Happy St. Patrick’s Day, Bread and a Giveaway! (Closed)

This St. Patrick’s Day I am cooking up the traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage with lots of potatoes. I finally got a crock-pot so making this dish is so much easier to prepare. I really don’t know why I make it every year. I'm not really a big fan of corned beef. I think maybe I do it because that’s what my Grandma does every year. Just smelling it reminds me of being at her house for dinner on St. Patrick’s Day.

Grandma would also make Irish soda bread or sometimes beer bread. Since I love bread in any form I decided to make a loaf. I think it came out pretty respectable and tastes pretty similar to hers. I’d have asked my Grandma for her recipe but she has the pesky habit of not going by a recipe! My momma does this too and as a result, it makes it really hard to duplicate their cooking. I think they do it on purpose to keep you coming back for more. Nothing gets me home faster than Mom saying she has a pot of chicken and dumplings ready to eat!

I found this recipe for Traditional Irish Soda Bread on the bakingsheet blog. It‘s so so simple to make and requires only four ingredients! I was very pleased with the bread that came out of the oven.  It taste almost like a biscuit and was wonderful with butter and honey!  One tip though, don't score it like I did!


Traditional Irish Soda Bread as seen on the bakingsheet

Ingredients:

flour, baking soda, salt and butter milk...not a lot of hassle!

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 - 1 1/4 cups buttermilk

Your first step is to get the oven preheated to 350 degrees and to get out a pan and line it with some parchment paper.

The you want to combine all dry ingredients and stir together, or you can use a whisk like I did which is much easier!

Add your buttermilk and mix until the dough comes together. I ended up just  using my hands to mix the dough together.

Don't over mix the dough. It should be moist, but not so sticky that it's very hard to handle.

I really suggest going with an 'X' at this step...

 Shape into a round and place on baking sheet. Cut an X into the top with a sharp knife and bake for about 45 minutes, until dark golden. A toothpick will come out clean.

...Unless you like spaceship shaped bread!

Cool for about 10 minutes before slicing. This bread is best served soon after baking covered in butter and dripping with honey (well, if your like me that is!).

In celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, I’m giving away one $15 gift code to CSN stores. CSN Stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from awesome cookware to fantastic fitness equipment to shoes! Entering to win is easy: Congratulations to anash for winning the gift certificate!

Leave a comment telling me how your family celebrates St. Patrick’s Day.


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• Becoming a subscriber to Dietetic Sinners by doing one of the following: subscribe via RSS or Google Friends connect (see widget in sidebar) Already subscribe? AWESOME! Be sure to let me know in the comments so that your extra entry will count.


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Giveaway will end on March 20, 2010 at 5 pm EST. Open to all US residents only (sorry Canada & international readers!). One winner with a valid entry will be selected at random using random.org. I will email the winner and they will have 48 hours to claim their prize.


In summary:


Start Date: Now
End Date: March 20th at 5pm EST
Prize: One $15 CSN Stores Gift Certificate (coupon code) for use towards shopping at any of their 200 on-line retailers
Task: See above.