Easter

Easter is a joyful celebration shared with our children and our extended families. I know that we can all think back to being a child and looking forward to the family egg hunt.  When I was a child, we would gather at my grandmothers house and all my cousins would come and we could hardly wait till time for the hunt.  The uncles would always hind the eggs(real eggs) and we would wait patiently at the house.  They would hind them beyond the pasture in the woods and along the side of the pasture was an electric fence.  The pasture came very close to the edge of an embankment and there was a trail about 2 feet wide that we had to walk along to get to the woods.  I can remember my heart racing as I walked along the trail just knowing that one little stumble and I might touch the fence.  On occasion someone would touch it and let out a squeal, Thankfully I managed to avoid the electric fence my entire childhood but as an adult I've been shocked a couple of times and it let me know , I was right to have a racing heart and try with all my might to walk the path cautiously.  What great memories of family times.  My mom always decorated a front yerd tree with easter eggs up until the day she died, that will be 3 years this October, and I sure do miss her.  But he teadition of decorating an easter tree is still carried out in the front yard of her house by her grandchildren, my daughter, Austin and my son, Zachary.  I smile everytime I drive past and get a warm feeling knowing that she is remembered.

Tomorrow we will be cooking a meal that you might want to prepare for Easter sunday.
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour


¾ cup plain yellow cornmeal

2 Tbsp. sugar

¾ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. salt

6 Tbsp. cold butter, cut into pieces

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2/3 cup buttermilk

1 Tbsp. orange marmalade

1(16-oz.) container fresh strawberries, cut in half

½ cup orange marmalade 2 cups heavy cream

2 Tbsp. sugar

Garnishes: fresh mint sprigs, sweetened whipped cream

 
 1 (9lb.) fully cooked, bone-in ham


40 whole cloves

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

½ cup honey

½ cup bourbon

'/3 cup Creole mustard

¼ cup molasses


3 Tbsp. olive oil ½ Tbsp. butter




3 Ib. small Yukon gold or red potatoes, peeled

¼ cup lemon juice

4 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

¾ tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

Please check back tomorow for the recipes and photo's
Sandra