The St. Patrick’s Day green lunch tradition is one of those weird family traditions that somehow stuck and my kids learned to expect it every year. Some years I made a special effort to do the green lunch up big. Other times, the morning of the 17th was busy and I just added in some kind of green juice box, or celery with green grapes.
How to make a green St. Patrick’s Day green lunch in a hurry
Essentially, my goal was simple–everything in the lunch is green, or packaged in green. It turns out that’s not as hard as it might seem. Mother Nature does a lot to accommodate that plan by pre-packaging things in the perfect colors:
- kiwi
- green grapes
- spinach
- lettuce salads
- green apples
- celery sticks
There are dozens of other healthy options that are naturally green, or often packaged in green packaging:
- Kiwi-lime yogurt
- Pistachios
- Green Smoothies
- Apple juice or tomato juice with green labeling
- Trail mix
- Granola bars
As long as everything in the lunch was green, my mission was complete and the tradition lived on.
Then came the year I was working full-time. I remember clearly waking up early, and in my bleary-eyed 6 a.m. rush to get out the door, realized I hadn’t done any shopping for the traditional green lunch. I scavenged what I could from the bottom of the fridge and the back of the pantry, proud that I hadn’t let the moment slip despite my overwhelming schedule. My daughter sent me a text later that afternoon: “Um, Mom, did you realize it’s only the 16th? My friends think you are so weird!” It’s this kind of thing that helped me understand why working moms are a special breed of inexhaustible who deserve much more credit than they get.
This isn’t Pinterest, People
I could have made this annual project really difficult, and many people do. You won’t have any trouble finding Pinterest-quality gourmet green lunches and breakfasts online. I am not that Mom. This was never about perfection or slaving away in the kitchen to create a shamrock-shaped quiche my kids would trade for someone else’s Ding Dongs in a leprechaun half-second.
I like keeping things mostly healthy, but I’ve been known to slip in a green-packaged fruit pie laden with calories (and possibly even trans fats), just because I thought it might bring a smile–or at least provide the same bartering power as a Ding Dong. But in moments of creative genius, I have been known to discover green flatbread or spinach-infused tortillas languishing on some bottom shelf in the bread aisle. And I have given them a purpose in life. Like becoming a shamrock-shaped wrap.
Shamrock Wrap Recipe
- Lay a green spinach tortilla flat on your working surface and spread with a layer of green “sauce” of your choice. This could be a squirt of Avocado cilantro dressing or a smear of guacamole or green-tinted cream cheese. My favorite, by far is spreading on some homemade cilantro lime dressing, but that’s another recipe (and definitely one you should try).
- Add on anything you have in the crisper that’s green, including:
- Chopped green peppers
- Spinach leaves
- Chopped dill pickles
- Chopped celery
- Sliced green onions
- Thinly-sliced cucumber
- Chopped green apples (leave the skin on) soaked briefly in lemon juice to prevent browning
(Note I purposely did not give you measurements for the add-ons. This isn’t Pinterest people, this is school lunch).
- Now add about 1/3 cup of shredded chicken
- Drizzle with a tablespoon of green salsa
- Wrap the tortilla tightly in a roll starting at one end
- Cut off the outside 1/4″ of each end of the wrapped tortilla so you have a flat edge to work with
- Divide the remaining large portion of the wrap into 4 equal sections and spear each section with a toothpick so it will hold its shape (If you used a good “glue” as the base, such as cream cheese, you may be able to skip the toothpicks).
- Arrange the four circular sections on a plate or in a lunchbox sandwich container and add a curl of green pepper for the stem
St. Patrick’s Day Green Breakfasts
You can certainly celebrate this tradition a different way. Do the green thing for breakfast or dinner instead.
Green Egg Omelet Recipe
You can start with whole eggs, but I used egg whites in the photo above. You’ll get a brighter green color that way.
- Add about 1/2 cup egg whites and a handful of fresh spinach leaves to a blender. Throw in a few chives or a little chopped green onion if you have some.
- Blend until spinach is broken up and infused throughout the egg
- Carefully cook omelet style.
- Add in a slice of pepper jack cheese to melt when you fold the omelet in half
- Garnish with fresh avocado and cilantro and serve a wedge of lime on the side
Is This Tradition Meaningful?
Often, I don’t know that certain traditions are meaningful until I see my children repeating them after they leave home–sometimes with their own twist. For example, the year my daughter was a college freshman, she celebrated St. Patrick’s day and an upcoming trip to Scotland/Ireland by making her roommates green pancakes for breakfast.
This year, she’s in Great Britain enjoying haggis and fish and chips on demand. The best I could do was load up an Amazon Pantry package and send it to her via Amazon UK. It wasn’t quite the same as making her an avocado and spinach wrap on green flatbread, but at least she’ll know I didn’t forget. I didn’t forget her, and I didn’t forget our little tradition.
That’s the most important part of traditions. They connect us and give us something to look forward to year after year. They are reliable and can be counted on–just like the mom who makes St. Patrick’s Day green lunches every year–even if she accidentally does it on March 16th.
