Yes, a beautiful tart. I remember that from years past.

DH just asked last night what i might be thinking....

I have a plan. We are only 4 or 6 max.

Charcuterie, ...smoked salmon, pate, HumboltFog, prosciutto, fruits, olives, pickles. Need to make my Finnish brown bread, and crackers.

Seafood salad. Lobster, crab, octopus, shrimp, scallops, squid.

Lamb Chops. Artichokes.

If a ham looks good we will save that for a future weekend.

Salads...potatoes, mixed grains, beans? Asparagus is now looking good but may be in a frittata for brunch.

I grow greens year round so I sowed an extra few trays last weekend...

DH's family potluck. Meatless chili and bread plus stuff you'd get at a salad bar from them - too totally boring. I'm bringing Little Yellow Ducky Cake like this from lovetoknow.com and cute mini bunny cookies - all the grands (mostly young adults) will think I have reverted to childhood and I'll just laugh AT them. I think some wine will help - me at least.

had a request for poultry, so am thinking Cornish hens on the smoker. One vehement 'no' on lamb ... baked spaghetti or ziti on Saturday. Homemade grandma rolls (Parker roll. like) and some root veggies and squash ... oh, and custard in the IP ... and deviled eggs

FOAS......looks beautiful......hats off! I don't think that pork recipe is too Fall..add asparagus as a side and it's Spring !!!!

Traditional and boring here. My family love all my experimenting year ' round but the Holidays have to have the same menu year over year or there is hell to pay.

So.......ham, scalloped potatoes, asparagus, baby carrots , baked beans, mac and cheese .....new addition since the grand babes have arrived....homemade rolls and the mandatory deviled eggs. Cheesecake Supreme for dessert ( 40 oz of cream cheese)

Going to be a full, noisy house.......just the way I love it !!!!

A definite yes on lamb here!! A boneless, butterflied leg of lamb roasted or cooked on the grill. Mint sauce and oven roasted potatoes. Probably asparagus because it's local and very fresh and so good right now. Maybe carrots as well. And pineapple upside down cake with whipped ceam.

I've been sick and injured. I was finally able to get some basics on Friday. Most of the close family will be out of town, and the elders don't really want a lot of people anyway, so I'm making a mini-seder with dinner but not a feast. The good news is that I have some prep help.

My menu is:

On the table

• Vegetables (cold) and herbs
• Prepared horseradish two ways
• Charoset
• Matzah
• Wine/Grape Juice
• Water
• Salt Water
• Seder Plate (maror, charoset, roast egg, shankbone or beet, second bitter herb (romaine or scallion), sweet herb (parsley))

Meal

• (No soup)
• Fish course: Manischewitz Fishlets (coin sized gefilte fish from a jar) and devilled eggs (which I'm not making)
• Roast chicken cooked over root vegetable tsimmis,
  Steak and potato for Mr. Picky
• Strawberries

One of the company was looking forward to matzah balls, but I can make them for her another day. The rest don't care about soup. I also might have the college girls over for matzah crepes another day. Right now, I'm hoping to survive this small, easy meal.

FOAS, I agree with Chase/Sharon, add some fresh spring vegetables, like asparagus, and it won't seem like fall at all. Of course, you know I like that recipe a lot, so that may have some bearing on my opinion. Another vegetable option with pork could be creamed spring peas and new potatoes, something Grandma always made before the rest of the garden was "ready".

So, if I had the tarts I'd probably go with asparagus, the baguette and probably some type of starch, maybe quinoa with some Mediterranean flavors like feta and chickpeas, maybe olives and an olive oil/balsamic dressing.

If I had the pork roast I'd still probably do asparagus because it just says spring to me, and the peas and potatoes if I could get good fresh peas. Some kind of potato, probably, either sweet or white, if I didn't have them with peas. Bread, of course, and Kathy/Mustangs' salad with the figs and proscuitto and shavings of parmesan, I don't even like salad and I love that stuff!

You're right, though, there is something missing. Dessert!

Walnut Creek, I'm glad to hear you are back home and up to cooking, even a "pared back" version of the holiday meal. Good luck, and don't wear yourself out!

Here we're having turkey, because I have one in the freezer that I want to have out of the freezer. It's just going to be 6 of us, as Ashley and Kevin will be in Seattle for what is hopefully Ashley's last surgery, a stent in the left renal vein. So Amanda and Dave, The Princess and Bud will be here along with Elery and I. Mother is going to dinner with my brother at his daughter's. I'll have another meal when Ashley and Kevin get back and Ashley is up to it, and we'll have the Easter Egg hunt for Madi and Maci then.

So, turkey, not stuffed because no one likes stuffing except Bud. Hasselback potatoes, home canned green beans with bacon because it's one of the few vegetables that the kids will always eat. Homemade rolls, probably Sol's Honey Rolls, a new recipe that I want to try for sweet potatoes with apples. For dessert there will be banana cream pie and nancyofnc's gluten free lemon bars, per Amanda's request. And lots of Easter candy, lots and lots. Elery will probably do the turkey in the oilless fryer, if it fits, it's a BIG turkey. If it doesn't fit, I've been lobbying for him to put it in the smoker, but I just don't think that'll happen, somehow.

I have boiled eggs soaking in pickled beet brine right now, something Grandma always did for Easter, and I'll make devilled eggs and Dave's ever-present cheese ball. I wanted to make asparagus rolled in bacon but Dave and the kids won't eat asparagus, so that's kind of pointless. Maybe when I have Ashley over, as Madi and Maci both love "baspergrass", although Maci likes it best raw and straight from the garden.

Annie

Sounds like I’m getting the green light for the pork. Great. Annie, I’ve been meaning to tell you how that recipe is on the list of favorites that the whole family enjoys. Along with two or three other dishes, LOL.

WalnutCreek and plllog, maybe I’m not around here enough to know of your conditions, but hats off to you for putting together a meal while not feeling great. I’m sure it will be appreciated.

Sleeven - Your spread sounds amazing. A bit of this and a bit of that. I’d totally enjoy that, as a guest but perhaps not as the host. I’m not coordinated enough to pull that off without a lot of stress.

Gardengal - Your grilled lamb reminds me of the year I tried just that. I was into Alton Brown back then and used his method. Approaching serving time I went out and found a burning chunk of shrunken charred meat on the grill. It was not salvageable. Somewhere along the line Fawnridge/Ricky posted rotisserie leg of lamb and I’ve been tempted to follow his instructions. Not experimenting again on Easter though!

Fun reading everyone’s menus and plans! And suggestions. For one thing, I believe ideas for orzo and feta will join for a side. A couple other thoughts have been triggered as well.

Oh, and Annie:

You're right, though, there is something missing. Dessert!

Not missing! That’s what I’ve asked the guests to contribute. In the hopes that it keeps anyone from showing up with a huge, uninvited roast or casserole, to overwhelm my planned meal. :)

It will only be the 2 of us on Sunday so not much. My family visited from Minneapolis this past weekend and my son is going to his girlfriend's family get together to help on the Easter egg hunt. Looks like the weather will be nice so I'll probably smoke a slab of ribs and maybe a chicken.

We're going to an annual 'Easter Keg Hunt" party on Saturday at a friend's ranch. Mini beer kegs are hidden in the woods and teams of adults venture out to find them with clues given...kinda similar to a scavenger hunt. The kiddos get an Easter egg hunt and some fun games.

This year's Passover menu-

Matzo ball soup - mom still makes it homemade - the best!

Veal brisket, grilled vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, peppers, red onion), roasted baby potatoes, brussel sprouts, israeli quinoa salad with cucumbers, tomato and vidalia onion, green salad with pear, walnuts and shaved parm.

Dessert is a lemon cheesecake with a toasted almond crust.

Enjoy the holiday weekend everyone!

Easter Keg hunt - I LOVE it!

Shopping is done. Prep help is washing and cutting almost all the veg. I'm steaming the asparagus and artichoke tonight, and making the charoset. I should have done it yesterday but was too tired.

FOAS, thanks for the concern. I haven't had anything major or dangerous, just exhausting and trasitorilly debilitating. If nothing else happens, I should be fine soon. I have some overripe bananas and I keep being tempted to make Passover banana cake (one of the few really good ones), but we don't need it and I'm worried I'll be overtired tomorrow. The fact that I'm tempted to bake with all those eggs shows I'm getting better. :)

We'll be heading to my SIL's house. They're grilling butterflied leg of lamb. She asked me to bring a salad so I'm thinking about Greek panzanella.

I will be going to my daughter's for Easter....unless she completely abandons tradition, it will be lamb on eht grill and perhaps a ham in the oven.. I'm bring bread or rolls...I put my foot down on making bunny buns....sick of rolling bunny ears. Thinking maybe a traditional Italian Easter bread....
Meg will make lemon bars, and likely MJ will bring shrimp and a dip.

And frankly....a cider glaze IS fallish....why not make a pineapple glaze?

plllog, I'm glad you are feeling better, and I had to smile when you mentioned that the elders don't really like a lot of company. Mother loves to see the Grandkids.....for about half an hour, then they just annoy the heck out of her, LOL. If more than a couple of people are coming for dinner, she'll find a reason to stay home, she just doesn't like much activity going on around her anymore.

FOAS, I'm glad you enjoy that recipe, it's a favorite of ours too. Like your family, we have the Picky Princess and she has a short list of foods she'll eat, which I find crazy since she's been in the kitchen with me nearly since birth!

Jack, I like the idea of an Easter Keg Hunt, I have family members who would like that a lot. Of course, they're the same guys who go Trick or Treating for beer, so there's that. (grin)

Annie

Any chance anyone has Marilyn’s pineapple soufflé recipe? Thanks!

Just finished the Jello salad I make once a year at Easter. My older son and I are the only ones who like it, but since the pretty green is so Easter-y, I make it anyway. My aunt introduced it to us over 60 years ago. I small box of lime Jello, 1 cup sour cream, one small can crushed pineapple, drained and juices set aside. Dissolve the Jello in 1 cup boiling water, then add the sour cream and stir it with a whisk till it all melts. Pour juice into a measuring cup, and add enough cold water to make 3/4 cup and stir into the Jello. Chill till quite thick but not set. Stir in drained crushed pineapple, pour into oiled mold, and refrigerate a few hours till fully set. Turn out on a plate of lettuce leaves to serve.

Thanks, Annie! I've never made such a small Seder, but it went well, and the elders enjoyed the traditional prayers and songs a lot, memories of days gone by. I hope your mom has a nice holiday.

Sheilajoyce, I know how you feel. My mother always made a cole slaw mold for certain holidays because everyone (dozens) liked it and it was so much easier to serve on a buffet than loose salad. Then I made it at one of my first holidays here, and served it to my friends. They were appalled. :) Live and learn. :)

That reminds me of a pineapple and shredded carrot jello mold that my mom seemed to fit into holiday meals for years. At some point I started wondering if it was stuck in a cycle because people complimented “her” dish so she kept making it. No I suspect that might have been the case. I actually enjoyed it as long as she didn’t put walnuts in it.

Any chance anyone has Marilyn’s pineapple soufflé recipe? Thanks!

No, but Hi!!

Hi! And everything sounds fab!

It will be just the two of us. A smallish ham, carrots gratin, fresh green beans, perfection salad, deviled eggs and a lemon cake for dessert.

Those lamb tarts look awesome.

PS, when I was a kid, I was all over lamb... never ever could get enough of it! (But we all differ.) Maybe the kids WILL like it?

Our usual Easter dinner when growing up was leg of lamb with lots of garlic and rosemary, served medium rare. Of course there was a plethora of Easter eggs (real eggs) and chocolate for (respectively) breakfast and dessert.

I don't recall the sides, but I'm sure we had them. Probably just not the same ones each year.

But again, I would adore those tarts at any age past infancy!

Maggie, is that you? You know, OUR Maggie?

I don't have that recipe either, and can't even find it with a search and I don't remember it, but I remember Glenda also had a pineapple/cheese sidedish that people loved, although I never tried it.

Annie

Here is Marilyn's recipe.

Marilyn’S Scalloped Pineapple

Marilyn Cole@gardenweb

1/2 cup melted butter

4 cups fresh bread cubes

3 eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup Milnot evaporated canned milk

20 oz. crushed or tidbits pineapple in juice

cinnamon & nutmeg

Combine bread and butter, set aside. Combine eggs, sugar and Milnot; beat with mixer. Add bread mixture and pineapple along with can juices; stir well and pour into lightly greased 2-quart casserole. Sprinkle with cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. Bake uncovered at 350° for 1 hour or until set.

During baking it creates a crispy cinnamon toast topping.very good!

(An excellent accompaniment to your Easter ham.)

Thanks, WalnutCreek, I didn't think of "scalloped" pineapple, I looked for every darned other thing!

Annie

Edit: sleevendog intrigued me with the seafood salad, and I just bought scallops, so just have to pick up a couple other ingredients to make this:

https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chilled-seafood-salad-with-herbed-olive-oil-and-sea-salt-13619

Y'all are making me hungry :)

Definitely not "too Fall".

Asparagus is nice but I'd look for some way to gussy it up. You can take the more tender ends of the discarded part and puree with garlic, oil or butter, white pepper, salt etc to make a kind of sauce. Asparagus in asparagus sauce!

We are doing Easter brunch here and not feeling like working too hard, but still need to feed about 15, so the plan is to crank out eggs benedict. DD has promised to handle the hollandaise if I poach the eggs, and there isn't too much else to it. We'll have salmon, ham, and tofu versions. With a big salad and something else that I can't remember, probably because SWMBO told me when I was in one room and she was in another with her back turned and walking away. In our house the rule seems to be you're responsible for knowing what was said, not what was heard. Oh, and lattes.

change of plans .... ham balls and pulled pork ... no fowl, no harm. ...

Walnut Creek, thanks for finding it! I made it years ago but lost track of the recipe. I didn't care much for it as a dinner side but loved it as a breakfast dish accompanying peameal bacon or left over ham.

I would have voted "too fall". lol! I'm on the injured list, so no plans other than to eat a hard-boiled decorated egg. Done. :)

Chase, more than welcome for Marilyn's pineapple dish. I have never made, because we like Glenda's so much. But, I made note of your comment and copied it to the recipe.

Chase, more than welcome for Marilyn's pineapple dish. I have never made, because we like Glenda's so much. But, I made note of your comment and copied it to the recipe.

Lovely decorated eggs! (sorry about the fall)

That is a good Greek style recipe @mercurygirl. Lots of lemon and a good sharp olive oil. I have shrimp, scallops, king crab knuckles, and octopus.

No asparagus at the market yesterday, drag-a-rama. Artichokes are the best yet so no troubles. All prepped last night, pickles, chopping and salad dressings and glaze for the lamb all done. Made a leek top stock for the wild rice dressing. Nice weather so gardening.

Hi Annie! I didn’t think of Scalloped either! Thank you Walnut Creek. Visiting my Dad and he loved it when I made it years ago. Just in time to make it and I have the ingredients:-)

After trying out the pineapple souffle recipe (5 ingredients: pineapple, sugar, butter eggs and bread cubes), the family suggested using it as a filling between cake layers. I cut way back on the suggested sugar. Funny though, there was but a tiny spoonful left ... it was good, and it got 'et.

You are very welcome, Maggie. Glad you got it in time to make for your Dad.

Oh, dear, PM. Sorry to have you in the club. Get better soon.

Hope you all had a great Easter Sunday. We finished eating about 50 minutes ago. Everything was so good. We really pigged out on the ham, garlic green beans, mac and cheese, and dinner rolls with butter, then had no room for the chocolate "mousse." My granddaughters just left to go to a garden center before it closes (we were surprised it was open). I am thinking about changing into a nightgown and getting comfy. Am definitely looking forward to watching Game of Thrones tonight.

Awwww, thank you, plllog. Same to you. I ended up making a potato salad and my BF baked a spiral cut ham. Had to be simple/easy and that did the trick. :)

PM - gorgeous eggs!

The tarts came out really well, although I seemed to slave over them more than four times as much as when I made two. All good though. The asparagus, I decided to gussie it up a bit, took the more tender ends of the discarded part and puree with garlic, oil or butter, white pepper, salt etc to make a kind of sauce. Asparagus in asparagus sauce! I called it Sauce Jean-Louis. Maybe a little thinner could have made it more attractive, but it worked out very well. And less asparagus scraps in the garbage.

Funny! I did the same thing today but added mushroom stems (more scrap use), cream, butter, and a little boullion, blended, then simmered. That made it more sauce like. It was served over asparagus - but on a whim, also used it in place of hollandaise for a "green eggs and ham" version of eggs benedict (just one serving).

We quite unexpectedly had some family friends over for brunch today so I had to throw something together at the last minute. Some of the guests are vegetarian so we served mainly vegetarian food. We served mimosas, a charcuterie board, hot cross buns and apricot and white chocolate bread from a local bakery, roasted potatoes, mixed fruit, and tomato pie. I tried a new tomato pie recipe and it was a huge hit.

Why did I not see this until now? I check this forum daily too, for new posts - strange...

What a lot of lovely meals, everyone!

We had slow roasted salmon filets - 2 whole sides - about 6# of salmon. First time I ever did it that way and it was dead easy and delicious. My mom said it was the best salmon she'd ever had. I found a recipe @ epicurious.com, and simply swapped their seasonings for what I had on hand and in the garden.

So our menu was:

Salmon - slow roasted with aromatics (leaf celery, Italian parsley, Welsh onion tops and orange slices)

Roasted potatoes with rosemary, smoked paprika and lime juice

Green beans sauteed with browned butter and tarragon

Cucumbers in sour cream with dill

Green salad

Sweet rolls

Carrot/apple cake with cream cheese frosting for dessert

Quite a simple meal, and everybody gobbled it up.

P.S. Forgot to mention this was a buffet.

5 hour meal but super casual. I was so prepped ahead and the weather was so nice I continued potting up plants on the deck so we moved outside for frittata, then charcuterie, (smoked salmon, cured meats, olives, pickles, cheeses, etc). Seafood salad, then bean-n-greens salads. Prepped on the kitchen/breakfast table....easy once an hour.

Came inside for a more formal sit down lamb chops. SousVide so they were easy and perfect. 135º 2-4 hours so I had a relaxed window for searing. Wild rice/mushroom dressing.

This involves carrots but in floral arrangements. Someone sent me these photos. We were gone on Sunday, but I might try to remember the ideas for another Easter.

chloebud, I like that, thanks!

I never did get a picture of the entire meal, but I did fancy up the banana cream pie by cutting tulips out of the pie crust scraps, sprinkling them with colored sugars and decorating the pie. The crust was Nathan's Never Fail Pastry, thinking fondly of SharonCB, who kindly shared the recipe a lot of years ago. It's the easiest pastry I've ever worked with, and nice and flaky.

I also made something that's a tradition in my family, hard boiled eggs pickled in the brine from pickled beets. For extra color I also pickled some in a turmeric based brine and then left some plain, and made them all into deviled eggs. The beet pickled eggs turned red all the way through to the yolks, while the turmeric pickled ones only colored the outside, which surprised me for some reason.

And, of course, I didn't manage to take a picture of the turkey, the hasselback potatoes, the sweet potatoes with apples and Italian sausage, the homemade Honey Rolls made from Sol's recipe. I do have an old picture of the gluten free lemon bars, though!

Annie

Annie, that all looks great! Is there anything in the chicken or is it just there for pretties?

I love your colored devilled eggs. :) It reminds me a little of my childhood. Eggs in salt water was a traditional, must have, thing on the Seder menu, so there were dozens of hard boiled eggs. My mother let us use the kits from the market to color them. The trick was inspecting them after peeling to make sure the pretty purple jagged line where there had been a small crack did not make it to the table. :) There was a magic step where eggs left the fridge and appeared peeled in a mixing bowl which I really appreciate now. My folks were pretty much no nonsense, but we didn't have to see our little artworks being destroyed.

Nowadays, I serve devilled eggs. Similar symbolism and much more stylish. :) I'm not sure I have the guts to try coloring them, though...

ETA: Chloebud, I meant to say before, thank-you for the pics. The carrot thing is very clever, and if one is careful with them, they can be eaten after. :) Very pretty!

Well, the chicken is there for the "pretties", but I put olives and pickles in it. I thought about putting the cheese ball in there and then making Dave have an Easter scavenger hunt to find it, but was afraid I'd forget it was in there and leave it in the cabinet until next year or something disgusting! I did fulfill my family tradition of forgetting something in the microwave, this year it was Bud's stuffing. No one in the small group I had eats the stuff except him, so he got to take it ALL home...

Annie