Green Foods

image

Friday is St. Patrick’s  Day!  In the spirit of fun, why not treat family and/or friends to a green themed meal or party?

Every item served doesn’t have to be green, but serve it in a green dish, or speckle with chopped green herbs. Create a green table setting, use green napkins, and find green stemware online.  And, don’t forget to wear green!

Here are a few green foods or foods with green in them to consider:

Drinks:
* Green Gatorade can be mixed with ginger ale for a tasty treat.
* Apple martini mixer can be made into an adult beverage, or stay kid friendly with ginger ale.
* Green Kool-Aid can be mixed up with or without liquor.
* Creme de menthe liqueur would make a great dessert drink or aperitif.
* Green beer.
* Margaritas.
* Spa water made with limes, mint, and kiwi.  Maybe even add a drop or two of food coloring.

Appetizers:
* Tortilla roll-ups made with spinach tortillas.
* Artichoke and spinach dip.
* Make homemade baguettes adding a bit of green food coloring to the dough.
* Pesto.
* Soup shooters:  Either cold honeydew melon soup or warm broccoli soup.
* Get sushi from your local restaurant.  The nori that wraps the sushi is a dark green.
* A crudités platter with green goddess dressing as the dip.  Go heavy on the green vegetables, such as celery, broccoli, zucchini slices, cucumber slices, small green tomatoes, etc.
* Add a bit of fresh parsley, dill, or other green herb to the top of canapés.
* Guacamole and chips (green if you can find them!).
* A watermelon bowl full of fruit chunks, many of which should be green like green grapes, kiwi, green apple, pear and honeydew melon.
* Endive boats filled with chicken salad.

Soups/starters:
* Broccoli soup.
* Split pea soup.
* Kale salad.
* Caprese salad made with green tomatoes.

Entrees:
* Enchiladas made with spinach tortillas and served with tomatillo sauce.
* Green eggs and ham.
* Spinach quiche with a green salad on the side.
* Ceaser salad with chicken and lots of fresh green herbs.
* Any protein served with a pesto drizzle, herb drizzle, or green goddess drizzle.
* Stuffed green peppers.
* Fish served with a few lime slices on top.

Sides:
* Green vegetables such as broccoli, spinach, broccoli rabe, zucchini, green beans, sugar snap peas, snow peas, green peas, kale, asparagus, or brussels sprouts.
* Roasted green grapes.
* Green lentils.
* Rice, mashed potatoes or other non-green veggie with lots of chopped up herbs.  I love carrots with dill sprinkled in liberally.

Desserts:
* Key lime pie.
* Zucchini dessert bread.
* Andes mints.
* Pistachio ice cream.
* Lime sherbet.
* Lime melt away cookies.
* Stuffed green apples.
* Add green food coloring to your favorite cake recipe.  Go ahead and use the normal colored frosting so that the inside is a surprise!
* Serve coffee with creme de menthe syrup (non-alcoholic) or creme de menthe liqueur as a flavor option.

Go to your local low-cost/dollar store for table decorations.  Or, better yet, look through your house for anything green to use on the table.  Make a green tablecloth from cheap fabric.  Find green candles for clear or plain candle holders.  Most of all, have fun with it!

What are your favorite green (colored) foods?