Read on to find out more about our Easter brunch!
Every great holiday has a culinary history. I think that’s amazing. I’m so glad that we have special foods that we eat on special days! After all, you can’t really have a celebration without food, can you?
My family recognizes Jesus’ Last Supper with a Seder meal. We break unleavened bread together and drink the cups of wine (or maybe grape juice) that represent the Returning King and Bridegroom. We dip parsley into salt water to remember the Passover, and taste bitter herbs to remember the bitterness of Israel’s slavery in Egypt. But the bitter is followed by the sweet, death is followed by resurrection, so after the bitter herbs we eat sweet honey and apples.
After the bitter comes the sweet. On Good Friday we mourn. On Saturday we wait. And on Sunday we celebrate!
This is the good food we’ll be eating to celebrate Easter!
Our Easter Brunch Menu
Ham
It’s possible that Easter is the only day of the year that we eat ham. I bought this spiral-sliced ham from Target. It’s pre-cooked, which is the only way you really want to buy your ham unless you’re going to pull a “Little House on the Prairie” and start from scratch.
It comes with its own sweet glaze, and cooking instructions are on the label.
Easy-peasy. And this frees me up to put more energy into the rest of the meal.
Potatoes
I asked someone else to bring a potato dish. Maybe it will be cheesy hash browns that are the star of the potluck table at every MOPS (Mothers of Pre-Schoolers) meeting. Maybe it will be twice-baked potatoes, or Betty Crocker’s au gratin potatoes. Or something else entirely because there are 70+ ways to make potatoes!
Baked Pineapple
The secret’s out. The real reason that I make ham at Easter is because I want to eat Baked Pineapple. It goes so well with ham!
Baked Pineapple is a sweet casserole, a mixture of crushed pineapple, bread cubes, sugar, eggs, and butter. It is baked in a casserole dish, and spooned out along with your salty ham. You’ve gotta trust me on this one. (And no, you don’t have to be a fan of Hawaiian pizza to like this. But you do need to be a fan of pineapple.)
Fruit Salad
A big bowl of fresh fruit seems necessary for Easter brunch, doesn’t it?
Green Salad
I always delegate green salad. Salad just isn’t my favorite. It’s a lot of chewing for a little reward. But prove me wrong: Do you have a salad you love to make?
Vegetable
I don’t know what vegetable we’ll be having, but anything would go great with this meal. Personally I’m a big fan of asparagus at Easter because they have such good sales at the grocery stores, whereas normally it’s quite expensive!
Cinnamon Rolls
You might be surprised to hear that I decided to make Pillsbury cinnamon rolls this year. I had a lot on my plate, so to speak, and these rolls are always very well received. I’ll be making 3 packages (24 rolls) in a 9×13 pan.
Gluten Free French Toast Casserole
For our gluten free folks I decided to make them their own french toast casserole. I’ll probably use a recipe like this one. It will be something cinnamon-y and sweet that I can put together on Saturday night and bake on Sunday. I’ll use Udi’s gluten free white bread in place of the french bread in the recipe.
Gluten Free Berry Chantilly Cake
This cake is the bomb. Please make it. It is a decadent yellow cake with a raspberry glaze and mascarpone frosting, dotted with berries. It looks amazing and tastes amazing.
For Easter I’ll make it using a Krusteaz gluten free cake mix so everyone can eat it.
Another Dessert
The last item on the our Easter menu is another dessert, to be announced.
Here is a website with some great Easter dessert ideas. What dessert will you be making this Easter?
