Creative Crafts in St. Marys!

Baking & cooking isn't the only creative side to Home Ec, something that is sometimes forgotten about is the creative craft aspect. 

Craft & Design is held in very high esteem in St. Mary's and this year was no exception with the 3rd years doing themselves proud and upholding the usual very high standards.

Pictured are some of the crafts that were completed over a period of 12 weeks (and maybe a few extra weeks depending on circumstances!) Student are free to choose what craft they would like to do - under teacher guidance, and as you can see from the wide variety, the girls are not afraid to challenge themselves! From cross-stitch to tapestry, knitting, patchwork, applique wall-hangings, quilts, and cushions, the girls creativity is fantastic! 

It's really obvious all students have a wide range of talents and interests and this is reflected in their craft projects. Lots of love, patience and time went into these and hopefully they will have gained a skill they will put to use again sometime in the future!

 A selection of some of our cross stitch pictures. None left out on purpose - Ms Dunne will get around to photographing them all at some stage!

Lots of thought and personalisation = a forever piece  - although I think I should have ironed some of these before taking the photos!

Apprentice Chef 2016

St Mary's is lucky enough to have three extremely enthusiastic TY students participating in this years Apprentice Chef project. 

Now in its fourth year it was established by Mark Doe of justcooking.ie and Mark Murphy, senior lecturer in Culinary Arts at IT Tralee.

Aimed at secondary school students, the theme is ‘Good Mood Food’, to promote the importance of healthy eating in overall personal physical and mental wellbeing, as well as combating obesity and other health issues. 

Dishes should include a variety of ‘good mood foods’ based on seasonality, availability, locally produced and healthy unprocessed ingredients.

The girls spent weeks researching, planning, practicing and altering their recipes in anticipation of their cook-off held in Tralee IT. Accompanied by Home Economics teacher Ms. Buckley here are some pictures of the mouth-watering dishes the girls made on the day.

Lena cooked up a main course centered around Ballinwillin Farm venison, parsnip crisps, herbed quinoa and a beetroot puree.

Rachel served a platter of tempting desserts - an indulgent chocolate fondant, crisp buttery biscuits, panna cotta with poached rhubarb and cream filled profiteroles drizzled with caramel sauce.

Laura created a succulent lamb dish with hassle-back potatoes, wilted vegetables, roasted vine tomatoes and a vibrant green pesto.

I think you will agree all three dishes look extremely professional and well executed and certainly fit the bill of "Good Mood Food"!

Now the wait begins until the finalists are announced and fingers crossed for the girls that the preparation and planning will continue!

Click below to have a behind the scenes look at what happens on the day - enjoy!

Apprentice Chef 2016 Day 2 Vimeo

Fri-Yay! Treat - Chocolate Mousse

This delish dessert was practiced by one of my 3rd yr Junior Cert students today, and it was a great way to start the weekend! 

We only had strawberries in school to garnish with but raspberries and a sprig of mint would really add to presentation and I personally love the cute vintage feel to the cups!

I was lucky enough to get a taste and it was fab so fingers crossed it turns out as well next week during the practical exam.

Home Ec is Glittering!

I created a new display area outside Home Ec kitchen - Tios 1, using these DIY glitter letters.

Really easy to make I picked up the cardboard letters from Vibes & Scribes in Cork city. I coated them with PVA glue and then things got messy (and fun!) when I started applying the glitter. I would definitely recommend having lots of newspaper on hand as the glitter does tend to get everywhere!


The "Inspo" bunting was cut into triangles using a pinking scissors and the writing stencilled on using metallic paint. I then machined it on to a strip of scrap fabric I had - a very quick sewing project!


It created an eye-catching display and was great to see students stopping as they passed by to look at the photos I had printed out.


Now the hard part - keeping it updated!