Easter Dinner

What did your family eat for Easter Dinner (or lunch, or brunch, or however you do it?)

We went to my parents' house, and my sister and niece came over also.

We had a spiral cut ham from Heavenly Ham & a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.

I made my world famous Potato Salad, and a veggie & dip tray. My daughter Shelbie made her specialty, Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars.

We also had macaroni & cheese and green beans.

My mom made a dessert that involves angel food cake, cool whip, and pineapple chunks. It's really light and good. She also bought some cupcakes.

Oh, and of course, we had devilled eggs!

It was all delicious. Tonight for dinner, I'm heating up the leftover ham. I've got fresh green beans & new potatoes from the farmer's market simmering on the stove right now, and we're having rolls too.

I'm getting hungry!!

Tell me about your Easter Meal!

Saltine Cracker Candy

My sister-in-law made this candy last year at Christmas time and sent some home with my parents, who gave some to me. Lucky me! My sister-in-law is a great cook, and one of my cooking inspirations. Many of my recipes come from her kitchen.

A Facebook friend told me they call this stuff Christmas Crack, so that's what we're calling it now.

I took some of this candy to work last year and it was gone before I could even turn around! This stuff is delicious, easy, and totally addictive. It's that wonderful combination of salty and sweet.

It's great to throw in a tin and give as a Christmas gift!

Saltine Cracker Candy

1 stack of saltine crackers
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 (12 oz) pkg Milk Chocolate Chips
1 cup chopped pecans

Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil (completely cover it) and spray with cooking spray. Cover the bottom with crackers.

In a medium saucepan, bring butter and brown sugar to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour over crackers, spreading out as best as you can. Bake at 350 for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle top of hot crackers with chips and chopped pecans. Cover with wax paper, pressing firmly with oven mitt to insure pecans “stick”. Place cookie sheet in freezer (might want to put towels underneath pan, since it will still be very warm) until “set” (about an hour). Once ready, peel of wax paper and foil and break apart. Store in a container in the refrigerator.

"Turkey" Day

I'm doing nearly all of my cooking tonight, and I'm wondering....what's cooking in your kitchen this Thanksgiving Holiday?

We are having Thanksgiving dinner with my in-laws this year, and they've decided to have ham instead of turkey. I'm not a huge turkey lover so that's ok with me.

Ever since the first holiday meal I had with my in-laws, I learned to bring several dishes to supplement the dinner that they cook.

I am, obviously, from the South.

They are from England. The food is different, and so is the quantity.

The first time I had a holiday meal with them, I looked around and literally thought, "where's the rest of the food?" It just looked like any ordinary dinner for a small family. The food was okay....some of it anyway (ok, the mashed parsnips were freaking nauseating). But I was glad we were going to my parents' afterward! I couldn't wait to dig in to the real food! I don't know how John survived all these years without me; the man LOVES food.

Anyway, this year I am bringing:

chicken & dumplings
peanut butter cookies w/ hershey kisses on top
mashed potatoes & gravy (John's request, I don't think it really 'goes' with ham, but whatever)
Fordhook lima beans
deviled eggs
sweet tea
and our traditional turkey bread that I get from Publix every year. We may not have turkey, but we will have turkey bread!!

And Shelbie is making Monkey Bread.

So, I'm making sure our Thanksgiving Dinner is Off the Chain!

Hope yours is too.....what's cooking at your house?

St Patrick's Day Dinner

I'm not Irish, and not a big St Patrick's Day celebrator, but I wanted to do something fun for the kiddos for our St Patrick's Day dinner. I did the traditional corned beef and cabbage (which was delicious!), and as a surprise, I added neon green food coloring to our cornbread. It was very green! We also had green Kool-aid to drink, which was a treat because I usually don't do Kool-aid at all (mean mama).

This is the Kool-Aid, and the cornbread before baking.

the cooked cornbread...

Andrew's plate. YUM!

What did you do for your St Patty's Day dinner?