Easter

Easter is my all time favorite holiday!  It even beats out Christmas to me. I think it's because growing up, Easter always was a time for our family to spend time together. All my aunts,uncles, and cousins would get together to hunt eggs and EAT! I always felt like this was the time everyone could show off all the good recipes they had discovered since Christmas! I have to say I'm very blessed, because everyone in my family is a great cook. I went back and forth about going home to see my family, or staying her and spending Easter with Jake. While I love my family very much, and I'm very grateful that we now live close enough to go home, I felt like since Jake and I spend a lot of holidays apart as it is, I should stay with him here. We had a great day! The kids opened baskets and we had a super relaxing day at home. On the menu here was: ham, mac and cheese, corn souffle, roasted green beans with mushrooms and onions, and homemade yeast rolls. For dessert I made a cold oven pound cake with sweetened strawberries and vanilla whipped cream. The yeast rolls and pound cake are from Trish Yearwood's,"Home Cooking with Trish Yearwood".

I think that when every woman gets married she inherits a recipe. For my mom it was chocolate delight. It's something my nanny always made, and my mom is required to make it for every holiday and special occasion for my dad. For me it's corn souffle. It's something my mother-in-law always made and it's one of the only things that Jake request, so I always try to make it for him at the holidays.

Corn Souffle

Ingredients

1 box Jiffy corn muffin mix

1 can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can cream corn

1 cup sour cream

2 tablespoons butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix corn muffin mix, both corns, and sour cream together. Pour into a greased 9x9 casserole dish. Dot top of mixture with butter. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until set.

I love any veggie that you can roast! I don't know what it is, but it just makes it taste 10x better. Being back in the South has many advantages and one of this is being able to find so many fresh veggies year round.

Roasted Green Beans with Onions and Mushrooms

Ingredients

2 lbs. fresh green beans washed and trimmed

1/2 red onion sliced

1 package button mushrooms

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons butter melted

1 teaspoon minced garlic

salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place trimmed green beans, onion, and mushrooms on a foil lined jelly roll pan. Drizzle veggies with olive oil, butter, and garlic. Salt and pepper to taste. Lightly toss to distribute dressing. Roast in oven for 20-25 minutes, turning at about 15 minutes. Beans should be brown in spots and slightly shriveled.

Yeast Rolls

I love bread. There I said it! Who doesn't love a delicious yeast roll. So soft and fluffy. I don't think anything could compare. A woman who goes to church with my aunt makes the best yeast rolls! I always hold my breath when ever I think she might make them for something we have going on because they are so good. These come pretty close and it's one of the easiest recipes I've ever seen for a yeast roll.

Ingredients

1/2 oz. (1 packet) active dry yeast

2 cups warm (100 degree) water

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

4 cups self-rising flour

 

Directions

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Mix the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat in the egg. Add the yeast and mix well. Gradually stir in the flour, until smooth. Pour in a 2 -quart, greased, airtight bowl. Store tightly covered in the refrigerator overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease miniature muffin tins.

Spoon the dough into the muffin tins and bake the rolls for 18 to 20 minutes, or until browned.

I usually make a banana pudding for Easter, but with strawberries already coming in, I decided to do this pound cake instead. The homemade whipped creams just adds to this!

 

Cold Oven Pound Cake

Ingredients

1 cup ( 2 sticks) butter, room temperature

3 cups sugar

6 large eggs, room temperature

3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sweetened strawberries

Vanilla Whipped Creams

Directions

Do not preheat the oven. Grease and flour the bottom, sides, and tube of a 9-inch cake pan.

Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition, but do not over beat. Set the mixer on slow speed and stir in the flour and cream alternately, beginning and ending with the flour. Add the vanilla and stir well. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and put the cake in a cold oven. Set the oven temperature to 325 degrees. Begin timing now and bake the cake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center of the cake. The toothpick should be clean when it is removed. Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to continue cooling.

Slice cake and top with strawberries and whipped cream.

Sweetened Strawberries

1 lb. fresh strawberries, washed with stems removed

1/4 cup sugar

Slice strawberries and place in bowl with sugar. Toss to coat. Place in refrigerator to chill until ready to serve.

 

Vanilla Whipped Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place a metal bowl and the beaters of a mixer in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. Remove and promptly add cream. Whip on a high speed until soft peaks form. Add sugar and vanilla. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

Tonight we enjoyed of the the greatest gifts ever given to the South, FRIED OKRA! I tried something new with it tonight, so be sure to come back for the recipe!