Happy Easter!

Well, today is Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013.

I am so excited I can't stand it!

I wasn't looking forward to Easter Sunday on Friday or yesterday, because I had to travel all day yesterday, so I was stressing out about having the time to actually get ingredients for Easter Sunday, because I was finding out during the week that a lot of stores were closed on Easter Sunday, or had limited open hours on Easter Sunday. And what would I make? Easter Sunday brunch? Easter Sunday dinner? Easter Sunday lunch? Should I make Easter candy this year? What exactly did I eat for Easter when I was a child? Ham? Lamb? Chicken? My husband and I were talking about Easter Sunday in the car yesterday. We were in the car all day yesterday. A 6 hour round trip, so we could do nothing but talk :-) Anyway, we were talking about Easters past. I told him, ok, I think I'll make Deviled Eggs! And my husband thought that was funny. Deviled eggs on Easter? Hello? Not sure why he laughed at that, but he did. Let's just say that Deviled Eggs is a juxtaposition or an oxymoron. Satan's Eggs versus Jesus' Resurrection? Hmm. OK, it's funny. Then I told him, hmm, maybe we should have ham with that, but hmm, maybe chicken would be better. A roasted herb chicken with deviled eggs, because, well, which came first? The chicken or the egg? Now that set him off into roaring laughter. He's so easy to amuse. :-)

But it turns out I got all of my shopping done for the week this morning. A few grocery stores were open! Yay!

Let's just say that the Easter Sunday Dinner came together as I was strolling the aisles of the grocery stores...

Asparagus! I can make ham wrapped asparagus! Done.

Ham! Spiral Sliced Ham! This ought to be *easy* after the Christmas disaster! And I think ham goes better with eggs.

Eggs! Deviled eggs! Green eggs and ham! So I bought parsley.

Brussels sprouts! I *love* Brusssels sprouts, so I'll get them!.

First stop: Whole Foods Market. I don't know why I start out there, but I always start out there. And I always pay under $100 at Whole Foods Market. What whole paycheck? It doesn't take my whole paycheck :-) I got russet potatoes, beets, cream, a whole chicken, uncured Niman Ranch ham, bacon, mini Easter cheesecake bites, a kombucha, and a few goodies for myself.

Second stop: Kroger. I got some avocadoes - I'm thinking green eggs and ham, remember?, paper towel rolls, toilet paper, shampoo/conditioner (less than in the Dollar Tree! Score!), body wash, cream cheese, laughing cow swiss, orange juice, mango orange juice, (that's all I can remember, sorry).

Third stop: Trader Joe's. Wow. They had uncured spiral sliced ham that I could taste. And it's only available for a very short time! I just had to get this, even though I had already bought a ham, but I figured that I couldn't have too much ham, I figured that I'd freeze the other ham and cook this for dinner tonight instead. I also got some rosemary ham slices to wrap the asparagus in. Got Brussels sprouts, asparagus, parsley, basil, green beans, cereal, drink mixes...

So, you see, shopping trips are not always about fun :-) Have to get necessities as well!

So a menu formed in my mind:

Ham
Brussels sprouts
Green beans
Deviled eggs (yolks are green - I forgot that I had this awesome recipe where I could mix the yolks with avocadoes and bacon bits; I was actually thinking about adding basil or parsley to the yolks to make them green, but I think I'll make them with avocadoes this time instead. Whoops. I bought parsley for nothing. But maybe I can have parslied potatoes later this week).
Mini Cheesecakes for dessert

Done! Doesn't that sound delicious or what?

The ham is now in the oven for an hour just to get warm, the beans need to be made, the eggs need to be made into deviled eggs, the Brussels sprouts need to be roasted, the asparagus need to be roasted with the rosemary ham...

First I made bacon in my favorite method: baking! I put the bacon slices in a single layer on a jelly roll pan, put the pan in the oven, set the oven to 400 degrees F and set the timer for 20 minutes and walked away. Once time was up, I poured the bacon drippings in another pan and placed the bacon strips on paper towels and crumbled up the bacon pieces once they were rested and drained.

I then cut the Brussels sprouts in half and put them in the bacon drippings pan. I seasoned this with salt and pepper.

I prepared the glaze for the ham. Got the recipe from here:

I covered the ham in the glaze, wrapped that sucker up tightly with aluminum foil and put it in a 250 degree F pre-heated oven, where that is now going to be for an hour. After an hour, take it out and let it rest for 10 minutes.

In those 10 minutes, I will saute the green beans in butter, slivered almonds, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. I followed the directions on the green beans I got from Trader Joe's.

I will also roast the asparagus wrapped with ham slices in a pre-heated 400 degree F oven and cook according to directions found here:

And finally, I will roast the Brussels sprouts in a 350 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes. I see now that I forgot to blanch the Brussels sprouts. Oops. We'll see how they turn out! :-)

So, see why I'm so impatient?!? I'm writing this blog as I'm waiting for the ham to get ready :-)

Have a Happy Easter all!

There may be a picture later on, if I'm lucky. Also, I see that the links did not show up. I'm trying to figure out. So expect to see some edits later. Thanks.