I’m not a fan of corned beef, but I love Irish soda bread. It’s so easy to make and tastes delicious. I often wonder why I only make it in March, but the reason is probably the same as why I only make fudge at Christmas. I’d eat too much of it otherwise.

I usually make several small loaves to give away, but since I’m not seeing anyone at the moment, my hubby gets a large loaf all to himself. This makes him very happy.

Why not make some fresh bread for your family on St. Patrick’s Day? It takes less than an hour to make, and most of that is baking time. I end up getting flour everywhere, but that’s part of the fun. As breads go, this one couldn’t be easier.

There are dozens of recipes on the internet, but this is the one I use. It’s from Simply Recipes and is a basic Irish soda bread recipe.

Irish Soda Bread

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Whisk together 4 cups of flour, the sugar, salt, and baking soda into a large mixing bowl.
3. Using your (clean) fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse meal, then add in the currants or raisins.
4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add beaten egg and buttermilk to well and mix in with a wooden spoon until dough is too stiff to stir.
5. Dust hands with a little flour, then gently knead dough in the bowl just long enough to form a rough ball. If the dough is too sticky to work with, add in a little more flour. Do not over-knead!
6. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and shape into a round loaf. Note that the dough will be a little sticky, and quite shaggy (a little like a shortcake biscuit dough).
7. You want to work it just enough so that the flour is just moistened and the dough just barely comes together. Shaggy is good. If you over-knead, the bread will end up tough.
8. Transfer dough to a large, lightly greased cast-iron skillet or a baking sheet (it will flatten out a bit in the pan or on the baking sheet).
9. Using a serrated knife, score the top of dough about an inch and a half deep in an “X” shape. The purpose of the scoring is to help heat get into the center of the dough while it cooks.
10. Transfer to oven and bake at 425°F until bread is golden and bottom sounds hollow when tapped, about 35-45 minutes (less if you are making smaller loaves). (If you use a cast iron pan, it may take a little longer as it takes longer for the pan to heat up than a baking sheet.)
11. Check for doneness also by inserting a long, thin skewer into the center. If it comes out clean, it’s done.
    1. Hint 1: If the top is getting too dark while baking, tent the bread with some aluminum foil.
    2. Hint 2: If you use a cast-iron skillet to cook the bread in the oven, be very careful when you take the pan out. It’s easy to forget that the handle is extremely hot. Be sure to put a potholder over it.
12. Remove pan or sheet from oven, let the bread sit in the pan or on the sheet for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool briefly.
13. Serve bread warm, at room temperature, or sliced and toasted. Best when eaten warm and just baked.

My husband likes to experiment with cooking a lot more than I do. I wrote in an earlier post how I followed a new recipe, and the results were blah. Well, when my husband cooks, usually without instructions, the results are sometimes better than others, but always bold.

When we went to Alaska last summer, he had pizza soup in a great restaurant outside of Denali National Park. I thought the soup was okay (the pizza was better), but he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

A couple nights ago, he tried to recreate it, and it was way better than the restaurant’s version. It was like eating pizza with a spoon. So tasty.

Deconstructed Pizza Soup probably won’t be the same the next time he makes it since there isn’t a recipe to follow. But as long as it is saucy, cheesy, and filled with pepperoni, I’m sure it will be just as good.

Saturday is a great day to make spaghetti. The sauce can simmer longer, and everyone can linger around the dinner table. Or you can go out to eat and have unlimited breadsticks and salad before you stuff yourself with pasta.

I prefer medium shells to spaghetti noodles, but I’m fond of spaghetti sauce (my hubby makes a great sauce.) I especially like it with meatballs. No matter the pasta shape, I call it spaghetti.

Americans eat about 20 pounds of pasta a year. Most families have spaghetti about once a week. I did as a kid, but I have it less often now. Although when we make a batch, we eat if for three days, so it might average out.

Ever wonder how pasta is made? I watch a lot of cooking shows and love watching the crazy length that pasta dough grows to (like in this America’s Test Kitchen video), but it’s also fun to watch millions of pounds of pasta being made. (Beware watching just one How It’s Made video though because it’s hard to stop.)

I think the best thing about spaghetti is that everyone has their own recipe, so no two dishes taste alike. That can be true even in one household. My hubby’s spaghetti sauce is never the same twice, but it’s always tasty. What is your favorite sauce? Do you make it yourself, or does it come out of a can or jar? Perhaps it’s from a powdered packet like my mom used when I was a kid? Or do you make it from scratch like my aunt? I didn’t bother including any recipes here because I figured we each have our own.

Every nativity scene I’ve ever seen has animals in it. This makes sense since it takes place in a stable where the animals live. Plus, there are all those sheep that the shepherds wouldn’t have left behind.

I have two nativities. My smaller one that was a gift from my husband has only seven pieces. They left out the shepherd but included a sheep. That is how important animals are.

If you think about it, Jesus was already born when the shepherds arrived. Therefore, the first ones to see the baby, after Mary and Joseph, would have been the animals that lived in the stable (and probably ate from the manger where Jesus was sleeping) and the donkey that brought them to Bethlehem.

If you like to cry, watch “The Small One,” a Disney featurette about the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem. I only saw this movie once and remember bawling uncontrollably, so I’ll skip it, but it’s sweet to watch a familiar story from a different point of view. Remarkably, you can see this on Amazon Prime but not Disney+.

Rather than watching a sob story, you can do something nice for the animals in your life. Buy them a new toy. Give an outdoor cat a warm bed. Buy your fur babies a special treat. Christmastime can be stressful for pets so make sure you take good care of them.

By the way, I never see dogs and cats in nativity scenes, but I assume they were there. Shepherds use herding dogs and cats hunt mice in areas where there is hay, so I think they should be represented too.

You can also go see the Nutcracker or your school’s winter concert, but if you have never been to a Tuba Christmas event, I highly recommend it. You can find one in your area by going to their website and typing in your state.

Tuba Christmas has been happening for 46 years. The first Tuba Christmas was held at the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Center in New York City. I bet the music sounded awesome bouncing off the skyscrapers.

When I was in college, I learned to play the tuba so I could participate in Tuba Christmas. My hubby has played the tuba since high school, and we both joined the event in 1994. Our concert was held outside and had about fifty tuba and baritone players. So cool.

I have been playing a different Christmas album each day in December. It’s a lot of fun to hear different performers sing familiar carols, but it doesn’t match hearing those songs played live. Take time to take in a concert this month with friends and family. It will brighten everyone’s holiday. Especially if it is tubas.