St. Patrick’s day is just around the corner! It’s hard to believe Spring is already upon us, but we’re loving the warmer weather. In honor of the Irish, we’ve put together a few fun things to help you get your green on this 17th of March!

1. Make a naturally green drink

Food coloring can be nasty stuff. Don’t feel the need to turn to the green dye for your drinks. How about a Green Slipper?

According to Alla Lapushchik, the drink was designed to “capture the excitement of the first bits of springtime greenery.” Sounds perfect to me! This recipe will make a whole punch-bowl of Green Slipper:

Ingredients:

36 Mint leaves, plus extra for garnish
18 Apple slices, plus extra for garnish
18 Cucumber slices, plus extra for garnish
6 ounces Flor de Caña 4 Year Extra Dry Rum
3 ounces St. Germain
4½ ounces simple syrup
6 ounces lime juice

Directions: In a blender, blend all ingredients for 20 to 30 seconds. Fine strain through a mesh strainer into a punch bowl with 3 large ice cubes. Garnish with extra mint leaves, apple and cucumber slices.

If this doesn’t sound like your drink, there’s more options at Paste Magazine!

2. Eat some delicious green food

There are so many amazing recipes using all of the wonderful green-colored foods. Here’s just three ideas:
Start off with Zesty Green Goddess dip.

Then spoon up some fresh Cucumber Soup.

Finally devour a few Mint Chocolate Chip Cupcakes! (These do have food coloring, but they looked too good not to share!)

3. Actually Go Green!

Make a conscious effort to live in an eco-friendly way. This doesn’t have to be hard! Many of the ways to reduce your environmental impact are surprisingly easy. Here’s a couple ideas:

• replace your lightbulbs to the compact fluorescent kind
• bag your groceries with re-usable bags
• wait until the washing machine or dishwasher is full before running a load
• recycle your electronics instead of throwing them away
• turn off and unplug computers, TVs and the like every night

There you have it. Have a wonderful, green St. Patrick’s day!