;Ham, potato casserole, roasted carrots, 24 hour salad, rolls, key lime pie and lemon custard cakes - apps brought by guests

What's 24 hour salad?

Turkeys were done today. Thank goodness for my granddaughter who carved both the whole turkey and turkey breast. Gefilte fish, from frozen, cranberry sauce all done. My DIL is making the soup and matzoh stuffing and mashed potatoes. Daughter is making her mandelbread and soup noodles. Tomorrow I'll cook the matzoh balls (mixed and in the fridge), and asparagus.

For dessert one of the guests is bringing fruit. And I have 7 layer cake and rainbow cookies from costco, In addition I have leaf cookies, fruit slices, chocolate covered matzoh and the aforementioned mandel bread. Table is set for 14. Hope people come humgry.

Easter's next weekend and my Simnel cake is in the oven right now. We've collected the hand made Easter eggs from a local chocolatier. There's a big parcel in the hall which arrived from Rome and which we'll open at Easter. Pretty sure it'll contain a Colomba and a couple of marzipan lambs among other goodies. We'll be at DD's for Easter and they've ordered a big leg of spring lamb and will buy the hot cross buns.

24 hour salad can be fruit and marshmallows or vegetables or lettuce salad stuff. Their are several different kinds.

Our daughter and son-in-law are hosting Easter. I need to find out what she wants me to bring. This Lemon Blueberry Tart came in an email this morning from Sally’s Baking Addiction. I thought it sounded like a possibility.

the 24 hour salad I make is romaine, mushrooms, water chestnuts, celery, scallions, green peas and shredded cheese with a mayo dressing on top with crumbled bacon. It looks so pretty in a trifle dish layered.

I’ll make something fishy for Friday haven’t decided yet. Stuffed squid is rattling around in my head … but not sure. Also haven’t decided Lamb or Ham for Easter Sunday.

Morning after the night before:

Yummy. Salmon for breakfast.

The simnel cake is finished. Slight delay because I didn't have enough marzipan for the 'apostles'. Had to get more.

Cool! Floral, I had to look it up, and Columba too. I love making marzipan, but rarely actually do.

Neely, I love the descriptions of "something fishy" and "rattling" squid. :)

917, I finally had a chance to look up 24-hour salad. Some of the pictures are very pretty served up, too! I'm guessing this is your Easter lunch? Because it sounds like something you can have pretty much ready to go when you return. "Break the fast" is like that for us, plus it had to be held safely for something like 30 hrs. All the best for a lovely day!

Chloebud, did you decide about the tart? I love blueberry with lemon. ;)

Blubird, I hope your Seder went well! It sounds like a nice division of labor.

We were down a couple of cousins in the end, but other than a glass of grape juice being spilt (what else is new?) nothing untoward happened. The caterer's soup was too salty, and the matzah balls were a bit rubbery, but the eggs and "fish course" were excellent, as was the meat. The chicken was fine, but boring. The green beans and asparagus were both good. The starch was supposed to be potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes, but I didn't get any potatoes, not that it matters. Who wouldn't rather have the Jerusalem artichokes? The caterer asked for some of the mandelbroit to take home to her husband. They were good, but dense (first time recipe and all). The Sacher Torte was a big deal to make first time through, but I think it's one of those where once it's made once it comes easy. I baked for the minimum time, and I think it was a bit dry, but that might have been that the jam wasn't wet, or the chocolate could have used some thinning. Next time...

You're brave serving Jerusalem artichokes when there's company.😉

There were also a lot of onions, and other gaseous veg. A good diet with sufficient fiber is the best defense. There weren't any issues I'm aware of. Of course, iit was all family, anyway… :D

@plllog was the mandelbread made with the recipe I posted.? I really like the idea of using hazelnuts instead of chocolate. Although I am a chocoholic, I do prefer nuts in my mndelbrot, too, ( unless it's coated with chocolate).

If you follow 'what's for dinner' you'll see that 'a good diet and lots of fibre' is exactly what we eat. Tons of legumes and bushels of vegetables. But we still find that JA's are unique in their effects. It's the inulin.

“Chloebud, did you decide about the tart?”

Not sure…I might rethink it since it sounds like someone’s bringing lemon bars.

Oh, Floral, I didn't mean you! Just the concept that they must be gassy. AIUI, inulin is a kind of fiber. I looked it up and it's in alliums, which I guess is why I associated the Jerusalem artichokes with onions. It's just like that when people talk about beans giving everybody gas, it's not so--it's usually the fiber and people who get enough of the right kind of fiber don't get all Blazing Saddles with them. That kind of thing. Same with the inulin. If your system is used to it, it's much less likely to be gassy (or do you say "windy"?)

Re the WFD threads, you always show lovely plated balanced meals. (Balanced, yes, for me, and often serially, rather than plated.)

@blubird, yes! I started with your recipe then kind of did my own thing. The Yehuda cake meal is so dark and toasty! I think it made them denser than the white Manischewitz cake meal would, though. The toastiness tasted good in the mandelbroit. My grandmother always had mandelbroit in her cookie jar (except for Pesach) but I did the nuts to remember her. I should have put in more roasted hazelnuts, but I was tired and distracted and forgot to assess after the first cup went in. I think two cups would be fine, or even 1.5 c. The almond slices were tossed in a little oil and Chinese Five Spice, instead of the cinnamon sugar, but a lot fell off during slicing, so I added them to the cut faces before the second bake, which the bigger size required. Everybody loved that, and Idn't do it again. I left them off some, but no one ate those. They're good either way. Dangerous. I consumed a lot of crumbs and fallen off bits.... So good! Thank-you again for the recipe!

Chloebud, are you making the little bunny cakes?

I saw a thing on TV where they were making alternatives to eggs for decor. I get it that eggs are no longer cheap, but there are plenty in the stores here, and the pastured eggs I get from the farm have been available all along and were always pricy. The farm was also selling Vital Farms size Medium blue chicken eggs. Approximately robin color. No speckles, darn it1 But pretty. I boiled them and used them with "Easter egg" radishes (i.e., multicolor) and mandarin sections as table decor instead of flowers. they were supposed to go in olive boats but I couldn't find them and used oblong dishes instead. They were a hit!

Back to the things to make, I was wondering if people are making chocolate decor or not, because chocolate is getting pricey too! And we don't grow sugar anymore, so maybe even pressed sugar eggs aren't in? I was fascinated by them as a kid, wondering how they got all those details inside. (On TV, once sees them building up frosting elements on a form or stand, and transferring them with something like a toothpick.)

plllog, I never ordered the bunny cake pan but came oh so close.

I hadn’t thought about those pressed sugar eggs in years. Yes, the details!

^😳😵‍💫🥴!!!

We’re staying in a holiday house for a few days but I wanted to make hot cross buns on Good Friday, which I have done pretty much every year for the best part of 50 years. So I measured out all the ingredients and brought them with us with a few bits and pieces which I couldn’t guarantee an AirBnb might offer. And this morning I started the process, kneaded the dough, set it to rise in a glass bowl in a sink full of hot water (which worked really well ☺️). They came out of the oven about ten minutes ago and they are really good, very light and a nice crumb. DH is pleased, because we prefer these to boughten buns (which I don’t buy).

Here’s a picture:

Those look great. Son in law has some proving right now. I've never bothered to make them myself but, having seen the ingredients list on the supermarket buns, he's decided to make his own for the sake of dgd.

Those hot cross buns look delicious colleenoz and in an away from home oven.

Not as impressive as colleenoz's.

The crosses presented a challenge! But I'm sure they'll be delicious. Not bad for a first effort.

Home made hot cross buns are sooo different (and so much better) than bought ones.

I’ve never had a hot cross bun!

I try to find time to decorate eggs. I just made these hard-boiled eggs quickly because they’re for eating. :)

My previous plans have been changed by others, so I will be making the usual spiral cut ham, a babka, pierogies, etc. , and hard-boiled eggs, of course. :)

Holidays are all about delicious food, but how do you avoid overdoing it? I’ve been trying lighter twists on classics—like roasted veggies with herbs instead of heavy casseroles. It’s surprisingly satisfying! Recently discovered https://betterme.world/articles/how-to-lose-15-pounds-in-2-weeks/ —their articles on mindful holiday eating are gold. Learned easy tricks to enjoy favorites without the guilt (hello, portion control and healthy swaps!).

I am cooking a turkey on the smoker. I have NO idea if it will be anymore than us two. One grandson I know will work, the granddaughter is unknown if working, one grandson will be off work, but plans unknown. Son and dil unknown. Bonus grandsons unknown. Will make potato salad , deviled eggs, and baked beans for us. Quanity increased for more and green bean salad added

I think it’s rather rude of your family not to let you know their plans. Do you usually make a big family meal? Do they know you’re doing it this year?

NONE! The twins and parents got back from a Disney cruise just in time for the cousin's BD party the next day! (2 hr drive each way!) The little one is doing the naked week for potty training, so no one is rally ready for it! Might think about next weekend, but getting ready for a road trip to the Grand Canyon!

I hope all of you who were celebrating had a lovely day. We had Indian-ish filled flatbreads today (end of matzah). Tomorrow, I hope to make a nice loaf of bread.

I actually had two holiday celebrations this year. Makayla came from Detroit but she had to work on Sunday so we had dinner on Saturday. Madi and Maci hunted for eggs, Bud hid them. Everyone got chocolate Easter bunnies and Cadbury eggs. Dinner was the traditional (for my family) glazed ham, scalloped potatoes, mac and cheese, green beans with bacon, Grandma's dinner rolls. I didn't get a picture of any of it, LOL, I was too busy partying! Dessert was baklava, cannoli and cookies, and a gluten free lemon pudding cake that was just "meh". We did have munchies before dinner while we were waiting for everyone. I made a gluten free veggie pizza for Amanda, a cheeseball with Ritz crackers for the grandkids, devilled eggs, frosted sugar cookies that were supposed to look like Easter eggs but didn't much, some baklava.

Sunday we had dinner with our nice neighbors across the street. A local farmer/friend swapped me a leg of lamb at Christmas in exchange for two large Christmas trees. Since a 7 pound leg of lamb is a bit much for two of us, I kept it for Easter. The chef across the street made dinner from her new Yotam Ottolenghi cookbook "Jerusalem", she said it was a good theme for Easter. She marinated the lamb with oregano and garlic and made mejadra as a side, as well as more devilled eggs, steamed haricot vert, pita bread, a mint/parsley pesto for the lamb, salad with cherry tomatoes, olives and feta cheese.

Because they are Polish, another sister who lives in Chicago brought Easter kielbasa from Andy's Deli and some cinnamon creme cake from a bakery whose name I cannot remember. I volunteered to make the babka, using their Mother's recipe. I neglected to adjust a very old recipe to today's much better ovens so although the recipe said to bake loaves 50-60 minutes mine was a little darker than I like at 40 minutes. It made 4 loaves so three loaves went across the street and one stayed with me, I had toast for breakfast on Easter.

And with that, another holiday finished, on to Makayla's graduation on May 10, which is the same day as Elery and my anniversary and the day before Mother's day. Dave's birthday is May 22 and my 70th birthday is May 30, so maybe just one big party the whole month of May!

Annie