When I saw the title of your post, I thought of last Saturday and I had to make something for the Senior Club pot luck. I made a fruit salad with a can of tropical fruit, added a can of mandarin oranges and sliced in a couple bananas, mixed in some Coolwhip and some chopped nuts. Couldn't be easier. It was all gone when I went home. I guess for St Patricks day, you could color the Coolwhip green, or color some coconut, green and put it on top. I'm sorry I don't have a main dish idea right now. Good luck, and enjoy yourself.

Sorry Vickey, I can't think of a main course at all.
What I am thinking, is my Lemon bundt cake. (for gold)

VERY easy to make and delicious!!! This cake travels and freezes well, and is our favourite.

With both those above recipes, if you add pistachio jello pudding instead of some other flavorings, you'll have the color green and a great dessert...

I'll try to think of some green main dishes for you...

Here is a link that might be useful: St. Pat's Pistachio Bundt Cake

Stuffed green peppers or a Joe's Special maid with spinach,mushrooms,ground beef and eggs for a "green" dish.

Shepard's Pie type dish topped with cheese for a "gold" dish.

A nice colorful salad for a "rainbow" dish. You could do a fresh fruit salad, a tossed salad or main dish taco salad.

Ok, can't really find much in the main course...maybe mini reubens..but then you are going back to "spendy" especially with the added cheese.

Actually, at this time of year, I find they are pratically giving away the meat if you find the right sale. Are you sure you don't want to do a crock pot recipe with the beef?

Other ideas are shepard's pie, lamb stew, or Irish chicken and dumplings...

Another option would be to make a big pot of sloppy joes (or something in the cheaper meat category) and just serve them on green buns...

How about just taking the corned beef without the cabbage? Publix has it on sale for $1.99 a pound and a 3-4 pound one will feed a lot. I cook mine in the crockpot and just add that little packet of spices (or pickling spices if it doesn't come with a packet) and a little water. Fast, easy and costs $8. I slice it pretty thin.

Find a good bakery or grocer's deli. that's very easy.

What about a tortilla wrap or something else that has some green spinach or lettuce or something in it? If you slice it and arrange it carefully on your tray, the green part will show. It would probably be nice to have a little varity in the meal since you don't want 'stinky' food. I hate to see a lot of food coloring in what I eat. You can always use a green plate, or green doily to decorate. If you want to get extra fancy, you can probably find some cupcake toppers on toothpicks to stick through each tortilla wrap.

Another idea would be to have an hor'derve type tray where you use a toothpick or skewer and layer things on it in rainbow order (Roy G. Biv). Red could be a piece of red bell pepper, strawberry, grape tomato, etc., or pepperoni . Orange could be a quarter slice of orange, orange bell pepper, or carrot. Yellow is yellow squash, pineapple, or yellow bell pepper. Green could be lettuce, spinach leaves, green grapes, kiwi, or whatever you find in produce. Blue is tricky. It could be left out or use something dyed blue or a blue jellybean. Same for violet/purple... although there is egg plant and purple grapes. Sometimes less is more.

My water aerobics group has been having pot luck once a month. I've made quite a few that were very good.

Last one, I made: grits and greens

Very easy to make and came home with an empty plate.

Grape salad is super good and everyone love that. Use red and green grapes

Took a spinach quiche, Ginger St Thomas recipe, and it was great.

I was going to say a quiche has a golden top and if you do it with spinach inside you have the green put some multi color chopped bell pepper in it and you just about have rainbow LOL
this recipe by Paula Deen is a good one, plus it uses bacon and in my opinion everything is better with bacon! But I have also used the pre cooked sausage crumblers by Jimmy D and it was fabulous.
Spinach and Bacon Quiche

Or you could make a couple big pizza's use the pre made crusts put some deli corned beef along with baby spinach some colorful peppers and some golden cheese on top

I love corned beef made one on Sunday, so easy just pop in the crock pot, I add onion, fresh red potatoes, and baby carrots, put a little water(or beer) in and let it cook. So good. I did not cook cabbage this time I made a cole slaw instead.

Have you checked Our Recipes?

If your wanting something green, how about:

Nita's Spinach Casserole

This will feed a crowd or at least the ones I have taken it to. There won't be any leftovers.

10 boxes of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and the water squeezed out of it.
3 sticks of butter or margarine
fresh mushrooms, sliced and cut in thirds I use probably 1-1.5 pounds (or as many as you want to use)

I take half the butter and melt it in a large frying pan. Then take half the spinach and half the mushrooms and add to the pan. Sprinkle some salt and pepper in and then stir it around to mix thoroughly until heated through.

Butter a 9 x 13 pan and then layer about 1/3 of the mixture.

Now sprinkle over all with canned Parmesan cheese (don't skimp).

Continue with the layers until gone and end with cheese.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about half an hour

(You can cut this reciped won for less people)

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Recipes

Potato soup would be Irish right?
Or the Grasshopper Cake is green (and hot fudge!)

Taco salad.....uses green goddess dressing on green lettuce....so it looks green.

1 14oz bag of tortilla chips crumbled
1 head iceberg lettuce diced
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
4 oz can chopped green chilies
3 roma tomatoes, diced
2 cups green goddess dressing(bottled or home made), Note: Kroger carries it here or use El Torito Cilantro Ceasar dressing
1 14 oz can of beans with chili gravy(undrained)

Mix in a large mixing bowl just before serving.

Would cabbage rolls be too costly? Be a variation on corned beef with cabbage but without the smell.

Anything (like a shepherd's pie) could be given a topping of heavy parsley and green onion to mix colors in without using food coloring.

If you want to do an easy crock pot meal this is a good one, like stuffed cabbage rolls but easier, I also make one like this in my rice cooker.

Unstuffed cabbage crockpot casserole

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound ground beef
1 small onion -- chopped
4 cups chopped cabbage
1 green pepper -- chopped
1 cup uncooked instant rice (minute rice)
1 cup water
6 ounces tomato paste
15 ounces diced tomatoes -- undrained
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
PREPARATION:
Brown beef and onion in skillet; drain well. Combine all ingredients in crockpot. Cover; cook on low for 4-5 hours.

this is how I do it in my rice cooker

Rice cooker cabbage rolls

two cups of shredded cabbage, 1 pound of ground meat, 1 cup of raw rice
1can of rotel (you can use stewed) tomatoes undrained, I also add part of a can of tomato sauce ( i like it tomatoey)ÃÂ and about a cup of water, I add some Tony's seasoning and a little garlic salt and pepper.
mix it all together in rice cooker cover , turn on and thats it. tastes like cabbage rolls but way easy.

Broccoli salad : chopped raw broccoli, diced red onion, crumbled cooked bacon, raisins, mayo/vinegar/sugar dressing. You can also add sunflower seed kernels for some added crunch. It's a GREEN dish and delish.

Or make a spinch salad with baby spinach, sliced red onion, mandarin oranges (drained) and a sweet vinagrette. The green and orange are the colors of the Irish flag. You can add white hard bolied egg halves around the edge of the salad or even some chunks of any white cheese. Then you have all three colors of the Irish flag (green/orange/white). So simple and can be a main dish.

The spinach tortilla wraps are a good idea too. They are green. You can spread cream cheese on each one, lay on a few slices of ham or roast beef, and roll up. Then slice into 2 inch pieces and lay on their sides on a platter. very pretty and bite sized.

Happy St. Paddy's - Yum!

So many good ideas, thank you all.

Glenda...I'm from Minnesota...Tried Grits once..didn't like, don't really know what greens are..and if I brought them to work, good bet nobody would know what either really were..isn't that funny!

Better decide today so I can have for tomorrow!

Vickey-Mn

Let us know what you decided on.