Our Easter dinner will be on Sunday afternoon. We only have about half of the family. Our oldest son and his family are vacationing in FL. I have a very easy meal planned. The cooking will be done on the grill. We'll have ham slices and I think I can heat the twice-baked potatoes on the top shelf in the grill. I hope to bake some special bread tomorrow. For dessert we will have Strawberry shortcake and lemon bars. We will only have one little kid, but we will have a egg hunt, indoors. I think the weather is expected to be nice and warm. Yesterday was up in the 70's, which is amazing for MN, but it is already humid out there.

I've decided to give this one a try....I've never brined meat before, but it sounds easy enough to do. Fortunately it's cold enough here that I can just park it outside and not take up the entire fridge with the pot.... Here is a link that might be useful: Fresh ham with cider glaze

Thanks for the responses. Since I wrote my post, I have found a recommendation for a fryer. I subscibe to Cooks magazine and have all of the back issues except the charter edition..of course that is the one that tested the fryers! But, in a later issue it made reference to the winner. That was the DeLonghi Roto-Fryer D20. The charter issue was prior to 1993 so there is probably another DeLongi model that might work as well if not better. I have checked it out on epinions.com and the DeLonghi as been rated almost a 5 star by quite a few people. So....I guess I am going to try and find one online as cheap as possible. When I finally get one, I am going to try frying some canned biscuits just to see how they might work. Properly fried, biscuits really are heart stopping if they are not drenched in grease or uncooked in the middle. I think there is a fine line in the temperature of the oil, etc. I will let you know. In the meantime, if anyone comes across more info, please pass it on. Thanks! Oh, here's something funny. I called my next-door-neighbor to see if by chance they had deep fryer. They just threw 2 in the trash 3 days before....grrr..... Typical timing on my part!

Christmas eve, I'm going to my parents house. I am going to make a simple roast beef,roast chicken, mashed potatoes, some kind of veggie,and rolls. Ill go with them to Mass and then with my sister and her family to look at Christmas lights. Christmas day,my sister wants me to come to her house to cook Christmas lunch. She is a good cook,but with 6 kids, that day is rather hectic. I don't know what she wants me to make. She knows most of my recipes and I usually just show up and make what's on the list she gives me. To be honest,I really just want to hole up at home with SO and the dogs. But I'll make an appearance at my sister's to cook and take a plate home. SO will probably stop at his mother's and just bring himself a plate home as well and we can enjoy the evening together. This year is the first in many that I have actually been off Christmas day. My mom's official Christmas party will be on the 30th. My dad will smoke a ham,my brother will deep dry a turkey,and right now she asked me to make: Family chip dip spinach artichoke dip Fresh salsa Devilled eggs Roasted shrimp Broccolli casserole cauliflower casserole Potato salad Mac and cheese Homemade cranberry sauce Rolls My mom is not a great cook and doesn't enjoy it at all,even though she loves and is good at baking. I certainty don't mind helping her. But im just not on the spirit this year,with the other stuff I have going on with my furbaby, I'm just ready to get this stupid year over with. At least I know I will eat well.