Adventures in Food
Green Eggs & Ham Sandwiches
Clover-shaped sugar cookies might be the expected St. Patrick’s Day treat, but this year I’m trying something different. I must admit I drew my inspiration not from notions of leprechauns, but instead from one of my youngest daughter’s favorite books, Green Eggs and Ham.
Earlier this month my youngest had a read-in day at school—all centered around Dr. Seuss. Turns out March 2nd was his birthday so in class they brought as many Dr. Seuss books as they could and read them for the better part of the day. For a week or two, when she wasn’t reading a Dr. Seuss book, she was spitting out lines like, “I do not like them Sam I am,” and “One fish, Two fish, Red fish, blue fish.” Despite having to hear these lines over and over…and over…again, I was thrilled that my daughter was reading. Usually she begs me to do the reading and she’s content to listen, but with Dr. Seuss I didn’t “read it right, mom” so she had to do it.
So this St. Patrick’s Day, we’re adding a little green not to our dessert, but to our main meal. We’re having Green Eggs & Ham sandwiches. I was surprised how easy it was to color scrambled eggs—a few drops of green food coloring and they turned a bright shade of shamrock. I wasn’t sure if the color would hold after cooking—it did and even got a bit brighter. To assemble the sandwiches I used sesame seed bagels (thank you, Costco) and placed a heaping scoop of green scrambled eggs followed by a slice of American cheese on the bottom half of the bagel. I heated this for a few seconds in the microwave then topped it with a couple slices of smoked ham. One tip to keep in mind—with bagels, I pull out some of the dough on the inside so that the sandwich is easier to squeeze together, and then eat. You can use any type of bread; English muffins are also a yummy choice.
If you’re looking for something quick, easy—and literary—for a fun St. Patrick’s Day meal, try these bright, tasty sandwiches. And if you don’t get a chance to make them in March, try them out on April Fool’s Day instead.
Green eggs might look strange, but they're tasty!
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about 3 years ago
I bet the kids loved this one! Green food might also be appropriate for Earth Day, too.
about 3 years ago
This is such a fun idea! Only I would use something healthy instead of food coloring (which is pretty toxic, even in just a few drops. Forgive me for pointing that out). You could pulverize spinach and add that, or grind up spirulina, which is what I did to make bright green frosting and it worked wonders and you couldn’t taste it at all!
about 3 years ago
Very cool! I can’t wait to try this when my nieces and nephews visit. Thanks for the fun idea.
about 3 years ago
You’re such a creative mom!! Jennifer, I love the idea of spinach. Maybe puree it and mix it in. I bet it’d be tasty.
about 3 years ago
Instead of food coloring, I’ve also used pesto to make the eggs green. It’s very tasty.