Whenever I hear that song, “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” I think of my beloved Irish grandmother, whose eyes always had such a mischievous sparkle even when she had a stern look on her face. Sigh…But I digress.

St. Patrick’s Day is drawing near, and the food in our house is getting greener and greener. I am so happy that Cut N Clean Greens sent us a big box o’ greens to work with. I’ve been cooking green things all week long, with no sign of stopping.

First up on the list is this Green Cake (click for recipe), made green not by artificial food coloring, but by…rainbow chard. Very appropriate, right? Rainbow chard is perfect for this cake because it’s so mild – plus, once you cook the greens down and blend them, the colors all combine to make a vibrant green. While the cake is a little heavier than a “regular” cake, you really don’t taste the greens.

Steamed and pureed rainbow chard

The recipe is adapted from a spinach cake made by Mom! What’s for Dinner?, but it uses rainbow chard instead of the spinach, and the greens are cooked first. Also I swapped vegetable oil for the olive oil to give it a more neutral flavor. Then I topped it with cream cheese frosting because, well, who doesn’t love cream cheese frosting?

Note: I’m not pretending this dessert is a substitute for salad, and I’m not suggesting it as a way to hide vegetables from your kids. (Our kids knew that the cake had greens in it, but they were perfectly willing to eat it as long as it had frosting on top.) The main thing I’m trying to do is encourage the use of natural foods and food colors instead of food dyes – and in this case, the bright green hues of the rainbow chard certainly did the trick.

Next I made this pretty Green Colcannon – an Irish dish traditionally made by mashing potatoes with kale or cabbage. For this colcannon I used Cut N Clean’s Euro Greens, a mix of Swiss chard, mustard greens, turnip greens, and kale. For your kid helpers, the fun really is in mashing it all together. Many people use this as a side dish for corned beef, but it’s pretty hearty on its own, especially if you are eating meat-free.

Last but not least I did our own version of a shamrock shake by making this Shamrock Smoothie. It gets its green from steamed rainbow chard, but its true flavor is sweet, thanks to pineapple, banana, and honey. I love how light and fluffy this one blends up – and for that reason it’s best to serve it right away. Better to drink it up than to have a mischievous leprechaun steal it, right?