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Fresh Fridays, March 10

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Happiest of Fridays, friends! I appreciated your grace last week when the link to my email didn’t work — when you scheduled it to go live at 4 pm but meant 4 am, it doesn’t have a read-your-mind autocorrect feature. Go-figure!

Is anyone else experiencing weather whiplash? 31° and sleet Wednesday, 61 today, and snow forecast for the weekend?! As we crawl toward the arrival of spring, we also celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It’s the perfect time to indulge in everything Irish, from hearty stews to freshly baked soda bread.

Fresh Fridays Logo new 2022.

Whether you’re throwing a party or enjoying a cozy night, I’ve got plenty of recipes to help you get into the St. Paddy’s Day spirit.

With spring just around the corner, it’s time to start thinking about incorporating fresh, seasonal ingredients into our meals. There’s no shortage of delicious produce, from asparagus to strawberries and the darling of spring, rhubarb. And with the warmer weather comes renewed energy and enthusiasm for cooking and entertaining. Who’s with me!?

Hand squeezing lemon on fresh air fryer roasted asparagus.
Easy Air Fryer Asparagus

Daylight Savings Time – March 12

I was so hoping that legislation would pass, ending a time change — but nope! So if you are “lucky” enough to live in a state that observes Daylight Savings Time, it means this Sunday, March 12 – we Spring-forward, henceforth losing an hour of precious sleep — don’t get me going on this one! I hated it when my boys were young, and I hate it just as much now!

daylight savings time funny, I am so excited for Daylight Savings time!" Said no parent...ever!

In My Life

Between my travel and several work trips for my husband, we hadn’t seen one another for 12 days! That’s a long time! We enjoyed a quiet weekend at home, with walks and time with our church family. I missed him; it is awfully quiet around here when nobody is around.

I enjoyed dinner on Monday with several of my girlfriends — made my chocolate lava cakes; they were so yummy! Tuesday, I worked at the library with my friend Eliza, which is always a pleasure. Lastly, I am training a friend to help me with some things on the blog, so I had her over yesterday; we went for a walk and enjoyed leftover 10 Vegetable Soup.

St Patrick’s Day Recipes – What’s Cooking in my Kitchen

I was never a massive fan of green foods for St. Patrick’s day. Instead, I love experimenting with traditional Irish recipes. One staple of Irish cuisine is Irish brown bread, which is made with whole-grain flour, buttermilk, and baking soda. Check out how to make my latest recipe, no rise, no yeast quick bread.

Irish brown bread made in cast-iron skillet.
Baked Irish brown bread

Another popular dish is baked corned beef and cabbage, a hearty and flavorful meal typically made with brisket, cabbage, and potatoes.

Finally, no St. Patrick’s Day celebration is complete without a cup of Irish coffee, which combines coffee, Irish whiskey, brown sugar, and whipped cream for a rich and indulgent treat. Check out all the St. Patrick’s day recipes below.

Square baked corned beef recipe with meat on platter surrounded by roasted cabbage, potatoes and carrots and a loaf of bread in background.

Best Baked Corned Beef and Cabbage

Slow-roasting corned beef with leeks, potatoes, cabbage, and carrots, all of their flavors meld and balance in perfect harmony, creating fork tender baked corned beef with a delicious smokey bourbon glaze.

Irish brown soda bread recipe on cutting board with a few pieces sliced, butter in background.

Traditional Irish Brown Bread

When I was testing this recipe, we enjoyed this dense, tender, chewy bread with a big bowl of soup — so good!

Skillet shepherd's pie square image with golden brown mashed potatoes.

Skillet Shepherd’s Pie

Traditional Skillet Shepherd’s Pie – aka Cottage Pie made with ground beef (or lamb!)—a hearty, delicious filling with a flavorful meat mixture under a fluffy layer of mashed potatoes.

Bangers and mash - sausages and mashed potatoes with yummy stout onion gravy.

Bangers and Mash with Milk Stout Gravy

Bangers and Mash with Stout Gravy! What’s not to love about delicious sausages, cooked in a creamy milk stout, layered atop fluffy mashed potatoes; smothered in a rich stout onion gravy.

Bowl of beer beef stew with homemade crackers.

Dutch Oven Beef Stew {or Slow Cooker}

A tender, delicious, slow cooked beef stew loaded with tender carrots, potatoes, caramelized onions, swimming in a rich, savory gravy.

Irish soda bread with wedge removed, buttered with Irish butter.

Easy Traditional Irish Soda Bread

Traditional 4 ingredients Irish Soda Bread is the best easy recipe to make from scratch. A dense, crusty, hearty bread recipe from Ireland. Gluten-free option too!

Easy Irish Coffee Cocktail in glass mugs with bottle of Jameson whiskey behind.

Easy Classic Irish Coffee Recipe

NEW!! This easy Irish coffee recipe is a classic Irish coffee cocktail that is ideal for chilly nights. It is a delightful blend of coffee, whiskey, sugar, and cream, perfect for warming you up on a cold night or adding a touch of sophistication to your after-dinner drink.

St. Patrick's Day Recipes

Pi Day – March 14

My boys LOVED Pi (Pie) Day, especially in middle school. Their math teachers would encourage them to bring pies to share with the class. Please don’t ask me what pi is, other than I know it’s 3.14 and a bunch of different numbers after that, and it has to do with ratios, circumference, and diameter — what can I say? The math gene skipped me!

Here are a few of our favorite sweet pies! But feel free to make savory pies; try breakfast with this Hashbrown Quiche; dinner could be this Tamale pie, Spaghetti pie, or this Ham pot pie.

Square image of whole easy key lime pie with dollops of whipped cream and decorated with wedges of key limes.

Best Key Lime Pie

This is the BEST Key Lime Pie, so easy too! A traditional Key Lime pie recipe that is, citrusy, sweet-tart — the perfect sweet to-pucker ratio; light and bright with a crisp not-to-sweet graham cracker crust!

A full size Lemon Cream Pie square shot with wedges of lemon on top of dollops of whipped cream.

No Bake Lemon Icebox Pie Recipe

Ready to chill in about 30 minutes, made with real lemon juice, cream cheese, mascarpone and sweetened condensed milk all tucked into an amazing Golden Oreo cookie crust.

No bake chocolate pie with graham cracker crust with wedge removed on pie server.

No Bake Chocolate Pie

It’s pie season! I have the easiest, most scrumptious no-bake chocolate pie. My mouth waters just thinking about the silky smooth texture and rich flavor in this dessert! 

Wedge revealing layered inside of mud pie cake.

Best Mud Pie Recipe (Ice Cream Cake)

Outrageously delicious & easy! Mile High Mud Pie is layers of creamy ice, fudge and whatever you want to put between with a rich oreo cookie crust.

Gluten-Free Apple pie with slice removed revealing juicy layers of apples square image.

Apple Pie with Crumb Topping

Celebrate pie day with this juicy, sweet-tart, delicious apple pie! This gluten-free apple pie will rock your socks off, with the crust and crumble topping made from the same dough.

What’s On Sale

  1. FOR YOU – I love this sun dress; great for Easter, Mother’s Day, and summertime, and I’ve been living in these French Terry Crops (and the top is great for layering). I love green! This kelly green oversized button-down is in my cart right now! And these stretch crop pants and this cardigan.
  2. FOR THE HOME – Loving this pretty embroidered pillow and this distressed Magnolia vase with a faux olive branch or this leafy look – or go all springy with forsythia, pink dogwood, or cherry blossoms.
  3. FOR THE KITCHEN – My favorite Swedish dishcloths, these Rubbermaid BPA Free Storage containers, Ninja on sale blender, food processor combo! Love these striped kitchen towels. Dress up your counter with this pretty stoneware footed cake stand.

What you are loving

I love seeing what you all are loving, this oversized wooden tray tops everything, but these super comfy starfish pants and these wide-leg linen pants are close seconds. Did you know that if you purchase something from Nordstrom that needs to be hemmed, they will hem it for free?!

Handy Tips

  • If you own an iPhone and you accidentally delete something you were writing, there is a feature on it called “Shake to Undo” – allows you to undo typed text by shaking your device. Simply shake the phone side-to-side and what you were typing will return. Saved me several times!
  • My son taught me this trick, sometimes, when I have a bazillion tabs open (who’s me?), I start closing them and then accidentally close one I needed open. Guess what? You can get it back. To restore the last tab closed, hold Command+Shift+T (Ctrl + Shift + t on a PC), and if you need to recover all of your tabs, continue holding Command+shift and keep hitting the “T”.

Weekly Inspiration

Spring is around the corner; hold tight! In Isaiah, chapter 43, verse 19: “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”

This verse reminds me that God is always at work, bringing new life and opportunities. Just as the flowers and trees bloom in the Springtime, God is constantly creating and renewing. Even amid difficult or uncertain times, we can trust that God is making way for us, providing us with the nourishment and refreshment we need to thrive.

Irish Blessing

Image with Irish blessing on it and hand holding 3 leaf clover.

May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you are going, and the insight to know when you have gone too far.

Thank you, friends, for allowing me into your inbox each week; it’s an honor and privilege I do not take lightly.

signature of Kathleen, The Fresh Cooky Recipe developer


P.S. If you missed last week Fresh Fridays; recipes, sales, tips, ideas and more!

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Kathleen Pope, The Fresh Cooky.

About Kathleen Pope

Recipe Innovator | Food Photographer | Food Writer

Hi, I’m Kathleen Pope. Here at The Fresh Cooky you will find easy, mostly from-scratch, trusted recipes for all occasions. From speedy dinners to tasty desserts, with easy step-by-step instructions. I am here to help teach you how to make mouthwatering recipes without spending hours in the kitchen. Read more about Kathleen here.

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