Top 5 Green Foods to Eat for Saint Patrick’s Day

St. Patricks Day is finally here, which means it’s time to whip up some delicious and festive foods! These scrumptious green foods are our favorites to get us into the holiday spirit. Serve up these tasty green treats for an extra dose of luck today, and don’t forget to wash them down with an ice cold glass of green beer!

5. Avocado Toast

Avocado toast is the ultimate, easy, fancy, make-at-home snack. For breakfast or lunch, if you’re looking to get a little more green in your diet, you can’t go wrong with avocado toast. Making it couldn’t be any easier–just toast up your favorite bread, then mash up some avocados, add salt and lime juice, and spread in an even layer on top of your toast. Top with any veggies, seasonings, or other toppings you like. If you want to take the greenness of it all to the next level, let us recommend adding some microgreens to your toast. Not to mention avocados are extremely good for you. They contain more potassium than bananas, plenty of fiber, vitamins, and heart-healthy monounsaturated fatty acids. 

4. Green Beer

Drinking has become an essential part of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, and no other beverage gets into the spirit quite like green beer. Today’s green beer is, as its name suggests, a beer that has been colored green. This is usually accomplished in modern times by adding green food coloring to your favorite light-colored beer. When the concoction was first created, however, a laundry whitening agent called Wash Blue, consisting of an iron solution that contained blue dye, was reportedly used by barkeeps to hue the popular libation green. Today, new approaches are being used by modern mixologists, including using spirulina, a blue-tinted species of algae, to change the color of beer to green. As long as it’s dyed safely, we recommend enjoying an ice-cold glass of this festive beverage as part of your St. Patrick’s Day celebration. 

3. Green Smoothies

Green smoothies are the perfect way to incorporate leafy greens into your diet. Greens like spinach and kale are chock-full of vitamins and minerals, and taste amazing blended into a smoothie. When whipping up your green smoothie, we recommend sticking to the 60/40 formula. 60% fruit, and 40% veggies makes for the perfect, sweet smoothie. Want your green smoothie to be extra creamy? Ditch the ice and freeze your fruits ahead of time. This is also a great way to use those ripe bananas that would’ve otherwise gotten tossed!

2. Matcha Cheesecake

Matcha powder–or green tea powder, gives a beautiful green hue to any food you use it in. And might we recommend cheesecake, because it’s delicious. If you’ve never tried matcha before, know that its flavor can be polarizing for some. Some people find the grassy, slightly bitter notes a bit off-putting, but for those who don’t, it’s an irresistible treat. What’s great about matcha cheesecake is that you can adapt the recipe to match your level of adventurousness if you haven’t tried it before. One approach is to integrate matcha powder directly into your cheesecake filling, or just sprinkle some on top. It’ll take an average cheesecake recipe, and turn it into a fancy, St. Patrick’s Day themed confection. If you bought matcha powder for your cheesecake, and have some leftover, use it to make a delicious, caffeinated matcha latte!

Green sugar cookies made for Fireman Creative based on our client Catapult Greater Pittsburgh’s logo.

1. Green Cookies

Topping off our list is a beloved classic: Cookies! Is there anyone who doesn’t love cookies? Cookies are delicious, and eating one makes you feel warm and toasty inside. Cookies come in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. This frog shaped cookie is a custom cookie designed for Catapult Pittsburgh (catapultpittsburgh.org), whether you’re craving a classic chocolate chip, a healthy oatmeal raisin, or a spicy gingersnap you can add a little green food dye to make them Top of the Morning ready. So why not put a festive spin on a classic this St. Patty’s Day? After baking a batch of your favorite cookies, add a little extra pizzazz by topping your cookies with vibrant green frosting, or shamrock sprinkles. As icing on the cake, now you get to enjoy the aroma of freshly baked, warm, buttery cookies as you eat your festive sweets.