Full Irish Breakfast is the BEST DIET

Melissa5 · Guru

Full Irish Breakfast is the BEST DIET

Michele Erdvig · Host

Melissa,

It sounds like a great diet. I suppose it didn't work that well for me because I had the banoffee, ice cream and Butler's chocolates in addition to everything else later in the day. Did you try the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs? That I could go for any time of the day or night.

Michele

China Cat · Veteran Member

I have to say, I didn't care for the breakfast meats...the bacon, sausage or the puddings.

but i LOVED the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. And Earl's Court did it better than anyone else.

I also liked the oatmeal, with the heavy cream, butter, dates and honey...that doesn't have too many calories, does it???

-- Edited by China Cat at 18:29, 2006-07-25

Willie · Veteran Member

I had to LOL at your post, Melissa. I had the same experience--my first trip to the Ireland was the only time I've ever LOST weight on vacation!

I loved the "traditional" Irish breakfast...and the brown bread! OMG, I stopped into the shops a few times just to pick up a loaf of brown bread! I walked it all off, though, so it was okay.

The walking darn near did me in the first couple of days, though. I'm going into training before the next trip (May 2007)! I'm going to walk the hills in my neighborhood and climb the stairs about 100 times a day, just so I'm ready.

Melissa5 · Guru

Willie, me too! Let's start now...the IrelandYes Full Irish Breakfast Walking Club. I'm in training for my second trip, in 2008...which is as soon as I can imagine hubby agreeing to return to Ireland! (2007 is his choice...this year it was my turn to pick.)

China Cat · Veteran Member

I bought a cookbook with a recipe in it for Irish brown soda bread. I think I'm going to bake some and have it for breakfast with smoked salmon and butter. that was definitely one of my favorite things.

Melissa5 · Guru

China Cat, I love the brown bread in Ireland...tell us how your recipe turns out please.

I loved all kinds of salmon in Ireland...both smoked and fresh.

Oatmeal is healthy for your heart. Dates are a fruit, must have vitamins and antioxidants. Good for you. Heavy cream is...uh...calcium, that's it! Don't you just love Ireland?

Michele Erdvig · Host

Everyone,

Let me know if you need a really good brown bread recipie and I will post it. FYI, Publix grocery store has Irish Dairy Gold cheese and frozen mussels from Bantry Bay!

Michele

-- Edited by Michele Erdvig at 02:46, 2006-07-26

Melissa5 · Guru

Michele, ooh, yes, I need a good brown bread recipe! Thanks!

Willie · Veteran Member

Yes, please, on the recipe, Michele! And China Cat, let us know how yours turns out!

I've found Kerrygold cheeses and butter at several grocery store chains here in the Maryland suburbs of DC. My friends laugh when I offer them Irish Swiss cheese--but once they taste it, they say it's probably the best Swiss they've ever had. I like the Dubliner cheddar, too. I can find Irish soda bread in local stores, but only around St. Patrick's Day.

You can buy brown bread--along with other Irish goodies--at FoodIreland.com. Two or three times a year, I'll treat myself to some brown bread and some Tayto cheese & onion crisps. Even splurged on a 6-pack of Diet Orange Club once. I haven't tried purchasing the more perishable items from them--like sausages and rashers (bacon)--but they sell those too. You can find lots of things if you dig around!

Melissa5 · Guru

Willie, you know what I found in Ireland that we don't have in southern California? Light butter! Sounds funny, and I can't remember the brand, but it was always in restaurants, so it was in little packets. I read the ingredients, and I'm pretty sure they make it light by using low-fat milk...it has a creamy texture.

I have to watch my cholesterol so I only eat butter when I'm dining out as a treat. I don't buy it at home. The label on the light butter in Ireland just tickled me.

I bought a box of Irish tea in the grocery when I was in Ireland. I totally guessed on the brand, but it is quite good...Bewley's Finest Regency Tea. It's good with milk and sugar which is how I like it. They have a web-site, www.bewleys.com. It is individually blended and packed in Dublin, according to the label. I am very picky about my teas, and the only good black tea I can find in San Diego is only in a few stores, and it is called Taylors of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold. These excellent teas make cheap tea brands you can buy in the USA taste like they have already been used, dried, and then packaged!

Ready for a hot cuppa tea now...

Michele Erdvig · Host

MARY BROWNE'S DELICIOUS IRISH BROWN BREAD

The staff of Irish life is brown bread - sometimes referred to as Irish soda bread. There are countless recipes all over the country but the secret is to use real buttermilk. Most tourists are introduced to the wholesome nutty flavor at breakfast, with tea or as an accompaniment to a bowl of soup. The taste and scent of real homemade Irish brown bread is a treat that many want to bring back from vacation to enjoy in their own homes. Mary Browne of Bunratty Lodge Bed-and-Breakfast has generously shared her delicious recipe for Irish brown bread with all of us. Indulge in a little taste of Ireland!

8 ozs. wholemeal flour (whole wheat)
8 ozs. white flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
1 egg
1 pint of buttermilk

With a large spoon, mix all the ingredients to a moist consistency (do not over stir) and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees in a ring tin (bunt pan). Cool for ten minutes on a wire rack and turn out of the pan. Allow to cool, slice and enjoy.

-- Edited by Michele Erdvig at 01:27, 2006-07-27

susan · Senior Member

Thank you for posting Mary's recipe.I saw it on the wall framed in her B&B and ment to write it down,but never did.
Susan

mcval · Veteran Member

Thanks so much for posting the brown bread recipe! We were on vacation in the Black Hills last week (I would have definitely preferred Ireland again, but that's a few years away) and found Kerrygold butter at their Safeway store! My girls were thrilled! They loved that butter in Ireland. I'm going to have to check some of the stores in Iowa and see if I can get some more. Maybe it's just that Ireland connection, but Kerrygold just tastes so much better!

Melissa5 · Guru

Thanks, Michele (and Mary Browne) for the Irish brown bread recipe! Now if this heat wave in San diego just lets up, I will bake some and enjoy it with a cuppa Irish tea. My friend found a little store for me in town which has Irish and English teas!

The brown bread in Ireland is so good, it seems like it gets better with each slice, almost as if the whole country is competing with itself to make the best brown bread. I wonder if mine will be as good?

I will pass on the recipe to me Mum and Da (was that Irish or English accent?!) They will be tickled...my Dad is almost full Irish but has never been to Ireland...he thinks he's too old now to go. But he will enjoy the Irish brown bread, Irish tea, and the Irish music I brought for him.

Michele Erdvig · Host

Enjoy everyone!

Michele

Shawn · Senior Member

After a few online orders of overpriced brown bread I decided to try Mary Browne's recipe. It worked out great. It's really good and I can't believe how easy it was to make...especially for a novice like myself. I've been having bread for breakfast every morning. Thanks for posting it Michele!

Shawn

CowboyCraic · Guru

Dia Duit Everyone,

You all have managed to make me both famished & homesick all at once! Butler's chocolates, Irish Teas, Dubliner CHeddar, Banoffee, Irish Breakfasts (no mushrooms, please) and Irish oatmeal. Yes, indeed, I am famished and longing for Ireland. May will get here quickly, won't it?

Michele, thanks for posting the Brown Bread recipe. I will make some for Christmas morning!

Nollaig Shona Duit,

Bit Devine

Cowboy Craic

Michele Erdvig · Host

Cowboy,

You can find the tea, oatmeal and cheese in the US. My local Publix supermarket carries Old Dubliner as well as Kerry Gold. They even have Bantry Bay mussels and Smithwick's! Just writing about it is making me want a trip there. If you run across Thornton's mini caramel shortcakes buy up every one of them. I found them in the biscuit aisle of the Tesco in Moneymore. I sent Thornton's an email and they are only available in the UK.

Enjoy Mary's bread. Maybe you will stop by her B&B for the real thing in May. She also makes a mean fruit bread. Do you have a schedule yet?

Michele

CowboyCraic · Guru

Michele,

I am trying to talk our gourmat grocerer into carrying more Irish products. So far, all they carry is the oatmeal and tea. It still isn't the same as sipping a cuppa in front of a peat fire in a thatched cottage. I am leading a tour at the end of May. The itinerary is posted on my website, under Ireland Bound 2007. The only thing left to work out for the Tour is airfare, as the airfare that CIE quoted was far too high for such an early booking. I haven't had word yet on our teaching assignment in July at the William Clancy School of Music. I am crossing my fingers that it works out. One of these summers I want to be able to go for a few months with absolutely no itinerary and just breath it all in and soak up the essence. However, I need to win the Powerball first!

I hope you have the very best of Christmases!

Nollaig faoi shéan is faoi mhaise duit,

Bit Devine

Michele Erdvig · Host

Bit,

Since you are leading a tour to Ireland I know you won't be staying at Bunratty Lodge. Just not enough room at a B&B. Do try Mary's bread since it is simple and delicious. The Willie Clancy summer school sounds like great fun. I hope it works out for you.

Michele

shashie50 · Veteran Member

I am able to buy Barry's Tea (Cork, Ireland) at a local grocery (northern Illinois: Rockford). They actually carry 2 varieties now, but I prefer the Gold Blend (red box). I stayed at my cousin's a couple of weeks ago and she had an Irish Breakfast tea from Trader Joe's that was very good. I also like to have some decaf on hand, and when the Barry's decaf that I bring back from Ireland runs out, I use Stash's English Breakfast -- but recently tried the Twinings Irish Breakfast Decaf and am in the process of deciding if I prefer that...

See, it's midnight and now I want to have a cup of tea -- time for a decaf experiment!

We had a discussion with one of our B&B hostesses about the porridge (oatmeal) being popular with Americans, and we told her about the things we add to our mix at home -- raisins, dates, nuts, sunflower seeds, etc. She checked her kitchen and offered to put in raisins and some chopped apricots -- wow, that was good! I think their oats are less processed than ours -- well, almost everything tastes better over there. Could it be partly due to my state of mind when I'm in Ireland? Maybe just a little!

Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!

Marsha

Michele Erdvig · Host

Marsha,

I think the oats are processed differently for Irish porridge and it gives them a nutty flavor. About the best I have had recently is at Earl's Court House in Killarney. I put honey, cream and dates on mine. Mmmmm!

Michele

Green Dragon · Guru

Actually, I'm willing to bet just about everything is less processed in Ireland, and thus has stronger, fresher tastes. It doesn't have to be shipped across the country to sit in a grocery store, and is much more likely to be local produce, therefore less preservatives.

Mmmmmm brown bread, butter and smoked salmon. We had that a couple mornings when we rented our farmhouse near Rathmore. mmmmmmmmmm.

Unfortunately, I can't get another Irish fix anytime soon. Nova Scotia this summer and Scotland next summer will have to do!

Michele Erdvig · Host

Green Dragon,

I think they have some pretty good smoked salmon in Nova Scotia and Scotland! Are you going to the Isle of Sky? I loved it.

Michele