The mister and I are definitely creatures of habit...we like what we like and are sometimes hard pressed to try new things, especially if the new things buck up against our traditions! This Easter we will definitely enjoy all of the following - they are all part of our Easter traditional feast and given what gluttons we are, we simply cannot eliminate any of them! So here you go, some of our favorite Easter recipes - hope you'll give one or two a try this year!
Carrot Tart with Ricotta and Herbs - This will be our lunch the day before our Easter feast...which I will serve to the mister while he's watching the NCAA Final Four play - Go Loyola! Go Kansas! I have no skin in the games so I really don't care but the mister is beside himself over the finals and his busted brackets...I cannot wait for March Madness to be over! For those of you who have read this trash for a while, then you are no doubt thinking the mister will not be thrilled with me serving him a vegetable tart...now if it had the words meat or lemon pie in front of the word tart, the mister would probably stop screaming at the TV long enough to say thank you! But this time of year he is so engrossed in basketball that he is really putty in my hands, so all I have to do is tell him it's "game food" and he will eat every crumb - and so should you, this is dang good!
Minted Fruit with Sparking Cider Syrup - I will serve this Easter morning as part of our pre-Easter feast...or maybe I should call it our pre-pre-Easter feast...as we start early in order to get in three full feasts/meals on Easter Sunday! This is easy, refreshing and it will make your Easter morning breakfast/brunch special - which it should be!
Orange Ricotta Pancakes - This is what we eat with our Minted fruit - these light and fluffy pancakes - delicious! The mister is a pancake snob and he loves these, you will, too!
Have I told you about the ESL group I have come to my house every week? Maybe not, but it's been one of the very best things I've ever done! Maybe 9 or 10 Chinese gals come every week to my house to practice speaking English and also one gal who is from Spain comes and one who is from Russia via Israel comes and one from Great Britain, who comes to make sure we speak proper English! A week back I had them all make sugared eggs and we talked about Easter, as the Chinese gals don't really know much about it except that the Easter Bunny comes and passes out chocolate bunnies! These are the eggs they made - they all turned out SOOOOO cute!
Lemon Meringue Nests - We have to have a tray of these around for nibbling throughout the day...it's not Easter unless we do! I make the meringues two days before Easter and keep in a Zip-lock plastic bag and then add the lemon curd when I'm ready to serve...they're meringues so they're practically calorie free! Hahahaha...Oh, I don't consider these a dessert (keep reading) but they would make a wonderful dessert...I do consider them necessary though!
Carrot Cake Like Nobody's Bizness - This is the only carrot cake I like. It's also the only one I've ever made and ever will make - why mess with perfection?? And, it's the only dessert we have on Easter Sunday. Nothing will knock this off the Easter Dessert Throne! It's that good. Amen.
Italian Easter Pie - I know I just said the Carrot Cake is our only Easter dessert...that was a blatant lie. Forgive me. I also make this Italian Easter Pie, but I make it the day before Easter so we can nibble at it throughout the weekend. And I make it because I love it and it's great for breakfast the day after and the day after that, it lasts for several days!
Luscious Lemon Roll - Okay, I confess, I also make this Luscious Lemon Roll because it's Easter, the last big holiday feast we'll have until the 4th of July so three desserts seems appropriate. It's embarrassing really, but I do share, it's not like I grab a slice and run to my bedroom and tell the mister I'm straightening my closet and not to come it...oh, maybe it is. Oh whatever...three desserts, yes, that's right, three!!! But they are all too good NOT to have show up on Easter or right before or right after...
Ham with Mustard-Apricot Glaze - I bake my ham the same way every year...I pour a can of 7-Up over it and bake in the oven and then I mix up a batch of Mustard-Apricot Glaze and coat it on the ham...it's sweet and savory and the absolute perfect ham glaze in the ham-glaze universe.
Thought you might need a laugh right about now...that's Moi, reprising my role as the Easter Bunny for our annual neighborhood Easter egg hunt....some kids were a bit traumatized by the rather large bunny even though I tried to assure them the Easter Bunny was MORE traumatized than they! The mister acted as my personal body guard/photographer and managed to get his picture of my sweet little Sophie and her mom Rui.
Orange Hot Cross Buns - It wouldn't be Easter with these buns! They're not loaded up with the traditional spices you'd find in Hot Cross Buns - just a little nutmeg and orange zest which makes these taste like Spring has truly arrived, even if it's rainy and cold outside! We have these for dinner - they go great with everything else on our plates and they are pretty, too!
Potatoes Nan-a - Totally a rip-off of Potatoes Anna with two distinct additions...Parmesan cheese and cream. Trust me on this, whoever Potatoes Anna is named after, well, she would roll over in her grave to have just one bite of these, they are gloriously good and always on our Easter table. They are the perfect accompaniment to our Ham with Mustard-Apricot Glaze and they will have your guests thinking you're a masterful chef - pretty and delicious - can't ask for more than that!
We will round out our Easter feast with roasted asparagus and glazed carrots (carrots cooked in orange juice instead of water, dang delicious!) and then we will pass the Tums and call it a night.
Happy Easter to you! Hope the Bunny makes an appearance at your house and brings you Chocolate Bunnies and Carrot-Shaped Sugar Cookies!
