Easter Dinner Recipes

Hi! I hope you had a wonderful Easter filled with family, food, and candy!

We had such a fantastic Easter. It was a smaller group (only 17) and that meant it was a bit more relaxed and we could spend more time talking to everyone and less time in the kitchen. My Mom, as usual, had a ton of food in addition to all of the amazing dishes people brought with them. One of the highlights of any party is my aunt and uncles broccoli. I think they just steam it and add some adobo seasoning. Every time they make it the bowl is empty by the time everyone has gone through the buffet. This year I wanted to compliment their dish by offering another simple, yet flavorful, vegetable.

I originally saw this recipe on a friends Facebook page and thought it looked amazing. I made it exactly as stated and ended up having to throw most of it away. You see, I was home alone the day I made it and the original recipe uses Buffalo Wing sauce and ever since giving birth to our oldest daughter, I just can't handle spicy food anymore. However, luckily I tried the cauliflower BEFORE adding the sauce and it was so delicious I knew I'd be making it like that again. So, without further adieu, I present:

Cauliflower Buffalo Bites (without the Buffalo)
(from the website: Good Dinner Mom)

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 large head cauliflower, cut into bite-size florets
• Olive oil to drizzle
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper
  
  This is where I stop but if you want to make the Buffalo version, here are the additional ingredients.
• 1 tablespoon melted butter (Use coconut oil for vegan option)
• ⅔ cup Frank’s Buffalo Wing Style hot sauce or other hot wing sauce of choice

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 450F degrees.
2. Place cauliflower florets into plastic bag. Drizzle olive oil over florets to barely coat.
3. Add garlic powder, salt and pepper. Close bag and toss ingredients around so all florets are coated.
   (*Side note: I've used garlic salt instead of powder and then omitted the ¼ teaspoon salt and it's worked out just fine.)
4. Place on ungreased cookie sheet or baking pan and bake on middle rack for 15 minutes, turning florets once during baking. Check them at the 10 minute mark for desired tenderness. You don’t want them to be soggy!
   
   Again, this is where I stop and they are SO delicious but here is the Buffalo version as well.
   
5. Remove florets from oven. Melt butter in medium glass bowl. Add hot sauce to butter. Toss cauliflower and stir to cover all florets with hot sauce.
6. Return to oven and cook for additional 5 minutes.

 I was so excited to hear people complimenting my cauliflower and even more excited to tell them just how easy it is to make it. I made a double batch for Easter and there was very little left.


The second dish I made was so incredible, there was none left and my uncle even had two pieces. He can be a very honest critic and he was "mmm'ing" like nobody's business. That had to be the most rewarding compliment!

I originally saw this recipe in People magazine (I know, weird spot to find a cake recipe) and thought it looked delicious so I decided to make it for Easter. Then, randomly, I saw an ad for it on some web page I was surfing and looked at it online. The great thing about finding a recipe online is that often times there are reviews / comments and occasionally the comments contain ways to improve upon the original recipe. This was one of those times. (I followed the advice of 'Pupsmom09' on page 3.)

Classic Angel Flake Coconut Cake
(from the website: Kraft Recipes)

Serves 18

Ingredients

• 1 pkg. yellow cake mix (I'm sure you can substitute a homemade yellow cake if you would rather not use a mix.)
• 3 eggs (for cake mix)
• 7-oz. pkg. flaked coconut, divided
• 1 can coconut milk (I used the Trader Joe's Light canned stuff)
• milk
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla
• 3.4 oz. pkg. JELL-O Coconut Cream Flavor Instant Pudding
• 3.4 oz. pkg. JELL-O White Chocolate Flavor Instant Pudding
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 8 oz. tub COOL WHIP Whipped Topping, thawed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Prepare cake batter and bake as directed on package for 2 (9-inch) round layers, substituting 2/3 of the water in the cake mix with coconut milk, adding 2/3 cup flaked coconut, 1/4 cup milk, and dry coconut pudding mix into batter before pouring into prepared pans.
3. While still hot, poke small holes in your layers and baste them with coconut milk.
4. Cool cakes in pans 10 min. Remove from pans to wire racks; cool completely.
5. Meanwhile, beat dry white chocolate pudding mix, powdered sugar, 2/3 cup coconut milk, and 1/3 cup milk in large bowl with whisk 2 min. (Pudding will be thick.) Stir in COOL WHIP. Refrigerate until ready to assemble cake.
6. Stack cake layers on plate, filling with 1 cup of the pudding mixture and 3/4 cup of the flaked coconut. Frost top and side of cake with remaining pudding mixture. Press remaining flaked coconut into pudding mixture. Refrigerate 1 hour.

 I was lucky enough to have made this cake not only for everyone to enjoy at Easter, but also as a birthday cake for my amazing God-niece who turned 7 (how did that happen so fast?!?) and my uncle, who's birthday is on the 27th.

(Isn't it cool how the Batgirl symbol glows from the candle light?)

I hope you have the chance to try out these recipes and if you do, please let me know what you think.