I was wondering what to make for St. Patrick’s Day this year. Our friends started a St. Patrick’s Day tradition the other year where three families get together to celebrate! We go all out and it’s a blast. We all wear green, and the adults have some Guinness. The kids have fun and the adults really enjoy some conversation with other adults! Last year, our Swiss friend decided to have an unusual St. Paddy’s Day celebration.
When it comes to holidays and special occasions, I am always tempted to bake something over the top and decadent. I figure that we don’t indulge often, so why not have some baked goods on a special occasion? For the kids, I was thinking of making rainbow pinwheel cookies. This St. Patrick’s Day, however, I decided on something less decadent, but just as delicious!
Healthy St. Patrick’s Day Rainbow Treats
I was thinking of something GREEN for St. Patrick’s Day. Perhaps some homemade avocado and coconut ice cream? I know Little One loves avocado ice cream, shakes, and smoothies.
Then I thought that perhaps a RAINBOW treat would be more interesting and appealing to my friends’ kids. Who doesn’t love a rainbow?
These are two simple fruity rainbow ideas for the kids: A rainbow made of fruit and a rainbow fruit salad (with fruit cut into shapes with cookie cutters).
I wouldn’t exactly call these “recipes” because you’re only really cutting up fruit and arranging them! If you want to get creative, you can use assorted cookie cutters to make flowers, hearts and stars out of your cantaloupe, honeydew, pineapple and watermelon. If you wish, you can also make rainbow veggies!
Oh, okay! Here’s a green (for St. Patrick’s Day) dessert that’s sweet and tart.
For those who insist on a bit of sweetness not in the form of fruit or fruit salad, here’s an idea– These don’t fall under the “healthy” category, but I thought I’d add this recipe because I wanted to keep with the green St. Patrick’s Day theme. My 5 year old wanted me to include desserts that were green and rainbow, because apparently, that’s what she loves best about St. Patrick’s Day.
A few of my girlfriends and I meet up every few months for a key lime pie date. I made these key lime parfaits for one of our get togethers.
Key Lime Parfaits
- In a bowl, mix together condensed milk, lime juice OR limeade (I use the limeade because I like the extra bit of punch), and grated lime zest.
- In a separate bowl, mix Graham Cracker Crumbs, sugar and butter. I use room temperature butter. No need to melt the butter. It mixes nicely at room temp.
- Scoop 2 tbps of crumb mixture into parfait cups and press firmly to form the base/crust.
- Add 2 tbsp of key lime mixture.
- Add a layer of whipped cream.
- If you wish, you can add another layer of crumbs, key lime mixture, whipped cream, or keep it sweet and simple.
- To garnish, I just added a sprinkle of Graham Cracker crumbs and a slice of lime.
- Chill for 2 hrs+. I chill mine in the refrigerator overnight to make sure everything is solidified. The first time I made this, I was so impatient and we wanted to dig in. The result was more like a key lime soup! Note to self: Make sure you chill the key lime dessert long enough!
Will you and your kids be making St. Patrick’s Day treats? What will you be making this year?
If you love to bake and are looking for some rainbow treats, check out the Life Made Delish website. They’ve got lots of great recipe ideas. Very pretty too! I’ve made some of these with Little One and her friends before.
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Your arrangements are beautiful!
Oh you had me at Key Lime. My FAVOURITE flavour ever. Those parfaits look easy and delicious. And, love the veggie and fruit trays – makes “eat a rainbow” have a whole new meaning!
Kerrie, I knew there was a reason I loved ya! Key lime is my absolute favourite too!!!
I love the fruit and veggie rainbows! Such bright vibrant colours. I didn’t do anything for st. patricks day other than putting the kids in green (well, we made a cake and decorated it with green sprinkles)
Ashley, gotta love green sprinkles! 🙂
Avocado ice cream? I need to get that recipe from you, my kids are avocado crazy!
Tammy, I have the recipe on my blog in the recipe archives. It’s crazy how easy it is to make! My LO’s favourite ice cream ever since she was 2 yrs old! LOL!
Such bright colours! Everything looks so tasty and festive. Love it
Thanks, Gingermommy! We were away for our annual St. Paddy’s Day celebrations with our friends, so they moved the date to this Friday! I’ll be bringing these for dessert!