Happy Easter Recipe!

Happy Easter (again)!  April was kicked off to an eggcellent start (sorry, couldn’t help myself) with lots of celebrating-with-food this past holiday weekend.  I practically lived in my kitchen Saturday and Sunday cooking up way too much food, leading to way too much eating…and we still have way too many leftovers!

Saturday I whipped up a red velvet Easter cake & cupcakes (courtesy of Mrs. Betty Crocker – I totally cheated) and had fun playing with NEON food coloring!!  Between dyeing the frosting and then eggs, my kitchen was practically a rainbow when I was finished…I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my good friend, The Magic Eraser, for the clean-up help…

Easter eggs & cupcakes

Easter Cake

Sunday I whipped up a whole smorgasbord of feel good foods - I baked my first ever ham-with-the-bone-in (this former vegetarian did NOT know what she was missing! Yum!), mashed sweet potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts, sautéed kale and made-from-scratch scalloped potatoes (a first!).

I found this really great, super easy scalloped potato recipe I want to share with you:

Ingredients:

4 cups thinly sliced potatoes

3 tablespoons butter

3 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1 teaspoon salt

1 dash cayenne pepper

1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1/2 cup grated cheese, to sprinkle on top

Paprika

Directions:

In a small sauce pan, melt butter and blend in flour.

Let sit for a minute.

Add all of cold milk, stirring with a whisk.

Season with salt and cayenne.

Cook sauce on low until smooth and boiling, stirring occasionally with a whisk.

Reduce heat and stir in cheese.

Place a half of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased one quart casserole dish.

Pour half of cheese sauce over potatoes.

Repeat with second layer of potatoes and cheese sauce.

Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.

Top with some paprika for color.

Bake uncovered for about 1 hour at 350°F.

photo courtesy of food.com

These came out very delicious – my only caution would be to take your time with forming your butter/flour/milk roux.  I made mine a bit too thick and needed to thin it back out with milk, which may have compromised the quality of the dish a bit (I can be a very impatient cook!).

Overall, it was a VERY successful Easter meal.  Check back next week for a TBD soup recipe using ham leftovers!

Feel good!

Alycia