Simply Easter
EASTER 2022
The green cup in the photo above is a handmade ceramic cup, probably made by a child. It was found in a box in the attic of my son’s girlfriends house.
I spotted it and saw a treasure! She spotted it and said, ‘you can have it.’ 🙂
I love the little trinkets that were inside of it. A Puka Shell Bracelet, a Key with a Butterfly on it. A few coins….The items tell me a little bit about the owner. The owner was a nice person, obviously!
I love it! It’s beautiful and I am so happy to have it.
Thank you Mackenzie!
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WELCOME
(But, NO Soliciting.)
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Morning Dew
Where Our Lilies Bloom
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Happy Easter
My Raggedy Wreath
I made this wreath decades ago when we were living in Hawaii and I was very much into crafts at that time.
I simply purchased a straw wreath, and some springtime fabric. I cut the fabric into small squares with a serrated edge scissors. I then used a screwdriver to push the fabric into the wreath, making sure the entire wreath was covered.
I next used pins to secure the rag bunny that I purchased from a thrift store, into the middle of the wreath at the bottom. I also used some pretty springtime ribbon to fashion a very casual bow to the top, allowing the ends to trail off.
It is pretty raggedy looking now, which is why I wanted to use it here with this particular Easter. I think it’s perfect!
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Bunny Ears Coming Out of the Flowers
(I placed two antique spoons in the pitcher of flowers above to represent bunny ears.)
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Our Simply Easter Table
Our Giant Carrots Stuffed With Fried Rice, Egg Noodles in Chicken Broth with Peas, Green Herbal Deviled Eggs…
…Spinach Loaf with Hard Boiled Eggs
Dinner Rolls and Easter Things
(I made the little wooden card above years ago. Gordon and I went to a home improvement store and we bought some wood. Gordon then cut it up into rectangles for me. Even sanded some down. I then painted the wood, and decoupaged some graphics onto it. When dry, I would sometimes hot glue either a ribbon turned into a bow, or some cute little ornament. I would then give them as gifts. A few I still have left that I bring out occasionally. This was one time I thought it looked good with our table surroundings.)
Close Up of our Spinach Loaf with Hard Boiled Eggs
Close Up Of Our Giant Fried Rice Stuffed Carrots
BLT’s Our Way
(With the exception of the bacon, this Easter Dinner is Vegetarian.)
When we created this Easter menu I had my Great-Grandmother Keith in mind. I wanted to create foods that would be on her “poor” table. She didn’t have a lot of money, but the foods she made were so delicious. I still have the taste of her cornbread in my mouth even though the last time I ate it was when I was a young child. My Great-Grandmother Emma was a simple person. There was nothing fancy about her at all, but she was genuine. The foods above are what I imagined would be on her Easter Table.
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Leftovers
Who doesn’t love leftovers?
Leftovers to me mean that we don’t have to cook for a few days. We can enjoy the same tastes again, and again. Those tastes equal memories of those special foods, for that special occasion.
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Simple Antique China and Silverware
A Stuffed Carrot Reimagined
Vroom, VROOM….
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Even MORE Leftovers!
The Other Egg Stuffed Spinach Loaf…
surrounded by our Leftover Herbal Deviled Eggs…
but this time, topped with an Herbal Green Sauce.
(Recipes are all down below.)
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Sarajane Whann’s Herb Book
We Based Our Easter On Recipes Here
This Virginia National Bank notebook that my mother-in-law put together decades ago, is filled with information on Herbs, Herbal Remedies, Herbal Recipes, How to Grow Herbs, in addition to many of her own recipes where she used Herbs in her cooking.
This is a treasure!
When she and Gordon’s father moved from their home to an independent living facility, they downsized and got rid of many of their things. This giant notebook of valuable information, was one of the things they got rid of. We were happy to snag this!
When I was looking through it I was so inspired by the delicious herbal recipes. When I saw Green Mayonnaise, the ideas just flooded in me to create Herbal Deviled Eggs, and even some sort of Herbal Meatloaf.
Which is why we are bringing to you our Simply Easter.
I admit that I am not too thrilled with the name. After all there are so many cookbooks out there with the word “Simply” so and so. But, when I tried to come up with a name, I mentioned to Gordon that this is probably our most simple Easter. And the name just stuck. I guess that is why there are so many cookbooks out there that start with the word “Simply.”
Happy Easter to All,
Gordon and Julie
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Making Green Mayonnaise
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Julie’s Deviled Eggs With Green Mayonnaise
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The Bunnies Were Painted by our Daughter Veronica When she was Young
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Table Cover Project
I came across these packs of gingham ribbons one day when I was looking through some of our Easter things.
I immediately saw the possibility of weaving together a table covering with them.
They are Wired Paper Ribbons
Weaving them together wasn’t that difficult, but I needed to adhere them to the table in some way so I grabbed the Scotch Tape.
I did tape them down, but there wasn’t enough to cover the table, or even have some overhang, but not to worry, I used our food platters to cover the ends and it all worked out great.
I love it!
It was a fun creative project that I’m quite proud of.
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The Bunny’s Melted in the Car
(When I bought them I just loved the coloring and thought they would look good with this Easter.)
The Melted Blobs
I was not about to throw these away. My creativity took over and I decided to save them and turn them into some sort of dessert for us. So, I filled them with ice cream, and placed a few little candied bunnies inside of them, reattached the yellow bow to one of them, and a sprinkling of edible sprinkles. I did place them into the freezer until we were ready to eat them. 🙂
The Revamped Melted Bunny’s
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Greens Are The Star in This Easter
The Micro Greens We Used
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Washing and Drying All These Wonderful GREENS
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My GREENS Craft Table Decoration Project
Curly Red Leaf Lettuce
I wanted to make some sort of ‘corsage’ for the table.
Not a ‘corsage’ to wear, but a corsage to place beside a dinner plate.
It would make a nice gift if you were having a lot of people over.
So, I got out some of my ribbons to play around with creating a few bundles for the table.
The pretty Red Leaf Lettuce, some Flowering Chives, and even some Peace Lilies from our garden before they have fully opened up.
Tied With Some Ribbon
Keep in the Refrigerator Until Time to Set the Table
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Recipes Start Here
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Spinach Loaf With Hard Boiled Eggs
Our Very Healthy, Delicious Spinach Loaf main Course…
…with Hard Boiled Eggs Center Stage
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Gathering Our Ingredients
(This recipe makes 2 loaf pans)
Ingredients:
8 Cups Fresh Spinach Leaves – Chopped
1 Large Sweet Onion – Sliced into a small dice
2 Tbsp. Butter – for the Onions
1/2 Cup Butter – Melted for the Egg Yolks
1 Tbsp. Lemon Pepper for the Onions
1 tsp. Lemon Pepper for the Egg Yolks
1 Cup Herb Seasoned Breadcrumbs
6 Eggs – Separated into Yolks and Whites
6 Eggs – Hard Boiled
Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste
Pam Cooking Oil Spray as needed
2 Cups Crispy Fried Onions – (French’s Brand)
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Chop your fresh Spinach as shown.
As they are chopped, place them in a large bowl.
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Slice your Sweet Onion by cutting off the root and stem ends first, then remove the outer skin.
Slice the onion in half then into small sections. Then slice it into a small dice as shown.
Place your 2 Tbsp. of Butter into a large saute pan turned up to medium heat. When the butter melts, add your diced onions.
Add your Lemon Pepper to the onions and mix well. Continue to saute the onions turning occasionally.
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Herb Seasoned Bread Crumbs
Add your Bread Crumbs to the chopped Spinach.
Here you can see the onions are cooking nicely.
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I melted the stick of butter in the microwave. This is for a later step.
Mix your Spinach and Breadcrumbs well.
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When your onions are fully cooked and tender, add them to the Spinach.
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Mix the Onions well with the Spinach.
Crack your eggs on a flat surface to avoid breaking off the shells. Open the egg into your hand and let the egg whites drain into a small bowl. Then place your egg yolk into a large bowl. Then add your egg whites into a large bowl. It is done this way to ensure you separate your eggs properly.
Here I am separating an egg again.
Now you can see the egg yolks and the egg whites each in their own bowl.
Rapidly whisk your Egg Yolks as shown until smooth and slightly frothy and look Lemon Yellow.
Melt your butter in the microwave. When done, add it slowly to the egg yolks as you constantly whisk the yolks. You have to add the butter slowly as the hot butter could cook the eggs too quickly making scrambled eggs and not a Hollandaise sauce. It is best to have someone else pour the butter for you while you quickly whisk the eggs.
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Here I added Lemon Pepper and not lemon juice to the sauce. I then added more freshly ground pepper.
Whisk these ingredients into the sauce.
Now, add your Hollandaise sauce to the chopped spinach bowl.
Mix the ingredients well.
Here I have all the egg whites in a large bowl. Whisk these well as shown.
I played drums when I was younger, so doing this is fun to me. It should take you about 3 min. time to make them frothy.
Continue to whisk the whites for about another 30 seconds until the egg whites can make stiff peaks as shown.
Add the whisked egg whites to the chopped spinach bowl and fold them into the spinach. This is done by taking your spatula from the bottom of the bowl and moving it up and into the center of the bowl. Turn your bowl and continue this motion until the egg whites are completely folded into the spinach. You want to do this gently.
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Spray your loaf pans with a cooking oil spray.
Add some of the Spinach mixture to the loaf pans as shown.
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Then add your hard boiled eggs (Shells off) to the pans… three to each as shown.
Now, cover the eggs with the rest of the spinach mixture.
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Carefully pat the mixture down with your spatula.
Place the loaf pans into a large baking pan and pour a few cups of boiling water into the pan.
Bake the loafs for 50 min. at 350’F.
Into the Oven
Testing to See if it is Done
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Crispy Fried Onions
Sprinkle the Onions onto the Spinach Loaf.
Back into the Oven for 5 More Minutes to Brown the Onions
Beautiful! Ready to Plate!
Here we sliced the loaf lengthwise to show the eggs inside. 🙂
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Giant Carrots Stuffed With Fried Rice
We bought these massive carrots at our local Asian Supermarket. Julie had the idea to stuff them since they were so large. We thought about it and came up with the recipe below. We hope you enjoy it as well as we did.
Making Fried Rice
(We made the white rice the day before. Older rice works best.)
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
~ 2 Cups of day old rice
1 Package Rice Seasoning
2 Green Onions – sliced thinly
3/4 Cup Frozen Peas
3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce – We used Aloha Brand
2 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
2 Eggs
5 Large Carrots
5 Tbsp. Butter for each
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Glazed Carrot Garnish Ingredients:
2 Cups Carrot Sticks
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
~2 Tbsp. Butter
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Place your oil and the day old rice in a Wok and heat it to medium temperature. Add your Rice Seasoning package, Soy Sauce, and Sesame Oil and mix the ingredients well turning often.
Move the rice off to the sides of the Wok as shown and add your two eggs. Use your spatula to scramble the eggs in place and when mostly cooked, stir them into the rice.
Continue to cook the rice turning often and then add your peas and green onions. Mix all the ingredients well and remove from the heat.
(We made the Fried Rice the day before, and refrigerated it overnight.)
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Now it is time to prepare the extra large carrots.
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Place one carrot into the center of a piece of aluminum foil adding a Tbsp. of butter.
Wrap the carrot tightly in the foil sealing the edges.
Place the carrots in a 400’F oven and bake them for about 40 min. or until tender.
Here the carrots have been fully cooked and tender.
You can slice a knife into them easily.
Here is the finished fried rice we made earlier.
Slice the carrot lengthwise deeply being sure not to go all the way through.
Slice the carrot again down the side as shown and lift out the main top section of the carrot.
Use a melon baller to remove the main center of the carrot as shown. Do this for all the other carrots.
Using a spoon, fill the carrots with the fried rice up to the edge.
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Repeat this step for all the carrots.
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To make the glazed carrots, place all the ingredients into a large saute pan and heat the ingredients to medium high to basically steam the carrots. Stir this mixture occasionally. As the carrots steam/cook, the water will evaporate and make the carrots tender. When most of the water has evaporated, the leftover ingredients will combine to make a sweet glaze. Remove the carrots from the heat.
Top the stuffed carrots with the glazed carrots as shown.
We made a lot of these glazed carrots as they are soooooo good!
Here are our stuffed carrots that are both sweet and savory!
They make a great side dish for a number of occasions.
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Green Mayonnaise
Chives, and Tarragon
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Fresh Tarragon
2 Cups Fresh Watercress
2 Cups Fresh Parsley
1/2 Cup Fresh Spinach
1 Egg
1 tsp. Delicatessen Style Mustard – (Boar’s Head Brand)
1 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
1 tsp. Hawaiian Sea Salt
1/2 tsp. Table Salt
1 Tbsp. Sweet Paprika
Juice from 1 Lemon
~2 1/2 Cups Canola Oil
1/2 Cup of Chopped Chives
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Our Ingredients
Place 2 inches of water into a medium sized pot and heat to a boil.
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Add the Tarragon to the boiling water and blanch the herbs for about 2 min. or until bright green in color.
Remove the herbs with a wire meshed strainer and plunge them under cold running water to stop the cooking process.
Repeat the steps for the Watercress…
Parsley…
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and the Spinach.
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Place all the herbs onto paper towels to remove the water.
Like so…..
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Add your Egg, Mustard, and White Wine Vinegar to a blender.
Then add your Hawaiian Salt and Sweet Paprika to the blender.
Now add your Lemon juice… Here I used 1/2 of the lemon as I wanted to taste it before I added any more.
Now I am Measuring Out the Canola Oil
Add it to the blender, then blend all the ingredients.
While the blender is on, add 1 cup of Canola Oil slowly and the mixture will emulsify to mayonnaise.
Here I wanted the mayo to be a little thinner, so I added more Oil. Taste the Mayonnaise. I thought it needed more acidity, so I added more Lemon Juice.
Here I am separating the large stems from the leaves of the herbs that I blanched.
Removing the Stems
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Place your herbs into the blender.
Here I am chopping the Chives which we grow in our garden.
Place them into the blender and blend well.
I again tasted the Mayonnaise and thought it needed more Salt, Paprika, and Canola Oil.
I used table salt as it is saltier than Sea Salt.
Blend all the ingredients well and taste the Mayonnaise again.
If you like how it tastes…
Place it in a jar for later use! That is how simple it is to make your own Mayonnaise!
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Green Mayonnaise Herbal Deviled Eggs
Never Fear The Green Ring
Deviled Eggs are my (Julie) most favorite thing for Easter.
Which is why I was so excited to try making them with an Herbal Mayonnaise.
I made them my usual way. I hard boiled the eggs until they have that lovely green ring. 🙂
I then removed the yolks and set them aside in a mixing bowl, and placed the white shells onto the egg platter that I would be using.
I then got to work slapping all of the other ingredients together. The Green Mayonnaise, some Yellow Mustard, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, I didn’t have my usual Pickle Relish on hand so I chopped up a few Dill Pickles. I then added a few dashes of my Tabasco Sauce, mixed it all together and then inserted them usually rather sloppily into the egg whites.
As always with Deviled Eggs, the amounts of the ingredients you add is up to your personal tastes.
Which is why I don’t write down measurements.)
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Add a Sprinkling of Paprika
(Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.)
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A Few Easy Sides
Egg Noodles Cooked in Chicken Broth
Sugar Beets From a Can Warming on the Stove
You just want to add some Chicken Broth to a pot and bring it up to a simmering boil. Then add your Egg Noodles and cook until they are Al Dente. While they are cooking add some Frozen Peas to the pot as well.
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When done simply place into a serving bowl with some of the liquid.
Not all of the liquid as you don’t want this to be a soup.
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BLT’s Our Way
These are going to be sooooo good!
And, we will be using our Green Mayonnaise!
For a beautiful presentation, be sure to find tomatoes that have that lovely green stem at the top.
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Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. Bacon Fat
1 Large Onion – chopped
1/2 Green Bell Pepper – chopped
1/2 Orange Bell Pepper – chopped
1/2 Red Bell Pepper – chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp. Dill Weed
6 Large Tomatoes – Top sliced off and insides removed
15 Bacon strips – cooked until crispy
~2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese – grated
3 English Muffins – Sliced in half and toasted
6 Lettuce leaves
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Add your bacon fat to a large saute pan and heat to medium high heat.
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Slice the root and stem off a large onion, slice it in half and remove the outer skin.
Now, slice the onions into small sections as shown.
Add the onions to the saute pan.
Slice your bell peppers in half, remove the seeds and stem…
then slice half of each bell pepper lengthwise into small sections.
Slice those long sections into small pieces as shown.
Green, Orange, Red
Place all the sliced bell peppers into the saute pan with the onions.
Add your salt and pepper to the onion and bell pepper mixture.
Then add your dill weed to the pan and mix all the ingredients well.
Saute the ingredients until softened taking about 10 min.
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You will need a baking pan or dish for this.
Slice off the top of all the tomatoes.
Use a melon baller and remove the insides of each tomato leaving a small portion of the sides intact.
Place your tomatoes into a large baking pan.
Fill the tomatoes with the sauteed onions and bell pepper mixture.
Like so…..
Add your cooked bacon to the top of the tomatoes as shown.
Now add your cheese to the top of the bacon.
Bake the tomatoes in a 350’F oven for 10 – 15 min. or until the cheese has melted and the tomatoes are hot.
Look How Beautiful!
Slice your English Muffins in half.
Toast the English Muffins and top them with some lettuce leaves and our Green Mayonnaise.
Top the lettuce with the stuffed tomatoes and enjoy!
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Happy Leftover BLT Sandwich Easter to YOU!
(Throwing together and leftover Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and Cheese.) 🙂
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Making an Herbal Green Sauce for our Other Spinach and Egg Loaf
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Ingredients:
~4 Tbsp. Canola Oil
2 Slices of Wheat Bread – Crust removed
3 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
3 Celery Stalks – sliced into sections
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Large Bunch of Parsley – Large stems removed
~12 Chives
Salt and Pepper to taste
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Ready to Get Started
Remove the bread crusts then place the bread onto a plate and pour your White Wine Vinegar evenly onto each slice.
Set the plate aside.
Here, I added the celery to the blender and as you can see, they were too long.
I sliced the celery in half which worked much better. Now, add the celery to the blender.
Then slice off the root ends of the garlic and add them to the celery.
Here I am slicing off the thicker stem ends of the celery.
Add them to the blender.
These chives are from our own herb garden.
Add them to the blender and turn the blender on high for about 45 sec.
Doing this will initially chop down the ingredients.
Now add your canola oil to the blender.
Blend the ingredients again and if the ingredients don’t move, add a touch more oil.
These moved just fine.
Add your pepper and salt to the mixture.
Here I am removing the herbs that stuck to the spatula with the slices of bread.
I used spatula to scrape the sides of the blender.
Add your bread to the blender.
The bread will give the sauce some body and the vinegar will provide some nice acidity.
Blend the ingredients for another minute or so or until the herbs are mostly ground down.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed.
Pour your sauce into a gravy boat and serve!
This was our Second Spinach and Egg Loaf.
The Green Sauce was perfect here!
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Happy Easter to All Those That Celebrate!
Julie and Gordon
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