Easter Cooking

Egg Coloring from the Pantry

Coloring eggs was always one of my favorite things about Easter along with the Homemade Easter Baskets and having the Family Easter Lunch/Dinner at my house.

I want to share some inexpensive and delightful egg coloring tips that I have used down the years.

Red Cabbage: Boil half head in water to cover, cook about 30 min. Drain off 2 cups liquid, add 2 tablespoons vinegar and dip in the eggs.

Pickled Beets: 1 cup of juice, 2 tablespoons vinegar, simmer about 10 minutes. The results will be a beautiful rosy-colored egg.

Berry Blue Jell-o: Combine the whole package of gelatin mixture with 2 cups water, 2 tablespoons vinegar, bring to a boil and simmer 10 minutes. This makes a beautiful Aqua Blue color.

Line Jell-o: Combine 1/2 package of gelatin mix, 2 cups water, 2 tablespoons vinegar, bring to a boil and simmer 10 min for a perfect Spring Green.

Turmeric: 2cups water, 2 tablespoons turmeric, 2 tablespoons vinegar, bring to boil and simmer for 10 minutes. This makes a pale yellow color in about 10 to 15 minutes, if you leave in overnight it will be a beautiful deep golden mustard color.

I have also added some brown eggs to my mixture just to round out the color, they are beautiful also.

Nestled Egg Muffins

This is a recipe that was passed along to me from a good friend and she said it turns out wonderful and makes some added fun for the kids to help with. The eggs "magically" cook in the shell as they rest on top of the muffin. For extra fun, dye the eggs before baking.

2 cups whole-wheat flour
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup vegetable oil
18 whole uncooked eggs, rinsed

In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, baking powder and salt; set aside. Combine eggs, milk raisins and oil; mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fill 18 greased or paper-lined muffin cups half full. Place one whole egg (with shell) on top of each muffin. Bake at 400 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes. Cut an egg open to test for desired doneness. Serve warm.

Homemade Blueberry Syrup

This syrup is delicious served on pancakes, French toast, Greek yogurt and ice cream.

5 cups blueberries, washed
3 cups water
1 cup firmly packed white sugar
1 lemon

Peel 3 to 4 strips of peel from lemon, skin should be 1/2-inch wide and not have too much of the white part on it. Juice the lemon and set aside both zest and juice. Place blueberries and 1 cup water in medium pot. Crush berries using potato masher. Over medium-high heat, bring berries and water to a boil, then lower temperature to medium-low. Simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove pot from heat and ladle berries into a fine sieve set over a bowl. Press the berry solids to extract as much juice as possible. Discard solids. Wash out pot and add remaining 2 cups water, lemon peel and sugar. Bring to boil and boil rapidly for about 15 minutes, or until mixture reaches 225 degrees or thickens. Add juice and 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Boil 1 to 2 minutes. Remove from heat, allow to cool. Remove zest.

NO BAKE YODEL CHEESECAKE from Womans World Magazine

I am addicted to buying this magazine every week and I must say I have found some amazing recipes.

1 pkg. frosted creme filled devils food snack cakes such as yodels or swiss miss cake rolls
2 Tbs. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup hot water
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
3 pkgs, 8 oz each, cream cheese, at room temperature
1 can (14 0Z) sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted and cooled
4 cups thawed whipped topping
2 additional frosted creme filled devils food snack cakes, sliced for the topping

Method

Coat 8" springform pan with cooking spray. cut 4 cakes crosswise into 4 pieces each. Stand, frosted side up, around edge of pan. Halve remaining cakes lengthwise and arrange in bottom of pan, cutting to fit.

In microwave safe bowl, stir cocoa into hot water until smooth. Sprinkle over mixture, let stand until softened, 5 minutes. Microwave on high in 10 second intravels stirring until dissolved.

In large bowl on medium high speed, beat cream cheese, milk and melted chocolate chips until smooth and fluffy 2-3 minutes. Slowly and gradually beat in gelatin mixture until blended. Fold in 2 cups topping, spread in pan. cover, refrigerate at least 8 hours or overnight. Carefully run knife around edge of cheesecake, remove side of pan. If desired, transfer remaining topping onto cake and garnish with additional snack cake slices.

This takes some time but it is well worth when the it is finished.

Our Easter meal most always consist of Ham, turkey/dressing, potatoes, green beans, salad, deviled eggs, corn, dessert and most likely other dishes. Sometimes we even BBQ so we change it up.

I hope everyone has a very Happy Easter spent with family and friends. Until next time stay safe and Happy Cooking..