Feeling Green Yet?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

We started our St. Patrick's Day Celebration on Saturday with the Elmhurst Parade!

This was the beginning of our St. Patrick's Day Season!  You may know already, but my daughter's are Irish Dancers, and this week they will be performing with the rest of their Trinity Performance Troupe.  Whether we are at Assisted Living Facilities, Schools or Pubs the guests are always guaranteed to get a 

Superior St. Patrick's Day show. 

And who wouldn't smile at these girls!

Well, this is just the beginning of our Green Week.  I have promised you COOKIES!

I will tell you that I love to bake, and I feel I always need to have a perfect product in the end. So I searched and searched for the perfect Sugar Cookie Recipe and all fingers  pointed to The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle, not only does she create fabulous cookies, she is "Sweet" enough to share her Recipes!

I used this one:

1 c. (2 sticks) of REAL unsalted BUTTER, softened
1 1 /2 c. confectioner's sugar
1 egg
2-3 tsp flavoring (pick what you like, I used almond extract the first time and mixed almond and vanilla the next time I used this recipe)
2 1/2-2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Cream together softened butter and confectioner's sugar.  Crack the egg into a separate bowl, and add the flavoring.  (see Sugarbelle's site above for exact content including pictures).  Add that to the butter sugar mixture and mix until the egg is thoroughly mixed.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add little by little to the mixture.

I added green food coloring, but may opt against it next time.
When using green icing they look great no matter what color the dough is.

Roll out on parchment paper (This is the BEST TIP I have ever gotten in all the years I have baked) to about 1/4 inch thick, use flour for dusting as necessary.  Then cut and bake at 400 degrees for 7-8 minutes.  This recipe will yield 2 - 2 1/2 dozen.  I have always doubled the recipe.

The above photos are of my 2nd attempt at these delicious bakery quality cookies.

This is what my kitchen counter looks like after I bake carefully!

I didn't take pictures of my first attempt over Valentines day, because it began with confectioner's sugar, all over my counter, floor and me!  Naughty words were said, a feeling of defeat was had, and then my hubby made me laugh.  I then felt that it is important to accept my failures, take pictures and learn from my experiences, because that is what I am trying to share with my blog.

I tried to save as much of the sugar as possible and estimated what I had lost.  Guess what?  The recipe still turned out great! I believe this IS a NO FAIL recipe!

Time to enjoy the cookies!  Yep, that milk has been touched by a Leprechaun!

Thank you to some great bakers out there that are Sweet enough to share their perfection with others!  Hugs go out to The Sweet Adventures of Sugarbelle for making me a Supermom? That's Me! Baker!

I'm not even Irish! (A Trinity Review)

Over 11 years ago, my husband and I made it a tradition to attend the St. Patrick's Day Parade each year.  We would dress in green, with shamrocks, flags and Aran wool sweaters and fight our way on the "el" to get Downtown to a local spot where all of his family met.  We would bring cookies and sandwiches and hot cocoa of course, Chicago IS the Windy City.  And we had a great time year after year watching the floats pass us by.  But my favorite had to be the Irish Dancers, and I am not even Irish!  The steps that we would see from the tiny girls to the oldest dancers were just amazing.  How their feet could move so fast, and their perfect curls, just beautiful!  I looked forward to seeing them each year. 



As the years went on and we started bringing our children to the parade, my eldest daughter, now 7, said to us at the age of 2, "I want to do that when I am 5" (meaning Irish dance).  And even though we gave her the option to start when she was four, she said, "No, I will wait until I am 5!"  She is now on her 3rd year of Irish dance with the Trinity Irish Dancers and has already been performing with TPT (Trinity Performance Troupe) for 2 years.  Her sister is following in her footsteps and started dancing just before she turned 4 and is in her 2nd year of classes and also has 1 year of performances under her belt.



Taste of Trinity - Field Museum Performance (age 5)

It is amazing what Trinity has brought to our daughter's and to our family.  Not only are they learning about their culture, they are learning confidence and teamwork in an environment which they look forward to going to each week.  My oldest daughter has started competing and she is learning how to win and lose with grace as well as growing into a confident young lady who has a goal.

 

Our Girls prior to a Performance (age 7 & 4)

I have never felt more a part of a community than I do with Trinity, I call them family.  Not only are our kids benefiting from this organization but my husband and I are benefiting as well.  Not only have our girls' made lifelong friends, but we have met many friends that will remain our friends for a lifetime as well.  We look forward to seeing each other while our children are in class as well as outside of the studio, and with the many family activities that Trinity brings to us, we always have the opportunity to make more.

The final thing I would like to share about Trinity is the camaraderie that you find amongst the dancers both big and small.  The younger dancers look up to the older dancers and see them as mentors, they are the big brothers and big sisters of Trinity.  They all are part of one big family and I would trust any one of them with my children.  The older dancers are mature beyond their years, and deserve praise for their commitment and love of Irish dance.

My daughter's big sisters, Trinity II dancers!

If you are looking for a way to honor your Irish Heritage and would like to enroll your child in classes that will inspire them or to book a show and have the Trinity Irish Dancers perform for your next event check out their website:  http://www.trinityirishdancers.com/ 

That's Right, "I'm not even Irish", but I love what Trinity has to give to my family!