How as your weekend? If you hosted Easter or were a guest for Easter dinner or brunch, how did everything turn out? Do you ever think through what you made for a special meal as an after-the-fact analysis? Is there anything you wish you would have done differently?
Our menu was close to what I had brainstormed last week. I did roast a whole chicken, but I also added a package of chicken thighs. I like to have lots to send home with my son and daughter-in-law, and doing chicken thighs on top of a whole chicken allowed that. I had mixed up a lot of herb rub, using fresh rosemary from the garden, plus dried thyme, oregano. herbes de Provence, garlic, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and a spoonful of lemon juice. After thoroughly coating the whole chicken, I still had rub left over. So I thawed the thighs in the microwave and used the last of the rub on those.
I had bought a whole lemon at WinCo on Friday (33 cents -- a bargain for so much flavor), which meant I had lots of zest, juice, and the white pith shells. I stuffed the pith shells into the chicken cavity, used half the zest in the chicken rub and the other half in a lemon butter to top the asparagus, and used some of the juice in the herb rub, some in the gravy, and a little in the lemon butter. I still have a tiny amount of zest and juice remaining. I'll have to think of a way to use that this week. Any suggestions for using 2 tablespoons lemon juice and a teaspoon lemon zest?
I did make the extra pie, a plum pie to go with the cherry pie. My son and daughter-in-law offered to bring ice cream to top the slices of fruit pies.
I had more than enough garden kale to make a large salad. I bought dried cranberries as planned, but while in the store I decided to buy some pumpkin seeds for the salad as well. I made a sweet and tangy dressing with vinegar, rhubarb jam, olive oil and salt. This salad was about as good as some of the bagged kale salad kits I've bought before and wasn't much more work (picking, washing and chopping the kale).
The deviled egg platter turned out well. The center of my tray has a well for adding something else. I decided on cherry tomatoes while at WinCo. I also picked a bunch of parsley from the garden (last year's parsley, harvesting before it goes to seed). Here's how the egg platter turned out.
I was able to prep a lot of the work on Saturday -- slicing carrots, washing/trimming asparagus, picking/washing kale and parsley, rubbing the chicken, making refrigerator roll dough, boiling eggs, and baking the two pies -- so Sunday's cooking was much more leisurely.
I used part of this past week's grocery budget for the Easter foods that were needed (whole lemon, cherry tomatoes, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, 2 bottles of mineral water, asparagus, smoked salmon, crackers). I didn't need very much from the store for the week, so the holiday spending all worked out. The combined weekly shopping plus Easter shopping came to $54.49. Our fridge, freezer, and pantry, while not bursting at the seams, are full enough that we will only need milk and possibly a little fruit at the end of this week.
I was tired today, but fortunately we had leftovers to make an easy dinner night. I'll get a good night's sleep tonight and will rise ready to tackle another spring day. I hope you all had a lovely weekend.
When we host a big dinner, we also do an analysis. Usually, it's more about the logistics than the actual food. My son's birthday was Easter Sunday, so we let him choose what he wanted to do. Instead of the large family gathering (he had been to one 2-weeks before), he chose a Thai restaurant. The food was excellent and definitely not something we know how to make at home. Afterwards, we came here for a cake.
ReplyDeleteHi Live and Learn,
DeleteI think it helps me plan for the next occasion if I give thought to how the recent one went. At the very least, I remember the next time I make a similar dish what I need to do to improve it. I'll definitely add more mustard and brown sugar to my next batch fo glazed carrots.
Happy birthday to your son! The restaurant meal sounds like it must have been good. We like Thai food, too, but only make a couple of quasi Thai dishes. That's a good one to go out for.
We ended up having both our kids over that live 30 minutes away (the kids out of state could not come). I reduced the amount of mashed potatoes but added a big 7 layer salad along with a rotisserie roasted chicken, ham, cabbage, asparagus, gravy, homemade dinner rolls and the lemon dessert. The idea is that everyone gets to take a meal sized portion home for lunch or supper the next day and that is exactly the amount of food that I made. We had a little more leftover like ham and some dessert but pretty much everything else was eaten or taken home. Dinner rolls turn out slightly different each time but this time they were the biggest hit of all. The salad was a last minute addition since I saw lettuce in the refrigerator that needed to be used up so Sunday morning I quickly turned that into a 7 layer salad but that was the second most popular item. My daughter saw the asparagas and asked if there would be another vegetable because the didn't love asparagas so I suggested cooked carrots but she countered with cabbage if I had some (yes, I did have some frozen) so that was a last minute addition also. We are a cabbage loving family so I always have that in the freezer. Dad always grew that in his garden and we used to get a lot of it. But those days are now over so need to buy that going forward.
ReplyDeleteAlice
Hi Alice,
DeleteI like how you plan the cooking and amounts, enough for one additional meal to take home, and that's about it. I'm sure your son and daughter enjoyed the meals and time with you and your husband on Easter.
What a pretty deviled egg platter, Lili! We had a quiet day with our daughter, who was home for the weekend. My son has a new job and the weather in the northern part of the state kept him grounded. He wanted to go to his church with his fiancee near his college campus, but the bridge connecting the 2 peninsulas was closed more than it was open (not a good idea to get stuck in the upper peninsula when you have a new job in the lower peninsula!). Anyway, back to food. Our church has sweet breads after the Easter service, so that was our social time. So many yummy breads! My husband cooked a simple Easter dinner, with ham, sweet potatoes, applesauce, cole slaw .... and likely something else that I'm forgetting. I hope everyone had a blessed Easter!
ReplyDeleteHi Kris,
DeleteDon't you love using that word -- fiancee? Wishing you son and soon-to-be daughter-in-law a lifetime of joy.
Our church did coffee and donuts, which made for a nice time socializing with friends before and after service. Was it a potluck thing, where people were encouraged to bring a sweet baked good? It sounds like a lot of fun tasting.