My girlfriend messaged me on Sunday and made a comment that I thought was funny, she said, ” these holidays are just an excuse to eat an excessive amount of food!!!” I AGREE!!! 😂 For the rest of the holiday, we ate! It is so weird to make a big holiday dinner for just the 4 of us. We talked about just keeping it simple but that thought process left me feeling like spring break all over again, so we decided to do the damn dinner 😆.
Easter dinner to me is ham and scalloped potatoes. Creamy and cheesy scalloped potatoes. I also grew up eating perogies, cabbage rolls, and turkey. My Granny cooked for days and fed us well. It was a truly Ukrainian Easter complete with Ukrainian paska bread. The first Easter after Granny passed my MIL found a paska bread recipe and made it for our Easter dinner. It was super special to me and meant so much. A few years ago I tried making it and it reminded me of my childhood. Easters at Granny and Grandpa’s 💛.
We decided to make a pineapple glazed ham and it turned out AMAZING! We did ours on the BBQ so I could use the oven for the important stuff… the sides! I LOVE scalloped potatoes! A Lot! Ninja hates them. He dislikes creamy foods and really hates cheesy foods. I looked through tons of recipes to find the perfect one and this one really IS perfect! This recipe uses parmesan cheese instead of cheddar! Score! I’m not a huge fan of carrots but Ninja and the Girls love carrots so I found a recipe that they would like AND I would like. These glazed carrots are so easy and SO good! I also made PASKA BREAD! HBear was so excited! She reminded me of myself at that age, so excited for the fresh raisin bread and asking for seconds… and thirds 😂.
I want to share each of these recipes with you now! I forgot to take pictures because I was busy enjoying my dinner with my family and unfortunately the pictures I did take, suck 😬😂. Ignore the pictures and just trust me, this is THE dinner. The dinner that you want to make for your family next Easter, heck next SUNDAY! Trust me, everything was delicious!
Happy Easter my Friends 💛.
Adapted from Culinary Cool
1 cup milk
1 cup raisins
4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 package quick rise yeast
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon orange zest, grated
1 teaspoon lemon zest, grated
1 egg + splash of water for egg wash
In a small saucepan, add the milk and heat over medium heat until scalded (reaches 180 degrees F). Remove from the heat. Add the raisins to the hot milk and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, yeast and salt and whisk to combine.
Add in the milk, raisins, eggs and melted butter.
Add orange and lemon zest. Mix with a spoon until a rough dough is formed. Knead (mixer or by hand) until a soft, cohesive dough is formed, about 5-8 minutes.
Lightly oil a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl and allow to rise for about 2 hours in a warm location.
After 2 hours punch it down. Cut off a small handful of dough for decorations.
Form the remaining dough into a ball and place into a greased, round baking dish, about 8 inches wide and 4 inches deep.
Form the remaining dough into decorations. Use toothpicks to hold in place.
Allow the dough to rise for about another hour.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together egg and water, and brush on the risen dough.
Bake for 35-40 minutes. If the top gets too brown, cover with foil.
Let cool in the pan. Once it’s cool enough to handle, remove from the pan.
Glazed Carrots
Adapted from The Recipe Critic
1 lb. carrots, peeled and sliced diagonally
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 400 degrees and spray a baking sheet with non stick cooking spray (I use a baking mat).
In a medium sized bowl, add the carrots, olive oil, butter, brown sugar, garlic, and salt and pepper and combine.
Spread the carrots in an even layer on the cookie sheet. Roast for 10 minutes and toss. Then roast for another 10 minutes until the carrots are tender and caramelized.
Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes
Adapted from Julia’s Album
2 tablespoons butter, melted
6 yellow potatoes peeled and sliced into 1/8 inch thick slices
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/4 cups Parmesan cheese, shredded
3 tablespoons fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 cup heavy cream
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Grease the bottom of the medium casserole pan with melted butter.
Spread 1/4 of the sliced potatoes in an even layer on the bottom of the pan. Sprinkle the potatoes with 1/8 teaspoon salt, then top with 1 minced garlic clove, 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese, 1/4 amount of thyme. Top with 1/4 cup of heavy creamy, pouring it evenly over the potatoes.
Repeat layers 3 more times (total of 4 layers of potatoes). For the last layer, use 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese.
Bake uncovered, for about 1 hour, or until the potatoes are cooked through.
Pineapple Glazed Ham
Adapted from I Heart Recipes
8-10 lb ham
Can of pineapple rings in pineapple juice, juice reserved
6 oz jar of maraschino cherries, juice reserved
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup mustard
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 cup cornstarch
Preheat oven to 325 F.In a large measuring cup, or medium sized bowl, combine the pineapple juice, cherry juice, brown sugar, mustard, honey, ginger, clove, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir everything, then sprinkle in the cornstarch. Whisk everything until lump free, then transfer the sauce/ glaze into a saucepan.
Bring the sauce to a boil over medium high heat, and whisk.
Let boil for about 3-5 minutes, then turn the heat off.
Decorate the ham with pineapples & cherries, using toothpicks to hold everything in place.
Pour the glaze all over the ham.
Cover ham and bake until ham is at 160F, about 15-20 minutes per pound (ours took 2 hours on the BBQ).
Check your ham every 35 minutes, and scoop up the browned glazed from the bottom of your roast pan and pour it over the ham.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #218 I’m An April Fool HERE Topics: pranks, CFL/XFL, Canucks, The Masters, bra shopping, house issues, Mighty Ducks, hot lunch, & The Grammys.
My Mom had this Easter tree. I don’t know when she got it, I feel like it was when I was a teenager??? Anyways, Ninja found it in the crawl space and we put it up! It is ugly as hell and she would be so happy that we put it up 😆💛. By Good Friday SBean was vibrating with Easter excitement. We cuddled, had some great dinners, drank some amazing wine and played family board games. On Saturday SBean prepped her Easter Sleepover Kit and we went for a socially distanced outdoor fire with Ninja’s parents. This weekend was finally a bit nicer so we finally got to meet up outside! It was great to catch up 💛.
Easter was great! The Girls had their hunt in the morning, we had a waffle decorating contest for breakfast, and then read all the new books, magazines, and activity books they got from the Easter Bunny. Dad and J did an egg hunt out in the backyard for the Girls and then Ninja and I got dinner ready while the Girls went for a bike ride to the park. For dessert we had a Mini Egg Ice Cream Cake from Tickleberry’s! After dinner we had a drink with Dad and J by the fire. It was so great to catch up with them too. Other than running into each other in the drive way every once in a while and a beer on the deck last weekend, we haven’t seen them since HBear’s birthday either!
On Monday we all slept in and then enjoyed the sunshine! Ninja and I hiked the KVR in Summerland while the Girls rode their bikes. It was the perfect way to end a really nice Easter weekend. I hope you all enjoyed your holiday as well 😁.
