What's for Easter dinner?

I've been working on my menu for Easter dinner and I think we're ready:

Baked Ham with Sweet Glaze (from allrecipes.com - something new that I want to try, sans the pineapple and cherries)

Potato Casserole with Bacon and Caramelized Onion

Pineapple Stuffing

Dried Corn

Roasted Butternut Squash (I know, more of a fall dish, but that will use up the very last of the butternuts in the basement. I thought I had them all used, but I was working in the basement and found two nice squashes and I don't want them to go to waste. I'll add a couple sweet potatoes to the mix, too, and some carrots)

Pickled Eggs (it's not Easter dinner without pickled eggs)

Salad with Tangy Tomato Salad Dressing (the dressing is a knock-off of the house dressing at Outback)

Three-Grain Pan Rolls

And for dessert:

Chocolate Caramel Supreme Pie

Lemon Meringue Pie (I'm so hungry for lemon-anything right now)

Right now it's just Rick's parents, my brother and SIL, and some friends. I think we're looking at 8 people, so that won't be bad. Everybody likes taking leftovers home, when we have any.

Have my recipes all typed up and ready to go and my grocery list is ready; I just need to figure out what goes into the oven at what time and for how long.

For some reason, corn is always on our holiday table. I don't know why, but it's a favorite for all of us. I always do Corn Pudding for Thanksgiving and Christmas, but Easter means dried corn in our family. Rick just loves the stuff, so I will have to have extra just for him. He is also the big Pineapple Stuffing fan. My MIL is a chocolate fanatic, so we have some kind of chocolate for her, too. I was going to order a white coconut cake, but I just had some last weekend, so we're good there.

We always get a pretty flower arrangement for the table and then give it to Rick's mother when she goes home after dinner. And we have to keep the flowers in the basement until right before dinner as the cats consider fresh flowers "lunch"!   I always light some candles, too, even though we'll be eating around 2:00. That will give me some time after Rick and his mom get back from church.

What about you? What's for dinner at your house? Do you make anything special? 

DD will still be at school. Classes don't end until 4/27 and then she has finals so she won't be home until the first week in May. That means that Easter dinner will be shared by Lilith, Sophie, Henry, Bailey and me. Maybe I'll grill a nice steak like a NY strip or a porterhouse and we'll all have some. Henry doesn't seem to tolerate lamb well so that's out. If DH were still here I would do something big like a ham or something like that with all the trimmings but it's not worth the trouble just for me and ham's too salty for the furkids. There's no such thing as not sharing when there's meat on my plate. I could go up to see DD that day but we'd just end up going somewhere. The kitchen in her room is very small. She's not really into big meals anyway.

Can't even think about food or Easter right now--though your menus sound lovely. We've both been very, very sick this week. Can't even stand the idea of eating right now!

My mother is doing a ham, red rice and beans, steamed veggie mix.  I'm going to make potato salad.  We were thinking about doing a smaller turkey or a whole chicken too.  One time my mother did a turkey breast in her crock pot that was fantastic.  I may volunteer to make that too if she can find the recipe.  It had white wine in it and it was just so good!!  I'm not sure what else we will make.  My step-sister will be here and she is a really good cook too. 

I don't think we've talked about a dessert  yet either.  Our church is having a friends and family dinner next weekend; so I've been thinking about that more.  Last week my step-sis came down at the last minute so Mom picked up an Angel Food cake and some fresh berries to top it.  It was simple and amazing!  We all ate it up; kids included!  I'm thinking i would enjoy something like that.  Or something along those lines with lemon.  Mmmm.... lol  Maybe I'll volunteer to make lemon-raspberry bars or something. 

We've been wet curing a ham for a couple of weeks (husband's idea to do this longer than usual, hope it doesn't backfire).  We will smoke it on Saturday, to keep things easy on Easter.

So:

Brunch (low carb) will be Frittata Con Escarole e Formaggio, and coffee with half and half.

Our Reward Meal (carbs!)/Easter dinner:

Salad of romaine, scallion, celery, anchovies with a blue cheese yogurt dressing we like.
Smoked ham (probably a sugar-free mustard as well)
Mashed cauliflower
1 small gluten free ciabatta roll
Leeks (homegrown) with a mustard-bacon vinaigrette
Citrus Twist Mini cheesecake <---------my recipe, based on the flavors of my Sicilian grandmother's recipe for a casatta (probably I'll have just one)
hopefully my husband is surprising me with some dark chocolate with nuts.  If not, I'll have a second mini cheesecake.  If he did get me chocolate, I'll have 2 pieces.
Special easter coffee from Mystic Monks (has white chocolate, spices and bourbon flavor)

MargeCat, are you feeling better? 

We bought our ham last night. It's a 16-pound spiral ham. I've never done a spiral ham, so I'm a little concerned that I don't dry it out. 

Ham leftovers will go into Split Pea Soup for the freezer. And into Ham and Green Beans. And maybe some into a Ham and Pineapple Pizza on the grill.

Winchester said:

 
MargeCat, are you feeling better? 

We bought our ham last night. It's a 16-pound spiral ham. I've never done a spiral ham, so I'm a little concerned that I don't dry it out. 

Ham leftovers will go into Split Pea Soup for the freezer. And into Ham and Green Beans. And maybe some into a Ham and Pineapple Pizza on the grill.

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I make my spiral ham in the crock pot. I bring them to potlucks all the time and i get asked for my "recipe" by many people. LOL. I put it in the crock pot on high when I get to work and about an hour before the PL starts I put the glaze on. I baste it every now and then with the juices from the bottom of the pot and that's it. I turn it to warm right before serving. It turns out juicy and perfect. 

Kat0121 said:

I make my spiral ham in the crock pot. I bring them to potlucks all the time and i get asked for my "recipe" by many people. LOL. I put it in the crock pot on high when I get to work and about an hour before the PL starts I put the glaze on. I baste it every now and then with the juices from the bottom of the pot and that's it. I turn it to warm right before serving. It turns out juicy and perfect. 

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Now I like the way this sounds. It would be so easy to make the ham like this at home. This would free up the oven for other thinks like baking the pies or cakes, etc. I just might try it. But maybe not for Easter. My kids are going to be gone and so, we might have to eat Easter dinner in the restaurant. We have an Outback gift card and an Applebees one. So at least the meal would be free. :lol3:

You know, I like that idea, too. I have an electric roaster that I normally use for holiday entrees. It frees up both of my ovens so I can put the potatoes in the top oven at 350 for 45 minutes and put the corn pudding in the bottom oven at 425 for 30 minutes. It just works better that way when different dishes use different temperatures.

But I don't think I have a crock pot that's large enough for a 16-pound ham. I'll have to check my largest crock pot and see if the ham might fit inside Ok. I don't think I'm using any crock pots for Easter dinner this year, so if I can get it to fit, that would work.

Thanks!

DH has to work Easter, and since it'll just be the two of us, dinner will be fairly simple: roast lamb, potato dumplings and a salad.

jcat said:

DH has to work Easter, and since it'll just be the two of us, dinner will be fairly simple: roast lamb, potato dumplings and a salad.

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Sounds delish to me - love lamb, and potato dumplings?  sinfully good

Pat said:

 
Sounds delish to me - love lamb, and potato dumplings?  sinfully good

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that does sound like a great combo. 

I ordered some apple and hickory wood chips for my grill that should be here tomorrow. Maybe I'll smoke a small brisket for me and a bone in chicken breast for the furkids instead of grilling a steak. 

We're going to my nieces house for dinner.  I think she is having a ham with whatever, I really don't know.  Hopefully it will be a nice sunny day.

We just figured this out last night. It's only going to be us, my mother and maybe one brother. I'm going to make a spiral ham, roasted potatoes, salad and some type of vegetables.

I haven't really done an Easter dinner in maybe 5 years now. When I lived in NJ, we all went to my uncle's house and had ham and sometimes deep fried turkey, green beans, mashed potatoes, green beans, there'd be yams, biscuits, etc. The last time I had an actual Easter dinner was at my old house with my ex and his parents. They brought some food over, and I cooked a turkey and ham.

Ruger actually has his puppy evaluation on Sunday, so who knows, it might be Chinese food for us this year :lol3: The BF doesn't really like turkey (unless deep fried) or ham.

Well, I caved (Rick said he knew I would). Our admin asst here at work was talking about THE white coconut layer cake that I love so much. And before I knew it, I was on the phone to the bakery saying, "Is it too late to order a white coconut cake for Easter Sunday?" It was not, so my order has been placed. Rick and his mom will pick it up on Sunday after church. I texted my sister; her response was, "Well, it took you long enough!" She was giving me until today, then she was going to call in and order it. She said she'll pay for it, since I did at Christmas. We do love our white coconut cake.

So now I'm not making a lemon meringue pie. I'll still make the chocolate caramel supreme pie, but Rick would like a frozen peanut butter pie instead of lemon meringue. I can do that....it's actually easier.

Every time I hear about a coconut cake from a bakery I think about the one that Bobby Flay had on one of his Throwdown shows.  It's actually from a Charleston restaurant and they ship but it is expensive.  When the show was first on I looked it up and it was $100 now it's $130.  I don't think any undecorated regular size cake is worth that much.  http://www.peninsulagrill.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=2

They make a big deal out of 12 layers but I think it is actually 3 or 4 layers that are cut which means a lot of frosting.  If the frosting is really sweet that would be too much sugar for me.

Denice said:

 
Every time I hear about a coconut cake from a bakery I think about the one that Bobby Flay had on one of his Throwdown shows.  It's actually from a Charleston restaurant and they ship but it is expensive.  When the show was first on I looked it up and it was $100 now it's $130.  I don't think any undecorated regular size cake is worth that much.  http://www.peninsulagrill.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=2

They make a big deal out of 12 layers but I think it is actually 3 or 4 layers that are cut which means a lot of frosting.  If the frosting is really sweet that would be too much sugar for me.

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It looks delicious. I would like a slice of that right about now. 

According to the website, it feeds 16 and weighs 12 pounds. That's a big cake! 

I could handle a piece right of that one about now. It does look delicious. The cake that I buy is two layers, but they're thick enough to split that it could easily be a four-layer cake. When I make it myself, I usually do three layers.