Say what?!?
I know, right? Me? Not do all the cooking?!? Well the reason behind this is that my Dad is such a wonderful and skilled cook that I've just let him continue to do it all. Ack. I know...that's probably not very nice of me but as a busy Wife and Mom, it was simply easier and so this is how the division of holidays happened. I hosted, decorated, baked desserts, cleaned etc and my parents schlepped over all the food.
Slowly I've been cooking more of the food as our diet has evolved and it's now become my duty to properly host. Meaning doing almost all the cooking in addition to traditional hosting duties. But here's the thing- while I LOVE and feel at home in the kitchen, I also am a big fan of EASY. Yeah, easy meals are my JAM. I like dishes that I can prep a day or so ahead of time, simple food that I can pop in the oven and let it do all the work for me or items that simmer away on the stove and allow me to socialize and visit with my guests. Each year our menu changes just a bit but the basics remain the same. Here's how I tackle a REAL food Easter dinner complete with MEAT (yeah, that is a rare sighting at my house indeed), apps and dessert.
The Basic Menu:
- Ham
- 2 veggie side dishes
- Potato
- Deviled Eggs
- Savory dessert
- Fruit/Appetizer
Let's begin with the ham. This is LITERALLY THE ONE TIME PER YEAR THAT I COOK PORK. Did you realize the significance of this through my use of capital letters? But seriously- no joke, I do not cook pork (with the exception of Easter dinner) and I personally have not eaten pork in well over 20 years. Well shit, I can't believe it's really been that long! While I will occasionally buy the kiddo some Applegate Farms ham lunch meat, this is the only pork that enters my home and maybe just a handful of times each year at that! The truth is that I simply don't buy much meat anymore and if we do want some bacon or sausage or I need it for a dish I'm cooking- then I will always buy turkey. So let's just take a moment and appreciate the sacred rarity of the Ham gracing our dinner table mmkay....
With that being said, any meat that I purchase MUST always be raised humanely. In addition, I prefer to find local meat so that I can better learn how it was treated and raised, what it ate, any chemicals it has ingested and so forth. I typically place my holiday meat order a few weeks prior and arrange to pickup or have it delivered. This year I was really contemplating NOT cooking a ham at all but the kiddo insisted that it simply wasn't Easter without one. So I picked up a ham from our local PCC grocery store from Beeler's at the last minute. If you can't find a local ham, this is the ham to buy. A family owned company that truly cares about it's farm and it's animals- these pigs are raised on vegetarian diets with NO antibiotics, NO growth hormones and NO artificial preservatives. This means your ham has been minimally processed, ate the very best diet (in fact they are in the process of converting to GMO free grain), is nitrate free and was raised ethically by a family of farmers who cares about it's animals and it's consumers. WIN WIN y'all.
If you are going to eat meat, eat the very best you can. Always.
Moving on, each year I do two simple vegetable side dishes. This year I'm keeping it super easy and making one of them a big green salad. Dude. It does NOT get any easier and this is a cost effective crowd pleaser! The other veg is a new recipe that I'm trying out this year, Smothered Green Beans. Pretty much any vegetable dish will work here but I recommend finding something you can prep 'n pull. Meaning, prep it ahead of time so there is LITERALLY nothing required from you other that pulling it out of the fridge, perhaps putting in the oven and then putting it on the table. Prep 'N Pull folks, PREP 'N PULL.
You cannot have an Easter meal without having deviled eggs. I'm pretty sure it's the law and since your kids have already helped you out by dying all those hard boiled eggs, you've got plenty available to fix yourself a big ole platter of deviled eggs. Yum!
In addition to the two vegetable sides, I always do a potato dish of some sort. Easter naturally lends itself to scalloped potatoes- which ROCK for an easy holiday side dish. You can also do a simple pot of boiled Yukon Gold potatoes with butter, mashed potatoes or the like. This year I will be making a favorite in my house, the Pioneer Woman's Potato Au Gratin. It is ridiculously easy and then you can simply pop it in the oven with your ham. A tip on this dish though- it takes twice as long to bake as it says it does. Shame on you Ree, you could have messed up my meal timing all sorts of wrong! Don't say I didn't warn you folks!
And because it's Easter and a holiday and a meal that should be SPECIAL, I always try to do something fun and themed around the holiday. Many times, I will do this for the appetizer (if we have one) or for the dessert because well...it's just easier that way mmkay. Just surf the Pinterest for some truly adorable Easter themed ideas! This year I am making a fruit platter in the shape of a bunny head. Yeah, a bunny's mother truckin' head. I guarantee you that it will be an instant hit with all the party people and it's a great way to get kids to eat something healthy. Works well with veggies too!
Finally, we've reached my personal favorite for any meal- DESSERT. Oh how I love me some dessert! In our house, "desserting" is actually considered a hobby and holidays are where I get to really pull out all the stops. Now, if you've followed me over on my Facebook page, you might remember that I made a carrot cake for the very first time this year per the husband's birthday dessert request. And it was so AMAZEBALLS that I'm doing it again for Easter. Just makes sense right? Carrot cake for Easter? Perfection!
Well there you have it. Not one single pre packaged, canned, boxed, frozen, chemical laden disaster will be gracing my Easter table this year. Real food- it really is this simple.
From our family to yours we wish you a blessed Easter.
 |
| A simple glaze of brown sugar, OJ & cloves. |
If you are going to eat meat, eat the very best you can. Always.
Moving on, each year I do two simple vegetable side dishes. This year I'm keeping it super easy and making one of them a big green salad. Dude. It does NOT get any easier and this is a cost effective crowd pleaser! The other veg is a new recipe that I'm trying out this year, Smothered Green Beans. Pretty much any vegetable dish will work here but I recommend finding something you can prep 'n pull. Meaning, prep it ahead of time so there is LITERALLY nothing required from you other that pulling it out of the fridge, perhaps putting in the oven and then putting it on the table. Prep 'N Pull folks, PREP 'N PULL.
You cannot have an Easter meal without having deviled eggs. I'm pretty sure it's the law and since your kids have already helped you out by dying all those hard boiled eggs, you've got plenty available to fix yourself a big ole platter of deviled eggs. Yum!
In addition to the two vegetable sides, I always do a potato dish of some sort. Easter naturally lends itself to scalloped potatoes- which ROCK for an easy holiday side dish. You can also do a simple pot of boiled Yukon Gold potatoes with butter, mashed potatoes or the like. This year I will be making a favorite in my house, the Pioneer Woman's Potato Au Gratin. It is ridiculously easy and then you can simply pop it in the oven with your ham. A tip on this dish though- it takes twice as long to bake as it says it does. Shame on you Ree, you could have messed up my meal timing all sorts of wrong! Don't say I didn't warn you folks!
And because it's Easter and a holiday and a meal that should be SPECIAL, I always try to do something fun and themed around the holiday. Many times, I will do this for the appetizer (if we have one) or for the dessert because well...it's just easier that way mmkay. Just surf the Pinterest for some truly adorable Easter themed ideas! This year I am making a fruit platter in the shape of a bunny head. Yeah, a bunny's mother truckin' head. I guarantee you that it will be an instant hit with all the party people and it's a great way to get kids to eat something healthy. Works well with veggies too!
Finally, we've reached my personal favorite for any meal- DESSERT. Oh how I love me some dessert! In our house, "desserting" is actually considered a hobby and holidays are where I get to really pull out all the stops. Now, if you've followed me over on my Facebook page, you might remember that I made a carrot cake for the very first time this year per the husband's birthday dessert request. And it was so AMAZEBALLS that I'm doing it again for Easter. Just makes sense right? Carrot cake for Easter? Perfection!
Well there you have it. Not one single pre packaged, canned, boxed, frozen, chemical laden disaster will be gracing my Easter table this year. Real food- it really is this simple.
From our family to yours we wish you a blessed Easter.
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