Easter Dinner in New Jersey

This year for Easter, my family came to visit! I made a full Easter dinner for all six of us, my sister, brother-in-law, parents, and husband. 

Taking the subway to Chelsea Market

Chelsea Market

Downtown gazebo on a beautiful day with Mom and Sister Bear

Over their time here, we went to the Big Apple, had a good time hanging around our town, went to church Saturday night, and took a trip to IKEA. This was my sister's first trip over to see my town, although both she and my brother-in-law have been to New York City before.

Easter dinner with our family was a great time for everyone. I'm so glad my family was able to make it from Ohio this year! I always love making dinner for my family, especially during the holidays. You probably saw my Thanksgiving dinner that I made in November and I had just as much fun making Easter dinner.

For Easter dinner, we had the traditional ham, cheesy potatoes, green beans, and deviled eggs. I also made a broccoli-cauliflower salad that was served cold and delicious! For dessert, I made a fruit pizza that everyone loved (even my anti-cream cheese sister)! Everything turned out pretty perfectly and was delicious. I bought the ham pre-cooked and all that needed done was a good re-heating. As for everything else, I assembled most of the food on Friday so it was ready to pop in the oven or serve immediately on Saturday. 

Fruit Pizza

This recipe comes from a family friend, Sharon, who made it for us first a couple years ago. My dad calls it (excuse my French...) "pretty good shit". There are several different fruits that you could use but I prefer strawberries, blueberries, and kiwi. My sister typically wouldn't eat anything that has cream cheese in it but she made an exception this Easter. This recipe is so easy to use and will surely make anyone that eats it super happy!

Typically, I would cut the pizza into squares but this year I wasn't present for the cutting of the dessert and my sister thought I actually wanted it cut like a pizza. It turned out just fine being cut like this but now she knows why it's usually cut into small squares instead of large pie slices! We could barely finish our slices because they were too big after all the dinner we ate!

What You Need:

• 1 pkg. refrigerated sugar cookie dough
• 8 oz. cream cheese, soft
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• sliced strawberries, washed
• blueberries, washed
• 2 kiwis, sliced and washed

How to Do It:

Roll the sugar cookie out onto a greased cookie sheet and bake according to package instructions. In a medium bowl, beat together cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. When cookie is baked, careful not to over-brown, cool on a wire rack. When cookie is cooled, spread cream cheese mixture over cookie. Place fruits over cream cheese mixture and chill at least four hours before serving. To serve, I suggest cutting into small squares.

Broccoli-Cauliflower Salad

This recipe comes from my mom who got the recipe from one of my great aunts. This is a wonderful little side dish that is super easy to make and take to a potluck dinner or a host's house. My mom used to make this salad for several family get-togethers and it was always a family favorite. Very rarely were there any leftovers and this was a side dish that was bound to be requested by at least three family members.

Not much work goes into this dish at all so it's an easy one to prepare and I love making it ahead of time too. I had mine ready two days before serving and Hubby couldn't keep his fork out of the bowl! The sauce used for this salad is something that can be used for coleslaw as well. I've never actually used it on coleslaw but it would be delicious on really anything I think! Definitely try this salad out and let me know how it goes!

What You Need:

• 3 clumps broccoli
• 1 head cauliflower
• 8 oz. cheddar cheese, finely shredded
• 1 lb. bacon, fried and crumbled
• 1 cup mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp. vinegar
• 1/2 cup sugar

How to Do It:

First, cut up broccoli and cauliflower into bite-size pieces and combine with cheddar cheese in a large Tupperware bowl. Whisk together mayonnaise, vinegar, and sugar and pour over salad mixture. If you are making your salad ahead of time, only add the crumbled bacon before serving. Mix all together and chill for at least an hour before serving.

Cheesy Potatoes

This recipe comes from my aunt Amy in Ohio who makes these delicious potatoes for Easter every year. These are my favorite side dish for any large dinner. I love having these delicious potatoes at dinner and most people like them as well. Typically, I would have corn flakes on my potatoes for a little crunchy-ness but potato chips work pretty well too. The best part about these potatoes is the simplicity of them and how great of a potluck side dish they are. Typically I don't have any leftovers so they are something awesome to take over to a host's house. I used to actually have several helpings of these potatoes during Easter dinners when I was a kid (unless they had too much onion in them...).

So hopefully you will find my cheesy potatoes to be as delicious as I think they are! I have back-up in Hubby if you think otherwise! Enjoy!

What You Need:

• 2 lb. shredded hashbrown potatoes, thawed
• 1/2 cup melted butter
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 16 oz. sour cream
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded and divided
• onion (optional amount)
• corn flakes (optional)
• 1/4 cup melted butter (if using corn flakes)

How to Do It:

First off, place the hashbrown potatoes in a greased 9x13 baking pan, mix melted butter over potatoes and preheat oven to 350°F. Combine sour cream, chicken soup, salt, pepper, and onion (I don't use much). Pour sour cream mixture over potatoes and mix until all potatoes are covered. Mix in one cup of shredded cheese, sprinkle remaining cup of cheese over potatoes. Bake on 350°F for 45 minutes. If adding corn flakes, bake potatoes on 350°F for 30 minutes and add corn flakes with melted butter over them for the last 15 minutes of baking.

S'More Bars

In honor of yet another game night and my sister who will be visiting for Easter, I made something I learned from my sister, Jodi. I can remember people requesting that she make these for different get-togethers. So, for my friends at game night, I made s'more bars! It's like a s'more without the waiting and the work and the smell of campfire on your clothes at the end of the night.

S'more bars are an easy go-to for you to take to any event that you may need a quick dessert for. The best thing about s'more bars are the lack of mess. So many times a s'more can get really messy and make your hands awfully sticky. With these bars, there may still be mess but definitely not as much as a regular s'more. You'll love these bars and so will all of your friends and guests! 

What You Need:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 c. graham cracker crumbs
• 1/2 cup flour
• pinch of salt
• 8 chocolate bars
• 3 1/2 cup mini marshmallows

How to Do It:

First, preheat oven to 350°F beat the butter and sugar together until you have a fluffy mixture. Then, blend in the egg and vanilla. Mix together graham cracker crumbs, flour, and salt.

Stir crumb mixture into butter mixture. Remove 2 1/2 cups of the graham mixture and press into the bottom of a greased 9x13 baking pan. Reserve remaining mixture.

Place chocolate bars over the graham mixture (I only had six chocolate bars but it worked out okay).

Pour marshmallows over chocolate bars and spread as evenly as possible.

Crumble remaining graham mixture over marshmallows.

Place into preheated oven and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Remove when chocolate and marshmallows are melted and graham mixture is lightly browned.

Cool 10 minutes on wire rack then cut into bars and cool completely.