Easter Brunch Menu

We're having Easter Brunch this year instead of Easter dinner.  Same time, different food.  (Yes, that means we might be eating brunch in the middle of the afternoon, but it's the difference in the food itself we're thinking of here.)  Just to do something different.  And because brunch somehow seems more springy.  *shrug*  And because I love trying out new recipes.  Even for guests.  Even on holidays.  Maybe especially for guests and holidays. 

So, here's our menu:

Glorified Rice

 Baked Pear Vanilla French Toast, The Reluctant Entertainer cookbook, p. 153

Bacon, Ham and Lamb  (Sarah's bringing bacon and lamb; Grandma bought a ham...)  Lamb seems a logical choice for Easter.  Growing up, we always had ham.  I've never understood that.  How did ham get to be the meat of choice for Easter? 

Cinnamon Roll Bites

Candied Popcorn

Hot Cross Buns

Scrambled eggs in potato nests

Sherbet with Lemon Crisp Cookies

Cold beverage: Orange Pineapple Mint Punch with "Peep" straws

Vanilla/cocoa flavored chais

Giving Thanks, Day Four

Pumpkin.

"Oh how we love pumpkin season.
You did know this gourd-ish squash has its own season, right?
Winter, Spring, Summer, Pumpkin....
We anxiously anticipate it every year."

~Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer, October 2010

Last night I enjoyed Pumpkin Cheesecake ice cream with white chocolate chips at Coldstone for my grandson, Diego's 5th birthday.  (He had watermelon sorbet with gummy bears.) 

One of the reasons that autumn is my favorite season is pumpkin.  Not pumpkins.  Pumpkin. 

Pancakes, cheesecake, ice cream, lattes, cookies. 

But, way out in the front of the race, winning every time, is my very, very favorite: pumpkin chocolate chip muffins.  Yes, I think I could eat the whole batch by myself.  Make some yourself and see what I mean.

Pumpkin Chip Muffins

4 eggs

2 c. sugar

16 oz. canned pumpkin

1 1/2 c. vegetable oil

3 c. all-purpose flour

2 t. baking soda

2 t. baking powder

1 t. ground cinnamon

1 t. salt

2 c. (12 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips

(Note: This recipe has been adapted to healthier standards by substituting Sucanat, olive oil, freshly ground wheat flour and carob chips and still been a favorite.)

In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until smooth.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; add to pumpkin mixture and mix well.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Fill greased or paper-linedmuffin cups three-fourths full.

Bake at 400 degrees for 16 - 20 minutes or until muffins test done. Cool in pan 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Yield: about 24 standard-size muffins.  Enjoy. 

Breakfast Cookies

A couple of weeks ago, I was blessed to care for a bunch of my grandchildren for eight days.  I loved playing “Mama” again! I had fun in the kitchen as I prepared nutritious kid-friendly meals with variety. Some of the variety was from necessity as I challenged myself to use as much as I could of what I already had on hand. You've probably heard it called “eating from the pantry.”

Here is a recipe I used to make for my children when they were young. It is definitely a “treat breakfast” and not something you should offer every day, but I bet it still beats most cold cereals in the nutrition department!

There should have been a picture.  I thought I took one, but I must not have since I can't find it!  In my head, it was a very pretty picture with the cookies all stacked inside of an old-fashioned jar.  So, pretend with me, okay?


OVERNIGHT BREAKFAST COOKIES
(from the 1979 edition of Feed Me!  I'm Yours.)

The evening before, combine:

4 cups oatmeal, uncooked

2 cups brown sugar

1 cup oil



The next morning, add:

2 eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

(you may also add ¼ cup wheat germ)



Mix well. Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 300 degrees for 12 -15 minutes. Watch them carefully. You may not be able to remove from the cookie sheet immediately, but please remove them as soon as possible or you may never get them off later!



Cookies and milk from Nana’s kitchen for breakfast! What could be better than that? 

Maybe a picture?

Easter 2010......Finally

It comes as no surprise here that I have been totally remiss at journaling my days.  So, without making any promises to myself or you about how I'm going to do such a better job, I am going to try to do better.  How's that for not committing to anything? 

And I figured I'd start with Easter.  Before April ended.

Easter was a wonderful day.  I just love spending time with my family!  But, even though the day was spent having a great time, we did not forget that the whole purpose of the day is celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior.  How amazing are all the ramifications of that simple statement!  Without the resurrection, the birth and death of Jesus would mean nothing.  Our Redeemer lives! 

And, as is our normal tradition, we try to wear something new on Easter Sunday.  Sadly, I can't post pictures of our entire family as the two newest members still haven't had their adoption court dates.  So, just imagine how cute they are!  And they are really, really cute!

Have you noticed how hard it is to buy a dress without black being a predominate color?  I know we don't have an abundance of clothing stores in our little town, but this is the ONLY dress I found that didn't have black in its color scheme!  I'm glad I liked it.

Mr. Good-looking Himself.

The Josh Abdelaziz family all dressed in orange.  I thought they all looked great, but thought it was amazing that they could all coordinate like this as orange didn't seem to be a widespread spring wardrobe color.  I guess I thought wrong.  Several families in church were all dressed in orange!  Who knew?

Shallah with her orange-suited friend, Mardell.

I just love our little church! 

I love it so much that I want it to grow bigger! 

I love every last person in this picture! 

(And the ones who didn't make it into the picture, too.)

Our main table only had six adults.  Odd for us. 

But, Grandpa, Grandma, and Aunt Janice all ate in Grandpa's room to keep him company.

I bought our little chocolate bunnies last year at the after-Easter sales.  They've been chillin' in our freezer for a year.  All wrapped in their atrociously colored foil.  But, disrobed and beribboned, I think they are just darling.

These little fake-moss-covered flying bunnies came from Pier 1.  I think they are just too cute when planted in a little rye grass.  (The basket and grass was a thank-you gift from Sarah-Kate.  I just love decorating with grass!  And she knows it.  I planted some grass in eggshells like Darcy over at fly through our window, but apparently I didn't take any pictures of them.  But, they were sweet.)

Lambchops on the grill.

Food is starting to gather.

Table is getting full.

Two little children's tables and one highchair.

The children thought it was great fun to eat a chocolate bunny with dinner.  Diego decided to roll the bunny in his hands as it started to melt.  Interesting thing to do.

Lots of eggs to hide.  The men in the family did such a good job hiding them, we almost didn't find them all!  Can you see the egg hiding in there?

Shallah "found" an egg, too.  But, she really wasn't interested in it, as you can see.

Besides the chocolate, dessert was Matzo Brittle from Tea Time magazine and Pioneer Woman's carrot cake.  Great ending to a great day.

Shallah's Dedication

Shallah and bow!

My youngest grandchild, Shallah Rianne, was dedicated to the Lord by her parents on Valentine's Day with her Papa officiating. 

Nana loves her Shallah!

Grandpa, Grandma, Grammie, Mommy, Daddy, Nana, Shallah, Papa

Levi, Ezekiel, Abishai,Jael

Godparents, Dan and Erica Hall, were not able to make the trip from Colorado.

He is actually the sweetest little boy, but that look wouldn't let you know!

Josh has written a song for each of his children for their dedication.  Always wonderful, often prophetic.  This time, though, was a bit different.  Intense.  Not necessarily something my Nana's  heart would want to hear.  But, we were here to dedicate her to the Lord, not to ourselves.  She belongs to the Lord; she has only been lent to us to train up for His glory.  Here is her song.  Oh, and you need to know that Shallah Rianne means "River of Grace".

Grace to stand in the midst of the pain;

Grace to walk right through the rain;

Grace to give in spite of the hurt;

Grace to live beside the poor in the dirt.

Grace to hold those that no one will touch;

Grace to love even when it hurts too much;

Grace to stand to make right what is wrong;

Grace to go even though the journey is long.

Grace to count the cost everyday;

Grace to give your life away;

Grace to accept those that all would despise;

Grace to work to make it right in His eyes.

May His river of grace flow through you;

May your hands hold the broken;

May His river of grace flow through you;

May your life touch the nations.

May there be peace and joy through all of your life;

Despite the pain that comes and the tears you cry;

May your life be filled with the presence of God;

May His grace be what keeps you strong.

By Daddy

You can see it impacted Papa.

As is my tradition, I give a reception for each of my grandchildren on the day of their dedication.  We had a lovely lunch after the morning worship service to which the whole church was invited.  I served Italian Drip Beef, Asian Noodle Salad, Vanilla Almond Punch (my new favorite punch and the easiest ever!), and these lovely little desserts.  Unfortunately, those were the only things photographed during the whole reception.  Some of us were too busy to think of a camera.  Some of us were having too good a time, I guess, to remember to take pictures. 

Adapted from here where there are directions on how to make the candy cups and the little hearts.

Aren't they just so cute?
Yeah, but still not as cute as Shallah.

Measuring Cups

On Thanksgiving, Serena had some of my measuring cups lined up ready to go for the next recipe.  They looked so pretty and cute, we just had to take a picture!

Aren't these little measuring tea cups adorable?  I bought them at Pier 1 one day as a gift to myself!  I didn't need measuring cups (I have lots and use lots of ulitarian ones.), but I did NEED these pretty ones!  (I looked online.  They don't seem to be available, but they do have some pretty red and white retro ones....that someone dear to me just bought!) 

The little tin one I have used since I was a child.  My mother had two of them, and now I have them!  They are old and bent up, but they make me smile when I use them!

Cookies and Cobbler

I made these Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies today from the Reluctant Entertainer. The recipe called for dried cranberries, which I didn't have because I used all that I had in the grandchildren's oatmeal earlier this week. So, I upped the amount of white chocolate chips. Sounded like a good trade to me!





I think the kids thought it was, too!

And then, this evening Jael made peach cobbler in honor of studying Georgia, the fourth State to join the Union.

She did a fantastic job. As she was cooking, she said, "I know I don't know how to cook good yet, but I just feel like I was born to cook." I think she's right!

We ate her delicious cobbler hot with vanilla ice cream. I wonder what State is next? I hope it inspires something yummy!