Hi, innobaby mamas! St. Patrick's Day is so much more than just St. Patrick now. Here in Chicago we famously dye our river green and have a great parade. We know New York has a great parade too! Some of our mamas do Shamrock Shuffles, and some of us do St. Baldrick's to raise money, which produces some excellent (and heartwarming) results.
We also know that everything needs to be green, green, green!
We can't eat cookies every day of the week, but hey, a holiday is always a great excuse to have a little cheat day and have a treat, especially if it's fun, green, and shaped like a shamrock.
What you'll need:
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3 oz package of cream cheese, softened
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract (double up on the vanilla if you have a nut allergy)
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, combine the sugar, butter, cream cheese, salt, almond and vanilla extracts, and egg yolk. Beat until smooth. Stir in flour until well blended. Chill the dough for 8 hours, or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough 1/3 at a time to 1/8 inch thickness, refrigerating remaining dough until ready to use. Cut into desired shapes with lightly floured cookie cutters. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Leave cookies plain for frosting, or brush with slightly beaten egg white and sprinkle with candy sprinkles or colored sugar.
- Bake for 7 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until light and golden brown. Cool cookies completely before frosting.
They're fairly simple, and your littles will love helping get ready for the holiday! If you try these out, please hashtag us online! #innobaby - instagram and Facebook are our faves, and we love to see our IB moms and babies having a great time!
(originally found on allrecipes.com, and found to be completely delicious.)
Are you looking for something a little healthier? We found an excellent smoothie recipe too, though we're going to go for the cookies, honestly.
What you'll need:
- 1 frozen banana, large
- 1 cup spinach
- 1/2 cup low-fat vanilla yogurt (we like Greek)
- 1/2 cup low-fat milk
- 1/3 cup packed fresh mint leaves
- 4 ice cubes
- Kiwis (for a cute garnish!)
Instructions:
- Combine everything into blender and blend until smooth. Except the kiwi, because...
- Cut kiwi into cute little shamrocks!
That one is super easy and super healthy. You should probably have a cookie to balance that out!
(This one was found on EatingWell, which is chock full of amazing recipes, too.)
Make sure that you pick up your green stuff on St. Patrick's Day - some of your faves will be 17% off on innobaby.com!