If there’s a 5 Napkin Burger near you, now’s the time to grab a limited-edition Blarney Burger (photo #1).

It’s one of our favorites of their seasonal burgers, and we’ll enjoy it several times before the St. Patrick’s Day holiday is over—along with their delicious sweet potato pies, pickles, and an IPA.

If that sounds good, you can easily make this St. Pat’s treat at home. Five Napkin Burger calls it their “Blarney Burger”—and believe us, you don’t need any blarney* to convince us to have another.

> The history of St. Patrick’s Day.

> The history of the burger.

> 100+ St. Patrick’s Day recipes.
 
 
RECIPE: 5 NAPKIN BURGER’S BLARNEY BURGER
 
Ingredients

 
Plus:

 
Preparation

1. COOK the cheeseburgers, place on buns.

2. TOP with corned beef, then mustard, then slaw, then top bun. Skewer with toothpicks as necessary.

3. SERVE with pickles, beer, optional French fries, etc.
 
 
GUIDE TO IRISH CHEESE

Thanks to iGourmet for this information. The cheeses can be found online.

A brief history of Irish cheese:

Irish cheese making is a relatively young industry. Economic factors in centuries past dictated that most dairy production in Ireland be focused on milk and butter.

By the 1900s most of Irish cheese production came from large manufacturers whose main focus was Cheddar cheese.

It wasn’t until the 1970s that Ireland became known for farmhouse cheese making. Today, Ireland is ninth in cheese exportation globally.

Thanks to Ireland’s naturally rich and lush pastures, Irish cheese often contains a higher level of beta-carotene.

This gives the milk used to make their Cheddars and other cow’s milk cheeses a natural yellow color.

Most other Cheddars, including American Cheddars, use annato, a natural orange-red dye derived from a tropical tree, to give the naturally white cheese its yellow-orange color.

Today, farmhouse cheeses made in Ireland are of high quality and unique to each farm thanks to the dedication of the families that produce them.
 
Some Of The Best-Known Irish Cheeses

Ardrahan: Ardrahan is an award-winning semi-soft vegetarian† Irish Cheese made from pasteurized cow’s milk. Ardrahan has a pungent aroma with a buttery and complex flavor. This unique Irish Cheese is a washed rind type made by the Burns family in the lush countryside of Duhallow, County Cork in Southern Ireland.

Blarney Castle: Blarney Castle is a semi-soft Irish Cheese made from cow’s milk (photo #6). Available plain or smoked, Blarney Castle is made from the milk of grass-fed cows, which gives this Irish Cheese a mild and creamy flavor similar to a young Dutch Gouda. This popular Irish Cheese is ideal for sandwiches and pairs well with fresh fruit and a glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

Cashel Blue: The first Irish blue cheese, Cashel Blue (photo #7) is modeled after the great French blue, Fourme d’Ambert. Developed by the Grubb family in the 1980s, Cashel Blue, a semi-soft farmhouse cheese, is an award-winning cow’s milk product made on the Grubb family’s Beechmount Farm in Tipperary Ireland. It is named after a nearby landmark, the Rock of Cashel.

This creamy tangy Irish Cheese has a pale buttery interior streaked with blue veins. Cashel Blue is wonderful in leafy green salads, with fresh fruit or spread atop a piece of French crusty bread.

Cahill’s Farm Cheddar: Cahill’s Farm Irish Cheddar is an artisan cow’s milk cheese made in County Limerick in Ireland. This unique handmade Irish Cheese starts life as a tangy Irish cheddar, which is chopped into bits before aging, blended with a flavoring, then hooped, lightly pressed and aged to perfection.

Cahill’s Farm Cheddar has a veined appearance due to this production method. Flavors of this Irish Cheddar include Irish Whiskey, Porter Ale, and Elderberry Wine. This vegetarian Irish Cheese makes a stunning presentation on cheese platter or when offered as an hors d’oeuvre.

Dubliner: Named after the city of Dublin, Dubliner Cheese is often described as a combination of Cheddar and Parmigiano Reggiano. Dubliner is an aged cow’s milk Irish Cheese with the texture of Irish Cheddar but the flavor of Parmesan. It uses the same rennet used in Parmigiano Reggiano production, imported from Italy, married to a modified Irish Cheddar production method.

Sweet and nutty, Dubliner is aged over twelve months to create a full flavored cheese that is perfect for salads or sandwiches (photo #8). Dubliner is also available flavored with Irish stout (think Guinness) which combines the caramel and bitter notes of Irish stout with the complex flavors of Dubliner Cheese.

Irish Cheddar: There are many excellent brands of Irish Cheddar: Kerrygold, Shamrock, Tipperary, and Wexford to name a few. Aged Irish Cheddars have rich, sharp and strong flavors of Ireland’s lush pastures. The grass, which is rich in beta-carotene, also provides a natural yellow color color.
 
________________
 
*Blarney: Talk that aims to charm, flatter, cajole, or persuade, designed to gain favor. It is also used in the sense of deceptive or misleading talk: nonsense or hooey. The word appeared in the late 18th century, named after the Blarney stone of Blarney Castle outside of Cork, Ireland. A large block of carboniferous limestone stone set into a tower of the castle in 1446 the stone said to give the gift of gab (persuasive speech) to anyone who kisses it.

†A vegetarian cheese means that the cheese uses plant rennet—made from cardoon thistle, artichokes, or nettles—instead of the animal rennet, made from the stomach lining of a calf, ewe, or kid. Animal rennet was traditionally been used to make cheese.

Vegan cheese, on the other hand, is made with zero animal product, neither animal milk nor rennet. Instead, it can be made from soy, nuts such as cashews and macadamias, and vegetable oils, such as coconut oil. Agar, arrowroot, peas, and tapioca are other options.

‡Why a lamburger? Sheep are abundant in Ireland, for cheese, meat, and wool. More lamb is eaten than beef.
 
 

[1] The Blarney Burger, an Irish cheeseburger for St. Patrick’s Day (photo © 5 Napkin Burger).

[2] Plan on three slices of corned beef for each burger (photo © Omaha Steaks | Facebook).

[3] Irish Cheddar cheese enveloped in green wax is mature, aged for 12 months or longer. This is from iGourmet (photo © iGourmet).

[4] Stout mustard, made by a brewer of craft stout, available on Amazon (photo © Sierra Nevada).

[5] An Irish stout or other Irish beer is a perfect pairing with the Blarney Burger (photo © Carlow Brewing).

[6] Blarney Castle is a Gouda-style cheese, similar to a young Dutch Gouda cheese (photo © Kerrygold).

[7] Cashel Blue Cheese, a scrumptious, creamy blue (photo © Murray’s Cheese).

[8] This Dubliner cheese from Kerrygold has an bonus: Irish whiskey is added to the cheese (photo © iGourmet).

[1] A Dutch Baby pancake with a sautéed apple topping. The recipe is below (photo © Bob’s Red Mill).

[2] A Dutch Baby can be customized with numerous flavors, both savory and sweet. Above, a lemon-berry Dutch Baby. Here’s the recipe (photo © Camilla Styles).

[3] A savory Dutch Baby can include eggs plus bacon, sausage, cheese, herbs, whatever you like. Here’s the recipe for this one (photo © Food With Feeling).

On this last day of February, National Pancake Month, we’re featuring the Dutch Baby pancake, one of our favorites.

A Dutch Baby pancake is a cross between a conventional pancake and a popover—the latter in that it’s both puffy and crisp, similar to a large Yorkshire pudding. Other names include Bismarck, Dutch Puff, German Pancake, Hooligan, and Hootenanny.

Unlike other types of pancakes, Dutch Babies are baked in the oven instead of fried on the stove. They also don’t contain leaving ingredients, such as baking powder or baking soda.

Despite its name, the Dutch Baby is technically an American invention, although it is derived from a traditional German recipe.

> The recipe follows below.

> The history of the Dutch Baby pancake.

> More Dutch Baby pancake recipes.

> The history of pancakes.

> More about pancakes.

> The different types of pancakes: a photo glossary.
 
 
RECIPE: HARVEST APPLE DUTCH BABY PANCAKE

This pancake is baked, not fried, and serves 2-4 people. Use your favorite apple variety.

Thanks to the great Bob’s Red Mill for the recipe. A pioneer in the U.S. natural foods movement, their products—flours, cereals and other grains, baking mixes, beans, seeds—are the very best!
 
Ingredients For The Pancake

 
For The Apple Topping

 
Preparation
 
1. PREHEAT the oven to 425°F. Once the oven is fully heated, place a 10-inch cast iron skillet in the oven to heat for at least 25 minutes. While the pan heats…

2. ADD the eggs, ¼ cup butter, milk, flour, sugar, salt, and cinnamon to a blender. Blend on high for 20–30 seconds until smooth.

3. CAREFULLY REMOVE the hot cast iron pan from oven and place the reserved 2 tablespoons of butter in the pan to melt. Once the foaming ceases, pour the batter into the hot pan. Immediately return the pan to the oven and bake until puffed and set, 20–25 minutes.

4. MAKE the topping while the Dutch baby bakes. Slice an apple into ¼-inch slices.

5. MELT 2 tablespoons of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the apple slices, brown sugar and thyme, gently swirling together for 3–4 minutes until the apple slices are soft but still intact. Remove from the heat.

6. CAREFULLY REMOVE the Dutch Baby from the oven and spoon the apple slices and butter sauce over top. Serve immediately.

February is National Hot Breakfast Month—one of the 115 breakfast holidays of the year. Before the month runs out, we made this special recipe, a skillet scramble with potatoes, bacon, and sausage.

The recipe was developed by Love Keil of Munchkin Time and shared with us by the Idaho Potato Commission.

> The history of breakfast.

> 115 breakfast holidays.
 
 
RECIPE: SKILLET BREAKFAST SCRAMBLED EGGS,
FRIED POTATOES, BACON & SAUSAGE

This dish is actually an entire skillet breakfast complete with golden fried potatoes, scrambled eggs, smoky sausage, and crispy bacon—all topped with melted cheese!

It’s a whole breakfast made in one pan—you can think of it as a scramble with potatoes, sausage.

Not only is it an easy meal, it’s hearty and delicious.

The recipe was developed by Ms. Love Kyle of Munchkin Time, and shared with us by the Idaho Potato Commission.

If you want to read more than we have in this post, you can read her entire article with step-by-step photos.
 
Ingredients For 4 Servings

While this recipe allows for one egg per person, we used to eggs.

In the past, we happily used the Litehouse brand of freeze-dried herbs specified below. But since we have a burgeoning herb garden on the kitchen windowsills, we used them in this recipe.

TIP: In general, if you want to use fresh herbs instead of dried, there is a 3:1 ratio of fresh:dried, i.e., 1 tablespoon of fresh herbs = 1 teaspoon of dried herbs. We’ve noted the equivalent measures in the ingredients list.

 
Preparation

1. COOK the bacon in a non-stick skillet on medium heat until crispy. Remove from the skillet and drain on a plate lined with paper napkins.

2. ADD the sliced sausage to the skillet and sauté for a few minutes, or until the slices are a nice golden color. Remove to the plate with the bacon.

3. MELT the butter, add the sliced potatoes, and cook on medium heat until cooked through and a nice golden color, about 10-15 minutes. Flip a few times using a spatula. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. ADD the eggs, parsley, chives, and half of the bacon and sausage. Stir and cook until the eggs are cooked through (scrambled), about 1-2 minutes.

[1] Except for the toast and coffee, here’s an all-in-one skillet breakfast (photos #1 and #2 © Love Keil | Munchkin Time | Idaho Potato Commission).

[2] Adding the eggs, with Litehouse freeze-dried herbs.

[3] Instead of smoky kielbasa, we used this chicken-apple sausage from D’Artagnan. It adds a subtle note of apple to the dish (photo © D’Artagnan).

6. GARNISH with a sprinkle of chives and parsley and serve while warm.

[1] Like Air Puffcorn, our Top Pick Of The Week, was featured on Shark Tank (photo © Shark Tank Products).

[2] You can a large-size (4-ounce) combo pack on Amazon (photos #2, #3, #4, and #5 © Like Air Snacks).

[3] Pancake is a delicious flavor of popcorn, with far fewer calories than eating pancakes!

[4] Cinnamon bun is the closest to kettle corn, without the calories.

[5] You can buy a variety pack of the four flavors, in either family size or individual size, on the company website (we recommend it!).

Like Air Puffcorn is our Top Pick Of The Week: popcorn with a melt-in-your-mouth texture that is made without the popcorn kernel hulls that can stick in your teeth.

Yes, that makes it better than traditional popcorn in our book. (A tiny kernel stuck in our tooth* sent us to the dentist for a $300. He said, “Next time skip the popcorn.”

We were bereft because popcorn is a high-fiber, low-calorie snack we relied upon.

Then, on Shark Tank, we discovered Like Air Puffcorn.

Mr. Wonderful, Kevin O’Leary, exclaimed that it was the best-tasting low-calorie snack they’ve had in all 15 years of Shark Tank.

The company got a deal from deal from Mark Cuban and Lori Greiner.

We were so excited that, rather than write for editorial samples, we quickly purchased three boxes: three flavors of the individual-size packages.

We now must go back for the fourth flavor, and hope that the fifth, the limited-edition Pumpkin Spice, comes back this fall.
 
 
LIKE AIR PUFFCORN FLAVORS

There are both 4-ounce bags and .65-ounce individual portion bags.

The individual size is a perfect school-safe snack, party favor, stocking stuffer, Easter basket treat, and so on.

 
Like Air Puffcorn is:

 
 
FOOD FUN: CUSTOMIZE YOUR CORN!

While popcorn is just 50 calories per cup, you can enhance your snack—still without getting anything stuck in your teeth.

With the Classic and sweet flavors, we add some extra calories by:

 
With the Classic and White Cheddar flavors, we add:

 
 
GET YOUR LIKE AIR PUFFCORN

Like Air is sold in 3,500+ stores across all 50 states, including larger retailers like HEB, Kings, Kroger, Meijer, Sam’s Club, ShopRite, Stop & Shop, and Wegmans.

E-tailers include Amazon, Fresh Direct, Instacart, Sams’s Club, and the Like Air Snacks website.
 
 
October is National Popcorn Poppin’ Month.

> The history of popcorn.

> The history of popcorn salad (and recipe).

> 20+ popcorn recipes.

> Popcorn trivia.

> Popcorn, a whole-grain food.
 
 
________________

*Popcorn kernel hulls are the ideal size and shape to get caught between gums and teeth. We may not even realize we have a stuck particle until our gums become sore a few days later.

†The “Big Nine” allergens: eggs, milk, nuts, fish, peanuts/tree nuts, sesame, shellfish‡, soybeans, and wheat.
 
‡Shellfish include mollusks and crustaceans. Mollusks have a hinged, two-part shell, such as clams, mussels, octopus, oysters, and squid. Crustaceans, on the other hand, have exoskeletons, such as crabs, lobsters, and shrimp.

Congress passed the Food Allergen Labeling and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 (FALCPA), citing eight foods as major food allergens: milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, and soybeans. Here’s more about it.

If your breakfast is a cup of coffee and a bagel or doughnut, that does not count for The Big Breakfast Day, February 27th. There are better breakfast foods to be had for this most important meal of the day.

Why is breakfast the most vital meal of the day?

Physicians and nutritionists recommend that consuming a substantial, nutritious breakfast determines how energized and alert you are to start the day.

It will also help you feel full until lunch—no growling stomach.

> The history of breakfast.

> 115 breakfast holidays (yes indeed!).
 
 
WHO INVENTED THIS HOLIDAY?

According to Days Of The Year, The Big Breakfast Day was invented in 2020 by a man named Jeffrey Arnold. But we can’t find any more information about him or why he picked February 27th for the holiday.

If you know anything else, please let us know (write to editors at TheNibble.com).

Days Of The Year opines that the holiday “offers an opportunity to slow down a bit and enjoy more than just a quick cup of coffee on the run.”

Another goal: to encourage a healthy start to the day.
 
 
WHAT IS A GOOD BREAKFAST?

The USDA recommends that a “balanced breakfast” should be one that is nutrient dense (that is, high in nutrients and low in calories).

A balanced breakfast should be a mix of:

 
Notice that bacon, sausage, and other breakfast meats are missing. Why?

Too much fat and salt! See more about it below.

On another note:

Can you have a Bloody Mary, Mimosa, or Screwdriver with your breakfast?

Sure: It’s a holiday. But just one.
 
 
AMERICA’S FAVORITE BREAKFASTS

Given all this nutritional advice, what are America’s favorite breakfast foods?

Per Yahoo Finance, An online survey commissioned by General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) Foodservice in 2021 revealed the affection Americans have for breakfast.

1. Pancakes
2. Bacon (see why bacon should only be eaten occassionally, below)
3. Eggs
4. Avocado toast
5. Cereal
6. Sausages
7. Waffles
8. Sandwiches
9. Home Fries
10. Wraps
11. Fruits
12. Grits
13. Doughnuts
14. Oatmeal
15.Hash Browns

 
 
WHY BACON & SAUSAGE SHOULD NOT BE AN EVERYDAY BREAKFAST CHOICE

Bacon, sausage, and other processed meats should only be consumed in moderation. Why?

Saturated Fats: They are high in saturated fats, which, when consumed in excess, have been linked to elevated levels of LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol), which can contribute to an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Processed Meat Risks: Regular consumption of processed meats has been associated with an increased risk of certain health issues, including heart disease and certain types of cancer.

High in Sodium: Bacon is typically cured with salt, making it a high-sodium food. Excessive sodium intake can contribute to high blood pressure and increase the risk of cardiovascular problems.

Calorie Density: Bacon is calorie-dense, meaning it provides a significant number of calories in a small serving size. For those watching their calorie intake, this can be a concern.

Nitrate and Nitrite Content: Bacon typically contains nitrate and nitrite preservatives, which can form potentially harmful compounds when cooked at high temperatures. While the evidence is not conclusive, some studies suggest a link between processed meat consumption and certain health risks.

It’s worth noting that moderation is key, and enjoying bacon occasionally as part of a balanced diet may not be problematic for everyone.

However, for those with specific health concerns, such as cardiovascular issues or high blood pressure, it’s advisable to limit the intake of high-saturated-fat and processed meats and other high-saturated-fat foods.

These include:

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

[1] Pancakes are America’s favorite breakfast food. To get real nutrition from them, buy whole grain pancake mix (photo © D.K. Gilbey | Dreamstime).

[2] Second choice is bacon. We love it, but it should only be consumed occasionally. Here’s why (photo © iGourmet).

[3] Eggs, the third most-mentioned breakfast food, deliver lots of protein. Serve them atop spinach and sweet potato hash and you’ve hit a nutrition home run (photo © Sunbasket).

[4] You can combine, ranked #4, avocado toast, with #3 ranked, eggs (photo © California Olive Ranch).

[5] A bowl of cereal (ranked #5), especially whole-grain, plus lowfat milk and fresh fruit, kicks off three boxes (photo © Preserve).

[6] Combining #3, eggs, with #13, grits. Here’s the recipe for these cheesy grits with spinach (photo © The Baker Chick).