I was making supper a couple of nights ago and I decided to make a homemade chicken noodle soup.  It was my own dump and pour method so I don’t have a recipe, but it was really good. I decided having a simple sandwich with the soup would be nice but I was out of bread. I could certainly make my own but yeast bread would take too long with proofing and such. I could make biscuits but I wanted to be able to have a sandwich. Then it came to me: Irish Soda Bread. I’d not had Irish Soda Bread in years but it sure is simple to make.  The recipe calls for buttermilk, but I replace it with almond milk and it came out just fine.

I made some more the next night but I did some alterations to the recipe. I wanted a slightly sweet chocolate bread. So to the recipe, I added a couple of heaping tablespoons of cocoa powder and about 1/8 cup of honey. It came out beautifully. While it was still warm I drizzled on some more honey and a touch of ghee. It was so good!

I remember having Irish Soda Bread when I was a little girl. It was traditional for the Irish, and there were many Irish immigrants in the town where I grew up. I also have Irish blood so I suppose it’s only natural that I know about Irish Soda Bread.  It just might end up in one of my stories one day.

Here is my recipe in case you want to try it. St. Patrick's Day is just around the corner!

Irish Soda Bread

• 4 cups flour (you can use oat or whole wheat flour for 2 of those cups of flour)

• 2 tsp baking soda

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 1/3 cups of buttermilk (You can use almond or rice milk)

Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes.