Contact Us

Visit us at one of our three store locations to find Irish Jewelry, Claddagh Rings, Irish Sweaters, Irish Foods, Guinness Products, Waterford and Belleek.

Call us at one of the numbers below or use the accompanying form to contact us.

The Irish Boutique - Long Grove, IL (847 634 3540)

Paddy's on the Square - Long Grove, IL (847 634 0339)

 

228 Robert Parker Coffin Road
Long Grove, IL, 60047
United States

847 634 0339

The Irish Boutique is an Irish import store that has been located in the Chicago land area for over 40 years.  The shop stocks a variety of products ranging from Irish jewelry, crystal, china, food, sweaters, caps, t-shirts and a wide variety of Irish gifts. 

Cooking Blog

Visit our blog to read about Michelle Barry's adventures in cooking and eating Irish cuisine and to learn about new products and upcoming events. 

 

Homemade Whole Grain Pancake Mix

john barry

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I swear. If I discover how much better, healthier and more economical the “homemade version” of another thing my family consumes in large quantities is, I’m going to lose whatever shred of sanity I have left. Or, maybe I’m just going to end up on 100 acres in Appalachia making stuff from scratch. 

Still, I can’t seem to help myself. Never in my wildest imagination would I have believed that my family could go through as many pancakes in a week as we do.  Actually, I’m not at all opposed to boxed mixes. Some of them taste great, especially considering the effort required. You can also doctor them up with vanilla, spices, mix-ins - healthy stuff like flax meal, bran, eggs even soft tofu (yup, it has been done my friend, and NO ONE even noticed).

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Still, I haven’t been able to get over serving my family something out of a box quite so often. Upon realizing the true extent of our pancake consumption, I started buying “healthy” boxed mixes with added protein, whole grains and all that jazz because it made me feel better. What did not make me feel better, however, was spending upwards of five dollars a box for something that would last us only a handful of breakfasts and still mainly consisted of wheat flour.

I knew I could do better. So I turned to my trusted resource for all things baking, King Arthur Flour.  Turns out they have a recipe on their site for homemade whole grain pancake mix that has hundreds of rave reviews. Step one. Done. Step two. Adapting the recipe to recreate the chocolate whole grain mix I sometimes buy. Easy enough. Step three. Making both mixes and stashing about 20 cups of homemade pancake mix in my fridge and freezer. The only downside? It won’t be long for all that mix to be gone. Fortunately, it only takes a few minutes to whip up a new batch.

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For chocolate pancakes make the following substitutions to the original recipe:

  • Sub 1 cup of cocoa powder for one of the cups of white whole wheat flour

  • Sub ½ cup cocoa powder for ½ cup of the ground oats

  • Sub ½ cup coconut oil for ½ cup of the oil

  • Add 1-2 cups mini chocolate chips

With the chocolate version, when I am ready to make the pancakes, I use malted milk powder (such as Ovaltine) and water (8 oz) and a couple of tablespoons of yogurt for the liquid instead of milk and yogurt or buttermilk.  I feel like this gives the chocolate flavor a boost and makes all the difference.

Long Grove Irish Days

john barry

Ok. I know, I've been terrible about posting and cooking this summer. The big kids were actually in Ireland for part of August and I ate nothing but stuff from the garden and eggs while they were gone.  Lazy days of summer taken literally. Somehow the rest of the month just flew by and here we are in September.  

Last weekend we spent some time at Long Grove Irish Days.  Here are a few photos. 

Team Ireland upstairs at Paddy's

Team Ireland upstairs at Paddy's

Me an baby Noelle

Me an baby Noelle

Handcrafted shamrock necklace.

Handcrafted shamrock necklace.

Evil Eve getting into the fountain and damaging the flowers (her necklace as well). 

Evil Eve getting into the fountain and damaging the flowers (her necklace as well). 

I love these. Aren't they charming?

I love these. Aren't they charming?

Bracelets at the craft table were a huge hit!

Bracelets at the craft table were a huge hit!

Coloring too! 

Coloring too! 

Summer Birthday: Caramel Pretzel Crunch Pie

john barry

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A full six months after making this for my daughter Isla’s third birthday and this for my son’s fifth, I am STILL burnt out on birthday cakes.  Fortunately, Eve was born during summer. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have at least one child with a summer birthday. No vying with every other parent in Chicago for a spot at one of the most popular birthday party venues in the middle of winter.  No worrying that the weather might be so bad no one will show up. And certainly, no “it-looked-so-easy-on-you-tube” doll cake. Not when an easy ice cream cake will do.

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Children love ice cream. Eve is no different. So when I couldn’t face another cake or even turning on the oven, ice cream swept in and saved the day. You can make this cake, pie actually, in about 5 minutes. It keeps well in the freezer so it doesn’t matter whether that 5 minutes is a month or a day before you plan on serving it.  I know you have better things to do with your free time.

You can be endlessly creative with ice cream cake in terms of flavors and decorations.  Try making a thin batch of brownies, cool them, layer ice cream on top or use crumbled up cookies instead of pretzels. Use multiple flavors of ice cream, freezing in between. Anything goes!

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We decorated Eve's cake with cut-outs of coloring pages from Emmett's coloring books.  Emmett loved this activity and was so proud to see that his coloring was featured prominently on her cake.  Next year Eve will probably want a "real" birthday party with friends but this year, all she needed was her family and the "cake". 

I think two is my favorite year! Please don't let it go by too fast...

I think two is my favorite year! Please don't let it go by too fast...

Caramel Pretzel Crunch Pie

  • About 24 ounces (half of a 1.5 quart container) Caramel pretzel ice cream, slightly softened
  • 1 homemade or store bought graham cracker crust
  • 6 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 3 ounces heavy cream
  • ½ cup crushed pretzels
  1. Press softened ice cream into graham cracker crust. Wrap in plastic and place in freezer until fully frozen.

  2. Place cream and chopped chocolate in microwave and microwave in 20 second bursts, stirring in between, until chocolate is melted and mixture is thick and glossy. Allow to cool to room temperature.

  3. Take ice cream pie out of the freezer and pour chocolate ganache over the top guiding it all the way to the sides with a spatula.

  4. Top with pretzel pieces, pressing down gently so they stick into the ganache.

  5. Store covered in the freezer up to two months.

  6. Remove from freezer about 15 minutes before serving.

Evie-Bo-Beavie we love you so much and cannot believe you are already TWO!!! 

Evie-Bo-Beavie we love you so much and cannot believe you are already TWO!!!