So last Friday night, we held our annual St. Patty’s day ‘dinner and a movie’ party, where we enjoy traditional Irish foods and watch The Boondock Saints. This is like the 10th year we’ve done it, and though the technology in the movie gets more and more ancient, we still love it, and pretty much quote along with it the whole time.
Every year, I make corned beef and cabbage, but for the last several, I’ve added another dish called a Dublin coddle, which is basically a baked casserole with sausage, bacon, potatoes, onions, and carrots. While E.J. and I have been trying to avoid white potatoes as a general rule, they’re not exactly forbidden in a Paleo diet, so with the assurance of sugar and nitrate-free sausage from Bellville Meat Market, making the dish compliant was not a big deal.
The real stars of the show, however, were the Paleo Irish soda bread, courtesy of Elana’s Pantry and the Paleo Irish Mint Patties, from Delighted Momma. I made 2 loaves of the soda bread, and only added a handful of raisins to make it more like the breads we have traditionally bought from the store. The result was fantastic, and people couldn’t believe that there was no wheat flour in it.
For dessert, the Paleo Irish Mint Patties were also a hit, though I added coconut butter to the recipe to get more of a peppermint patty-like creme consistency for the inside. It was just one more example of the many delicious things we CAN have with this new way of eating, and just reinforces what we’ve learned about Paleo: It’s not about what you can’t have; it’s about enjoying food in a different way.
One of our closest couple friends have started trying to eat Paleo starting after the Super Bowl, and he’s lost about 15 lbs and she’s lost a pant size. It’s unbelievable what a difference removing empty carbs and refined sugar can make.
