It's Not Easy Being Green ~ March 2014

St. Patricks Day was the following Monday so we decided to "go green".  We met at Nina's and enjoyed a feast that had all lovely shades of green.

We sipped these light and refreshing Frosted Apple Cocktails.  Nina tweaked the recipe by adding cinnamon sticks in the pitcher and poured each cocktail over ice and mint leaves.  They were absolutely yummy!

Betty brought these cute clover leaf 'crackers' which she painstakenly created by using a cookie cutter and cutting out the clovers from different tortillas.  The cut outs were baked until slightly browned and crisp.





She served them with a warm, gooey artichoke & spinach dip.  The evening was off to a great start!

 Nina made this fabulous (and healthy?) pea pesto crostini.  She made the crostini by placing the sliced bread on a cookie sheet under the broiler for 1-2 minutes each side until slightly browned and crisply.  The pesto was all made in a food processor and topped with a chiffinod of basil in lieu of diced tomatoes.  She went all out with the green!  These were some tasty bites.

Pea Pesto Crostini

Upstairs in Nina's dining room we continued our feast with this creamy, delicious asparagus soup.

Betty and Angi

Cream of asparagus soup

Denise said it was fairly easy to make... just used a good amount of   asparagus!  The asparagus soup recipe is from the Moosewood cookbook.  Good and healthy!

Denise serving up the soup with Nina and Angi

We then enjoyed grilled marinated flank steak with a chimichurri sauce, Colcannon (irish mashed potatoes),  green beans and carrots.

The chimichurri sauce was made with parsley and cilantro (no oregano as the recipe states).  Everything is thrown in the food processor with salt added to taste.  Beware of the garlic - it gets stronger as it sits.






Rita enhanced the potatoes by adding pieces of corned beef along with the cabbage.  Loved these potatoes.

Rita loving that my camera is out!

We wrapped up our evening with lots of laughs and yummy cookies.

Angi, Betty and Denise

Jen brought coconut macaroons that were dipped in white chocolate and sprinkled with green sugar.  The cookies were from a Susan Branch recipe.  These are the cutest cookbooks going.

Angi's green mint chocolate cookies were everything their name says and would be perfect for a St. Patty's Day party.  They were yummy!

Once again, I got caught up in the conversations and wished I remembered to take more pictures.  Fortunately, most of us celebrated back at Betty's home after the St. Patrick's parade on Sunday and I was able to get a nice group shot.  Jeanne was able to make Betty's... unfortunately, we were missing Cindy.

Scituate Cooking Club Gals....

Jen, Denise, Nina, (baby Brendan), Betty, Jen, Angi, Jeanne, Rita