Let cool while you make the next layers. I like to put it in the freezer to get it extra hard for the next layer.
Bottom layer- Combine 4 oz. softened cream cheese, about 6 oz. Cool Whip, and 1 cup powdered sugar. Spread over completely cooled crust.
Middle layer- Combine 2 small instant pistachio pudding mixes and 3 ½ cups milk until thick. Spread over cream cheese layer. You can use ANY flavor pudding for any occasion.
Top layer- Cool Whip. My grandmother’s recipe calls for a 12 oz. container of Cool Whip, half for the bottom layer mixture, half for the top. Apparently, they don’t make 12 oz. containers anymore so just get the large one and use as much as you want.
Easy, easy! The kids can make this one.
I hope you enjoy this meal and find it p-p-p-perfect.
Supplies Needed:
1 lb. parsnips
4 small potatoes
1 bag frozen peas
Head of garlic
½ cup Greek yogurt
4-6 boneless pork chops
2 shallots
¼ cup apple cider vinegar
¾ cup apple juice
1 t. cornstarch
1 ½ cup flour
1 ½ sticks butter
4 oz. cream cheese
Large container of Cool Whip
2 small boxes instant pistachio pudding
3 ½ cups milk
