We just celebrated one of the most important holidays or events of the year: St. Patrick’s Day, on which most of the world suddenly turns Irish.
It’s incredible how many people around the globe claim Irish heritage on the greenest day of the year. If all the people who left Ireland in the past 100 years returned home, Ireland would sink into the ocean.
We are very proud of our time in Ireland. It became our new home, and we often consider ourselves Irish, without the heritage and the passport. However, we follow the Irish economy, developments, business, and events, and not a week goes by when we do not exclaim our love for Ireland. We miss our friends and the craic. We had a wonderful time in Ireland!
Noun. Meaning: A good time; fun; banter; mischievous; news. A word with a million uses, you'll hear craic (pronounced “crack”) used every day in Ireland as a slang term. source
The weekend of St. Patrick’s Day was spent celebrating and interacting with our inner Irishness and many Irish friends and activities.
Celebrating Our Irishness
We celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with close Irish friends in the US every year. We meet for a pre-parade lunch consisting of corned beef, cabbage, scones, gravy, and spuds (potatoes).
And we flush it down with a few cans of the black gold – Guinness.
This year, my St. Patrick’s Day celebrations kicked off Friday at midday, when I was invited to participate in the Ireland – US Council. It is a fantastic business organization that has been meeting since the early 1960s, and the aim is to promote business between Ireland and the US and promote visiting Ireland to experience the craic.
We were honored to meet Michael Flatley and rub shoulders with many important Irish business people from the New York area. It was also a chance to support Ireland by participating in a good cause.
On Saturday evening, we went up North (Kingston) to attend a concert with the talented Rend Collective, a Christian band that plays tunes with Irish melodies, and they have a lot of energy. It’s an excellent band and well worth seeing.
Before going to the concert, we witness Ireland winning the Six Nations completion. It’s a fantastic rugby tournament with Wales, Scotland, England, France, Italy, and Ireland.
On Sunday, we went to the parade—not the NYC parade, but the parade in Pearl River. It’s the largest parade outside NYC, in New York. It is packed with people dressed in green, and the parade lasts about two hours. It is full of pipes and drums, Irish organizations, and marching bands.
Week Twelve Meals
It was a hectic weekend, and I had little time to plan or shop for this week’s meals. However, I still managed to cook Sunday evening while drinking one or two cans of Guinness.
I had a delicious Irish breakfast sandwich for dinner: rashers, sausage, and a fried egg smothered by two slices of toasted bread. It was bloody marvelous!
School Lunches
It’s a simple week of school lunches yet filling and delicious.
I’m making some grilled sandwich options: quesadilla, grilled cheese, mozzarella, and pesto. Each sandwich is popular with the kids.
I grilled chicken breasts on the Traeger and made Caesar salad.
Dinner Time
It is not an Irish-themed meal plan. It would’ve been an obvious choice, but I like to surprise my readers.
Instead, I made three one-pan or one-pot dishes, each taking no more than 45 minutes to make – from start to finish.
The upside-down pizza is basically ground beef with your preferred vegetables, sprinkled with grated cheese and decorated with a can of biscuits cut into fourths. Then bake for 40-ish minutes at 400F.
Shakshuka is originally a vegetable dish, but I added five grilled chicken thighs for protein. I heated the Shakshuka in the pot, and then I poached/steamed a few eggs on top of it.
Lastly, I made a tortellini bake with mushrooms, onion, and spinach topping.
Meal Prep Party Pictures
Meal Plan
| Lunch | Dinner | |
| Monday | Caesar salad with grilled chicken | Ox Tail Stew (leftover) |
| Tuesday | Chicken Quesadilla | Shakshuka with chicken thighs |
| Wednesday | Mozarella and pesto melt | Upside-Down Pizza |
| Thursday | Grilled cheese | Spinach, artichoke and tortellini bake |
| Friday | Pizza … again | Friday night fire pit wonders |
One day, I might get so organized that I will link the meals below to my recipes. We can only live in hope!
Have a fantastic week, my friends. I hope you enjoy these meal plans. It is much easier to make food in advance, although you must invest several hours preparing meals during the weekend.
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The Viking Heart Within 