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| the tulips that we planted last October -- they're looking pretty |
Easter Menu
baked ham (in the freezer, bought on sale at Christmas)
roasted potatoes with rosemary and garlic (will have to buy the potatoes)
oven-roasted asparagus (will have to buy asparagus)
green salad, probably a kale, apple, and dried cranberry salad (all ingredients on hand)
pumpkin souffle (all ingredients on hand)
scratch dinner rolls, using refrigerator roll dough (all ingredients on hand)
carrot cupcakes, cream cheese icing (all ingredients on hand, cream cheese in freezer)
What I plan to do or make ahead:
- set the table sometime during the week
- make cupcakes and freeze this weekend or sometime during the week
- make cream cheese frosting on Saturday and frost thawed cupcakes
- make refrigerator roll dough on Friday
- assemble the pumpkin souffle on Saturday and refrigerate overnight
- pick and wash the kale on Saturday
- will need to go to the grocery store for the potatoes and the asparagus, probably on Friday
What I will do or make on Easter Sunday:
- bake the ham
- roll out rolls and bake
- roast the potatoes
- bake the pumpkin souffle
- roast the asparagus
- assemble the kale salad
We have almost everything we need for Easter dinner. Grocery shopping will be super duper easy. Yay! I've spread the work over several days. For me, that's easier and less tiring than doing everything on the holiday. I will have enough to do on Easter day in addition to cooking. We'll be 7 for Easter dinner this year.
Are you hosting Easter festivities this year? Or are you joining someone else's meal? How are you making this holiday easier for yourself? Can you suggest any ways I can make my own Easter dinner easier on me?
Oh, your beautiful tulips! Our weather is colder than typical, so we are still looking forward to seeing ours.
ReplyDeleteYour Easter dinner sounds delicious, and I have no suggestions for you in terms of making anything easier. I think you have thought of everything. We likely will just have 3 at our meal, but I'm fine with that. :)
Hi Kris,
DeleteI hope you get to enjoy your tulips soon!
Wishing you and your family a lovely Easter, Kris.
Your tulips are beautiful. Ours are up, but not blooming. Our Easter plans are not finalized, but we are staying home. We will have anywhere from 4 to 13. I guess it's about time to make people commit. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
Delete4 to 13 is quite a range as far as planning goes. Good luck!
It always seems like my area has earlier first blooms, but your area catches up and surpasses mine in short order. I hope your tulips provide lots of lovely blooms.
Your menu and plan sound great Lili. Making those items in advance should help you manage all that goes into preparing a holiday meal. I love doing it, but it is tiring!
ReplyDeleteOur Easter plans are still in flux. Our daughter and SIL MAY be coming. Our son’s family (with the toddler) will not be coming :’(
If DD comes, she can pick between ham or turkey. Like you Lili, I have both in the freezer. I have most everything needed should I need to pivot one way or the other. I have cranberries in the freezer for sauce with a turkey, potatoes for either mashed potatoes for turkey or roasted for ham, salad fixings for either and what I need to make an Easter cake (a semi homemade cake). I’ve got most everything I may need for ambrosia (oranges, nuts, coconut, cherries, Pom arils) and squash for a casserole.
If daughter doesn’t come, DH and I will have a little pork tenderloin, sweet potatoes, the above salad and fruit and a few Easter cookies. So I’m prepared regardless. Now the housecleaning for guests? That’s another issue!!
Hi Lynn,
DeleteWhichever way it turns out, if DD and SIL come or it's just you and hubby, it sounds like you have all the makings of a very nice Easter dinner.
Oh yes, the housecleaning. It's always a lot of work. However, I also appreciate being pushed into all of the cleaning, because it means my house is very clean for a while. We rarely have overnight houseguests, now. But my kitchen, sining room, living room,. and powder room really sparkle when we have company for dinner. And that lasts for a few days after, too.
Good luck with your prep for Easter, Lynn.
I am having 4 of us for dinner and I have a ham from Christmas in the freezer, green beans in the freezer, potatoes on hand and will buy a head of lettuce for a 7 layer salad. Dessert will be a lemon dessert with all ingredients on hand. Easy peasy!
ReplyDeleteAlice
Hi Alice,
DeleteI'm impressed that you very often have everything on hand for holiday meals. Great work, Alice! Your Easter dinner for 4 sounds very yummy. Wishing you and your family a lovely Easter.
I haven't felt very festive regarding Easter. We plan to all go to church and I've been anticipating that. (We usually watch online due to gas prices and how far our church is.)
ReplyDeleteI've not felt like even thinking about a meal but then asparagus was 79 cents a bunch at our discount grocery store! How fun! So I will make a turkey breast from the freezer and jello salad, asparagus, mashed potatoes and homemade dinner rolls which I have all ingredients here already. Somehow the asparagus helped me think of something yummy and not costly.
Your food always sounds like a restaurant I'd like to visit.
Happy Easter
Hi Amanda,
DeleteI'm sorry that you haven't been feeling festive about Easter this year. But very glad that you're now on track to enjoy putting the dinner together. Sometimes that's all it takes for me, too, finding a good deal on a part of the meal that's something of a treat. Then the rest of the plan just comes together.
Your Easter dinner sounds like it will be delicious! I haven't made a jello salad in a while. I'll have to put that on my menu soon. Wishing you a lovely Easter, Amanda.
Lili, do you have fresh rosemary for the potatoes? DS and I first tried that with roast purple potato chunks years ago, and it was SO delicious. I had never heard of rosemary with potatoes before, but it's really a delicious pairing! Even dried rosemary is good, but fresh... my goodness, I was a potato lover, and it still revolutionized them for me! LOL Your menu sounds wonderful. We haven't planned one, yet, because we also have some "flux", like Lynn. Hope everyone's plans all turn out lovely! Sara
ReplyDeleteOh! I definitely going to try rosemary with potatoes! I already love both separately so I can only imagine how yummy that will be. Thanks for the idea Sara.
DeleteHey, Amanda-- Lili has it on her menu with garlic (double-yum!), and I'm just hoping it's fresh, because fresh rosemary is a hundred times better for roast potatoes. I kept a rosemary plant at a previous house basically mostly for potatoes. If you like them both, I'm guessing you'll love that pairing. Happy Easter! Sara
DeleteI agree that rosemary is great with potatoes. I also love it with chicken. I got a rosemary bush to have for cooking, plus I love how it smells. Until my bush grows a bit, I pick some from the many rosemary bushes in our town’s park. My bit of “foraging”. Now if only I could forage all the berries that Lili picks!
DeleteHi Sara,
ReplyDeleteI have 2 small rosemary plants that survived the winter, some frozen chopped rosemary, and some dried rosemary. Since my outdoor plants are so small, I'll use a combination of the frozen rosemary with some of the fresh. I agree, fresh rosemary is so much better. I use the dried in soups, stews, and sauces/gravies, but the fresh is wonderful with potatoes. Frozen rosemary holds flavor better than dried. So it's a good back-up.
I hope your plans firm up soon so you can get everything organized. I know it's hard when you have some family nearby and some family farther away.