Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Spring Fevers

This is my youngest grandkidlet, Miss M, who loves to be helpful and share tasks like washing dishes and making Easter decor.

She also likes to share germs like the bug she got from her brother. After visiting Wednesday, she was laid low with a combo respiratory/stomach bug on Thursday. Guess who got the same bug on Saturday? But I wouldn't trade the hugs and kisses for anything.


Getting sick in the Spring is a bummer. When my middle sister and I were little, Ann was felled by the evil chicken pox. Being the oldest, I really gave her a hard time about her spots and her covered in calamine lotion look. One day, Mom was giving us a bath. She gave my back a long stare, called my Dad in to look at me. I knew what she was going to say so I preempted her with "I love dem chicken pox." The itching was miserable but missing out on a beautiful Spring was worse. At least, my sister was happy I got my just reward!

Back to now! Never have I been so glad to have a back up blog recipe. Because I sure don't want to eat, let alone cook right now.

After visiting our favorite Irish pub earlier last week to avoid the crowds, ManO and I hunkered down on St. Paddy's Day. We always watch Waking Ned Devine.  It's tradition!

But we needed a meal to honor the Irish in both of us. We can trace our both our roots back, knowing immigration dates and villages ManO came from. So I thought of ingredients:

Potatoes:  The Potato Famine motivated our ancestors to move to the US. I'm not sure I would have been that brave.

Something Green:  Broccoli, one of my fave superfoods, was the perfect color for St. Patrick's Day.

Irish Cheese:  Oh, Dubliner, how I love thee.  Ignore the price! It was on sale for the holiday.

 

I quartered Yukon potatoes, tossed them in olive oil and roasted them for 35 minutes at 425.

Then I tossed in the broccoli to roast another seven minutes.

Then shredded Dubliner went over the veggies and back in the oven until melted.



To serve I topped with sour cream and a bit of bacon, because you know bacon makes everything better. But it was also a frugal meal, reminding us that meat was for the wealthy. 


Add a salad and it's a perfect light meal for early Spring.  

So are you suffering from one of the Spring fevers like allergies, viruses or March Madness? Do you think children are missing out getting the chicken pox vaccine rather than the real thing? How did you celebrate St. Patrick's Day? And do you have the Irish in ya?

13 comments:

  1. Roasted potatoes, bacon and cheese. Now that's food, right there! A casserole of that would be like my fave/fave/fave. :)

    I love that kids get vaccinations against measles and chicken pox and mumps. I will not say my real opinion of people who don't vaccinate their kids. Weeks of suffering are not in any kids best interests in my opinion, but then I'm a bossy know-it-all. The flu vaccine is different, though. I know that flu can be dangerous... but kids that get flu have a much stronger immunity to it the next time it comes around, or they seem to anyway. And because it comes around in various forms over the years, that basic immunity seems like a baseline to me. But I'm usually wrong.

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    1. Totally agree. And folks forget that who thing with children with chicken pox being given aspirin and developing Reyes Syndrome. People forget the other complications.

      And YOUR immunity has got to be great being around all the little ones you have!

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  2. Delicious looking casserole + cute grandkidlet = win! Thanks for the fun post Julie!

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    1. Thanks, Piper. Better than a cute casserole and delicious grandkidlet for sure. :-)

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  3. Oh yum...I have all the ingredients...well not the Dubliner cheese but I have cheddar. Brilliant comfort dish for sure!!!! And what about switching out the broccoli for kale, that would be yummy too. And yes, I'm Irish, hence the notion that anything potato equals comfort food. Hope you feel better soon, Julie. The only good thing about being sick in the spring is that at least I can find a sunny patch somewhere in the house to curl up in . Something very soothing about the warmth of sunlight after a gray, cold winter.

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    1. Yes, not shivering in the cold does wonders. So glad this recipe works for you. Let me know how the kale does as an ingredient.

      And here's to the Irish!

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  4. This looks fabulous. You can even low-carb it by substituting cauliflower for the potatoes. Cauliflower isn't quite the same as potatoes, but when you need to make the sacrifice, it's there for you.

    Things are pretty quiet around our house on St. Patrick's Day. My dear husband is 100% German/Austrian/Bohemian. All of his ancestors came from the southeastern part of Germany, along the borders with Austria and the Czech Republic.

    My ancestors were mostly Swiss-German, but there's just enough Irish in me to enjoy playing jigs on my tin whistle. :)

    I hope you feel better soon!

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    1. I love the cauliflower substitution. I am in the process of losing fifteen pounds. And that is perfect. I wonder how it would be with Kav's suggestion of kale for the broccoli?

      My maternal grandfather's family is Scotch-German, a very interesting combo. It's my grandmother's family that harks pretty straight from Ireland.

      I am now better, just in time for allergy season but that will be short lived.

      Thanks.

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    2. Actually, anything with cheese on it is delicious! Especially that Dubliner!

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  5. I'm Irish from all side and have NEVER heard of Dubliner! Wow. I'm so excited to add it to my shopping list for this week! Thanks, Julie. And for the great veggie recipe!

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    1. Missy, I am ALWAYS looking for imported cheese. I rarely use American made cheese unless it is a small farm or family operation.

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  6. Oh that really does look yummy! It has all my favorites (except the sour cream, which I claim allergy). Hope all of y'all are well on the road to recovery by now.

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    1. We are. Thanks for asking. Lawboy lost seven pounds. I lost four. The children? They bounced back enough to come over and play this morning.

      No sour cream?

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