They’re green enough—and elegant enough—to serve with St. Patrick’s Day cocktails.

The first recipe is a twist on the traditional California roll.
 
 
RECIPE #1: CUCUMBER, SHRIMP & WASABI BITES

Ingredients For 48 Bites

1. CUT the ends off the cucumbers, then cut each cucumber into 1” slices (6 pieces per cucumber). You should end up with about 48 slices. Using a small melon-baller, scoop out the center of each bite to 3/4 of the way down, leaving the bottom intact. Set aside.

2. MASH together the wasabi, cream cheese, soy sauce, and pickled ginger with a fork in a small bowl, until smooth and combined. Then mix in the shrimp to thoroughly combine.

3. TRANSFER the cream cheese mixture to a piping bag (substitute a food storage bag) with a plain round tip. Pipe about 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into each cucumber bite. Sprinkle with chives or tobiko before serving.
 

RECIPE #2: CURRIED GOAT CHEESE, APRICOT & PISTACHIO BITES

For the holidays, you can garnish these bites with finely minced dried cranberries for a red-and-green theme.

Ingredients For 48 Bites

1. CUT the ends off the cucumbers, then cut each cucumber into 1” slices (6 pieces per cucumber). You should end up with about 48 slices. Using a small melon-baller, scoop out the center of each bite to 3/4 of the way down, leaving the bottom intact. Set aside.

2. MASH together the cream cheese, goat cheese, curry powder, and salt with a fork in a small bowl, until smooth and combined. Then mix in the shrimp to thoroughly combine.

3. TRANSFER the cream cheese mixture to a piping bag (substitute a food storage bag) with a plain round tip. Pipe about 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into each cucumber bite. Sprinkle with pistachios and dried cranberries before serving.
 
 

There are plenty of green soups to serve on St. Patrick’s Day. For starters, consider avocado; Caldo Verde (kale, potato, sausage); cream of asparagus, broccoli or spinach; cucumber; green pea; herb; and nettle soups.

There are also classic Irish soups like Irish Bacon & Cabbage, Potato & Leek and Irish Potato Soup.

But you can also take your family’s favorite soup and add a green topping, starting with diced avocado.

Add a sprinkle of freshly chopped green herbs: basil, cilantro, dill, parsley.

Don’t like avocado? Dice the tops of green onions, or use a chiffonade of basil. If you like, you can toss them on top of a dollop of plain Greek yogurt or sour cream.

If you’d prefer a cheese garnish, hit a cheese store for Sage Derby, a Cheddar-style cheese from England; or Basiron Pesto, a Gouda turned green with added pesto.

Now, commence to the eatin’ of the green.
 
FOOD TRIVIA: WHAT ARE HERBS?

A tip from McCormick: Use green food color to tint minty chocolate chip cookies for your favorite leprechauns. If you don’t like mint, you can substitute vanilla extract.

Prep time is 15 minutes, cook time is 10-12 minutes.

RECIPE: GREEN MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Ingredients For 3 Dozen Cookies

Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.

2. BEAT the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, food color and peppermint extract; mix well. Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips.

3. DROP by heaping tablespoons, about 2 inches apart, onto ungreased baking sheets.

4. BAKE 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookie edges are lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.
 
TIP FOR GROWN-UPS

Add some Crème De Menthe or Irish Cream Liqueur to that chocolate milk!
  

Don’t want Irish beer or w whiskey for St. Patrick’s Day?

You can still drink green with this frozen Kiwi Cilantro Margarita from QVC chef David Venable.

David notes: “This is a Margarita recipe unlike anything you’ve ever tried. It gets a beautiful pop of green color from flavorful kiwi and bright cilantro. As you continue to sip, you get all of those memorable Margarita flavors you love.”

RECIPE: FROZEN KIWI CILANTRO MARGARITA

Ingredients For 6 Servings

1. PLACE the kiwi and the cranberry juice in a blender. Blend on low speed for 15-20 seconds, making sure not to dissolve the seeds. Strain the mixture through a sieve and discard the seeds.

2. PLACE the strained mixture back into the blender and add the ice, cilantro, tequila, triple sec and sugar. Blend until smooth. Garnish and serve immediately.

Find more of David Venable’s recipes at QVC.com.
  

[1] You could have a piece of pie for Pi Day. We’ll have a pizza pie instead (photo © Ribalta Pizza | NYC.)

[2] Want a dessert pie? Try pumpkin pie. It must be better for you, since it didn’t make the list of the 16 worst pies (photo courtesy FromTheMixedUpFiles.com).

Mathematically, March 4th is Pi Day: 3.14. As we learned in high school geometry, the Greek symbol is used in mathematics to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter, a constant that begins with 3.14159.

Food folks have co-opted Pi Day, turning it into Pi[e] Day and recommending that one celebrate it with a piece of pie.

This might be the time to include one of the numerous “Top 10 Pies” lists; but this year, we have a twist: a list of the 16 worst pies in terms of calories, fat and sugar, as determined by EatThisNotThat.com. You can read the explanations for each pie here.

The worst-for-you pie is #1, the best of the group is #16.

1. Pecan Pie
2. Key Lime Pie
3. Vanilla Caramel Pie
4. Turtle Pie
5. Fruit-Topped Cream Cheese Pie
6. Lemon Meringue Pie
7. Mince Pie
8. Banana Cream Pie
9. Mixed Berry Pie
10. Sweet Potato Pie
11. Peach Pie
12. Cherry Pie
13. Apple Pie
14. Pumpkin Pie
15. Blueberry Pie
16. Coconut Cream Pie
 
Who would have thought that Coconut Cream Pie could be a “better for you” option?

The choice is yours. Happy Pi Day.

Oh…and there is a National Pie Day. It’s on January 23rd.