Irish Stew & Shamrock Canvas Painting

Hello, friends! I haven't posted through the weekend due to hardly being home. Friday and Saturday were spent out at a friends house. I did manage a small craft with my kids and her daughter. It was very easy, very messy, and very fun!

Things you need:

canvas
shamrock cutouts
tape
paint
paintbrushes (but we used a lot of hands mostly)

Tape your cutouts to the canvas. I doubled my tape over and just put it on the back, so that there weren't outline of the tape. Paint all over using hands, brushes, a dog, whatever is nearby. Okay, don't use the dog. Peel off the cutouts. Admire your masterpiece.

Being that it is now St. Patrick's Day, we've accomplished the sharing of our delicious mint chocolate fudge, eating green pies, making leprechaun hats, creating a free printable, enjoying soda bread, and making the canvas. Today the kids donned the green and had some fun party hats. We made a delicious stew with roasted cabbage for dinner.

Stew Ingredients:
1.5lbs of cubed lamb or stew meat
4 cups beef broth
1/4 cup of flour
about 3 Tbsp EVOO
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 medium potatoes, cubed
2 large carrots, cut in 1" pieces

1 tsp thyme 

1/2 tsp pepper

salt, if desired (but honestly, the broth is salty enough for us)

Roasted Cabbage Ingredients:
1 large head green cabbage, cut into wedges

EVOO

sea salt

From start to finish, it took approximately 2 hours. Place the flour and meat in a large ziplock bag and toss until covered evenly. I browned the meat in 3 separate batches, using 1 Tbsp of EVOO each time. I used one pot for the entire stew process, but you're welcome to use multiple cooking items. Put 1Tbsp of oil into your pot and heat on medium. Add in the first batch of meat and brown on all sides. Place meat onto a plate lined with a paper towel, or regular towel, whatever tickles your fancy, to soak up the excess grease. Repeat process for the other 2 batches. Using the oil left in the pot, saute the onions until tender. Add in the garlic and saute for another minute or so. Pour the beef broth in and return meat to the pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 1 hr. The last 15ish minutes of this, I chopped my carrots and potatoes. Once the hour is up, add to the stew. Cover and cook for an additional 30 minutes. Towards the end of this, I prepared my cabbage. Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Spritz the cabbage thoroughly with EVOO and sprinkle on sea salt. Once the timer goes off, add the thyme, pepper, and salt to the stew. Cover and cook an additional 20 minutes. During this time, put the cabbage into the oven. 10 minutes and then flip and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Everything should be done around the same time this way. Seems complicated, but it's really not. 

I apologize for the less than good looking shot of the food, but hungry babies means fast plating. We had a super great week long celebration for St. Patrick's Day and loved sharing it with you all. Stay tuned tomorrow for a great outdoor craft that we also accomplished over the weekend!