Easter Dinner Menu

As much as I love a good dinner party (or any good party), I am not hosting Easter dinner this year.  E and I have a list of projects we want to complete over the three day weekend and cooking for our extended family would be near impossible.

 

But, we still gotta eat right? What better way to cap off two point five days of home improvement activities than having a nice Easter dinner. I am keeping it small...well small enough that E and B can eat leftovers for a few couple of days. Also, I like to make enough just in case folks drop by.

  Brown Sugar Baked Ham (pre-cooked and sliced from my favorite grocery store)   Beef Roast (I don't care much for ham so I am preparing this in the slow cooker)   Turnip and Collard Mixed Greens w/ Smoked Turkey (LBeezy's recipe)   Bleu Cheese and Caramelized Onion Potatoes Au Gratin (I have this pinned on my Recipes to Try board.  My cast iron skillet is dying to have these potatoes in it!  Recipe can be found here)

Photo Credit

Homemade Cornbread Homemade Croissants

 (I'm trying to sike myself into making these homemade.

Don't these make your mouth water!! Recipe can be found here.)



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Pecan Pie (Because E loves pecan pie)   Lemon Coconut Cake (I try to add a new dessert to my menu every year for Easter. Recipe can be found here.  Last year I made a Vanilla Cake w/Strawberry Cream Frosting and it was DIVINE! The vanilla cake recipe can be found here)  

Photo Credit: JoyofBaking.com
 

  What's on your menu?        

Honey Wheat Croutons

 

There is this new bread bakery that opened near my home that grinds their own whole wheat right in the bakery every single day! My favorite bread so far is the popular honey wheat. Let me tell you what all's in their honey wheat bread: whole wheat flour, yeast, salt and honey. #TrueStory.

 

 

  The bread is really delicious. I love that I can pronounce every ingredient on the list! Check out Great Harvest Bread Company's website here to see if there is a location near you.

 

 

Once I tasted this bread I couldn't wait to make some croutons. Croutons made from really good bread beats store bought every day of the week! The Greedies in my house were most definitely popping these like they were snacks and not salad/soup toppings...smh.

Honey Wheat Croutons

What you need:

• 2 cups really good bread, cut into bite-sized cubes
• 2 Tbs really good olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Granulated garlic to taste

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• In a medium bowl add the bread cubes; pour olive oil over the bread cubes
• Sprinkle with salt and granulated garlic and toss until bread cubes are well coated
• Place bread cubes on a small cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown
• Croutons will harden a little more as they cool
• Cool completely before storing in an airtight container

  

   

 

 

Done...Almost!

This is major progress right?! I ran short on supplies, had NO desire to go back to Ikea, ESPECIALLY over a weekend,  then got caught up in another project. However, let me remind you of the before:

Compared to the before picture, this is "may-ja"

Signs of Spring

This plant grows long and strong! I love the pretty yellow blooms.

Spring has always been my favorite time of year; not too hot, not cold and near constant sunshine! When I lived in OH, I craved spring time after the often sunless and cold winters.  The smell of fresh cut grass, the first barbecue and beautiful blooming flowers and shrubs. I LOVE spring.

Never mind I need to clean the beds and add fresh black mulch.

I am NO Green Thumb Goddess though I try every year. While I don't remember the names of most of the plants that have survived my brown thumb, I am SURE I picked them because they were easy to maintain and would thrive in the Texas heat and humidity.

Buds from my lemon bush. Think I'm going to add a lime bush to the mix! 

I have began paying more attention to where the sun rises and sets in my back yard because I want to plant a vegetable garden. When I was growing up someone is our family ALWAYS had a garden. I can't remember ever going to a grocery store for the fruits and vegetables we ate. My grandmothers had gardens and fruit trees, there were wild berries we picked and ate all the time. Yeah, I'm going to grow my own vegetables.

Elephant ears are also one of my favorite plants. 

This is another plant that grows really nicely during spring

This one only blooms during the spring and is so fragrant!

How does YOUR garden grow?

Pecan Crusted Trout

For some reason the fish looks greasy but it really wasn't!

 On the continued quest to eat as much food from the pantry as possible, I found that I had little left over corners of pecans, walnuts and pistachios. I saved the walnuts and pistachios for loaded oatmeal cookies I will make later this week but the pecans are for fish!

There is this little restaurant that used to make the best pecan crusted trout I've ever eaten. I asked the cook what was his secret and he said "nothing but nuts", meaning no bread crumbs, flour or other filler. What a difference in taste!

Pecan Crusted Trout w/Browned Butter Sauce

What you need:

• 4 6 oz Trout portions (I used an entire fillet)
• Enough olive oil to rub over each fillet
• 1 teaspoon each, salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon each oregano and dill, or your favorite herb combination
• 1 cup chopped pecans (I chopped half coarsely and the other half fine)
• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter

What to do:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Rub olive oil over each fillet
• Season fish with salt and pepper and herbs
• Place pecans in a shallow dish and generously coat each fillet with the nuts, gently pressing pecans onto the fish
• Place fillets, crumb side up, on a sheet pan coated with non-stick spray
• Roast until fish is cooked through and flaky, about 20 minutes depending on the thickness of your fillets
• While fish is roasting, make the Browned Butter Sauce
• In a medium sauce pan over low heat, cook the butter until it begins to brown (5-7 minutes)
• Remove from heat when the butter begins to smell nutty. Be careful not to burn it
• Place rested fish on individual plates and sauce each fillet lightly with the sauce

Easy Meatball (or Ground Beef) Stroganoff

So in an effort to eat up as much random foods in my pantry as possible before the big redo, I've been cooking up a storm. I have been pleasantly surprised with the items I've forgotten in my pantry.  Egg noodles are a perfect example. I don't care for them much but B enjoys a bowl of chicken noodle soup on occasion.  I prefer the hearty Papperdelle noodle.  There was only about four ounces of egg noodles in the package so I mixed it with some leftover Pappardelle, that I broke up in my hand and viola...creamy, delicious dinner in 30.  It helped that I had meatballs from a previous meal already defrosted!

Easy Ground Beef Stroganoff

What you need:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 8-12 ounces  Pappardelle, broken up or other wide noodle
• 1 1/2 cups milk, I used 2%
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 1/2 cups beef stock
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon granulated garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• 2/3 cup sour cream

  What to do:

• Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat and brown the ground beef
• Discard all but 1 tablespoon of fat
• Add the noodles, milk, heavy cream, beef stock, cornstarch, salt, pepper, paprika, granulated garlic and thyme.
• Stir to combine and cover. Lower the heat to medium and allow to simmer for 10-12 minutes, or until the noodles are cooked through
• Add the sour cream and simmer for 5 more minutes.
• Serve immediately

 

 

 

Funniest Show On TV

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Worst Cooks In America. This was my first time watching it and I was in tears do you hear me? Crying!!

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The Cooking Struggle is real for these recruits. Bowtie Michael? Carla who would drop it low for Bobby in a heartbeat? The commentary from Bobby Flay and Anne Burrell? Slays and slays!

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Have y'all watched?

The Pantry Is Empty People!!!!

 



Have no idea what that nasty stain is on the bottom shelf *gag*

How about this wasn't even all of the stuff that was in the pantry! smh

We are currently on Spring Break! B is at her favorite camp for a few days and I have a long list of 'To Do', one of which is to complete this pantry! My head hurts just looking at all this stuff!

 

The Friday Five: From the Mouth of Babe

 

She used to be so sweet. *Sigh*

  

“Mom, you are a business woman and

business women wear heels”

“You look like an assistant today in your flats”

“Flats again huh?” *shakes her head*

“You have on heels?! Catch me daddy

cause I’m bout to faint!”

“Daddy don’t be jealous cause

I’m a hamboning Boss”

 

Y’all know Best Kid Ever gets on my nerves right! LOL

Have a great weekend!

 

Now Churning: Hazelnut Chocolate Chip

It did not taste like Nut.ella but it was good. It was reminiscent of the Cookie Dough Ice Cream I make. I wanted a more hazelnut flavor so I added ground nuts to the cream mixture but it still wasn't as strong as I would have liked. Recipe can be found on the Fine Cooking website here.