Hi. I'm Rebecca Harrop, Mifflin County Dairy Princess.
Well, I enjoyed my week with no promotions, but now it is back to work. Last night I was scheduled to be at the Holstein Club Banquet serving Milk Punch and then preforming a skit and speech. Tomorrow I will be at Belleville Mennonite School visiting the third grade class. It will be the first of my visits to the third grade classes. I will have a Gogurt for the kids and a review game. We will be reviewing some of what they learned at the Ag Tour in September. Last year I helped Crystal with a couple visits and I was surprised how much the kids remembered. I think that must mean the Ag Tour is doing its job pretty well.
Next week I will be at Brown Elementary on Wednesday and Armagh Elementary on Thursday. I'm really looking forward to visiting the kids. They are always so energetic and full of excitement.
I hope you are remembering March is National Nutrition Month. We should always be concerned with nutrition, but this is a good time to be extra attentive. Calcium is important for growing children to build strong, healthy bones and maintain them. It is also an important way to prevent osteoporosis later in life. Toddlers ages 1 to 3 need 500 mg of calcium every day, ages 4 to 8 need 800 mg every day, ages 9 to 18 need 1300 mg of calcium every day.
According to research, only about half of younger children get enough calcium and even fewer teens get enough calcium. Statistics also show half of American adults do not get enough calcium on a daily basis. That really surprises me because there are so many different dairy products. So even if you don't care for plain milk, there are lots of varieties of cheeses and yogurts to suit your taste.
There are low fat and no fat choices as well, so there is really no excuse to skip dairy.
I start every day with a big glass of chocolate milk. Believe it or not, Mom almost always has a glass of milk with her meals. So bone up with more calcium by adding an extra glass of milk.
Tomorrow is Mom's favorite holiday next to Easter and Christmas. She loves St. Patrick's Day. She cooks this big traditional Irish meal complete with Irish butter and cheeses for appetizers. We have scones or Irish Soda Bread, Corned Beef and Cabbage, plus other Irish dishes. Mostly we cure our own corned beef, but this year Aunt Susan is bringing the corned beef from New Jersey. There is a place she gets meat from near where she lives that makes really good corned beef. We had it once before so we know it is good. Check out the local grocery stores for some Irish butter and cheese to add to your St. Patrick's Day meal.
I have a couple recipes for you to try to get you in the Irish mood.
The first is for a traditional Irish soda bread. The second is for a Corned Beef Bagel sandwich. For those who don't care for corned beef and cabbage, this is an alternative that with still allow you to enjoy your Irishness. If you stumble upon a Blarney Stone, watch out for the "little people." I hope you all will be celebrating St. Patrick's Day Thursday. If not, just don't tell my mom.
Irish Soda Bread
15 minutes preparation time
12 servings (1 loaf)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup cold butter
1 1/4 cups buttermilk (Substitute 4 teaspoons vinegar or lemon juice plus enough milk to equal 1 1/4 cups. Let stand 10 minutes.)
1/2 cup currants or raisins
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all ingredients except buttermilk and currants in large bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in buttermilk and currants just until moistened.
Turn dough onto lightly floured surface; knead gently 10 times. Shape into ball. Place onto greased baking sheet. Pat into 6-inch circle. Cut 1/2-inch deep "X" in top of dough with sharp knife.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm.
Corned Beef &
Swiss Bagels
20 minutes preparation time
Makes 4 sandwiches
1/4 cup light sour cream
3 tablespoons sweet honey mustard
4 light rye, plain or egg bagels, split
Leaf lettuce
1/4 pound thinly sliced deli corned beef
1/2 pint deli coleslaw, well drained
4 (3/4-oz.) slices deli Swiss cheese (or provolone cheese)
4 thin green bell pepper rings
Combine sour cream and mustard in small bowl.
Spread mustard mixture onto cut-sides of bagels. Layer bottom half of each bagel with lettuce leaf, 1/4 corned beef, 2 to 3 tablespoons coleslaw, 1 slice cheese and 1 green pepper ring. Top each with remaining bagel half.
Tip: To prepare for lunches, wrap sandwiches individually in plastic food wrap; refrigerate until lunchtime.
