soda bread

St. Patrick’s Day 2024

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! We actually celebrated yesterday, right after we picked Bunny up for spring break. I’m so glad she could be home with us for all of our St. Patrick’s Day traditions.

We still haven’t caught the leprechaun, but this year, for the first time, we did see him!

In addition to a minty treat, he left us with Lucky Charms…this time, with dragon marshmallows!1

In keeping with the theme of the day (green), I made some matcha milk boba tea, and topped it with lavender-lemonade whipped cream:

We had our traditional dinner of corned beef and cabbage, roast carrots and potatoes, and soda bread with Irish butter:

And a Guinness cake for dessert!

Tomorrow, we get to celebrate Turkey’s 21st birthday (also a day early!).

St. Patrick’s Day 2023

Happy St. Paddy’s Day! We started the day as we always do, by setting out our leprechaun trap:

And, as always, we found evidence that Lucky had visited, but no leprechaun himself…he did leave some nice candy, though!

We had our traditional St. Patrick’s Day breakfast of Lucky Charms:

And our standard dinner of corned beef and cabbage, roast potatoes and carrots, and soda bread with Irish butter. Oh, and a local favorite, Ski soda, just because the bottle is green!

Dessert was a little different…Bunny took our recipe for Guinness cake and made mini bundt cakes. Just as delicious, but so much more adorable!

It was a fun day, but only a warm-up to an even bigger day tomorrow…stay tuned!

Tasty Tuesday–Irish Soda Bread

I’ve been making this particular soda bread recipe for years, now, and it’s very popular in our house. I especially like it because it doesn’t have raisins, and as far as I understand, the raisins are not necessary for an authentic soda bread. The buttermilk, however, is a key ingredient. It’s also important to make it a day ahead, and wrap it in foil…that really helps the flavor develop!

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 Tbsp. baking powder
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9×5 loaf pan.

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda in large bowl. Blend egg and buttermilk together; add all at once to flour mixture. Mix until moistened. Stir in butter and pour into pan.

Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in a wire rack. Wrap in foil and store overnight.