Asay Easter Dinner

The first of two Easter 1993 pictures

—with the 3 kids on a little tykes crocodile rocker—

the same time my story took place.

In a couple weeks it will be Easter—our family’s favorite holiday next to Christmas and April Fool’s! We seem to have very few photos because we’ve videotaped most of them…for hours. One of our favorite family videos is of Easter morning 1993 in Juneau, Alaska. The kids wait for the camera to start rolling so they can hunt for the eggs, candy, and little wooden, painted chicks and bunnies that the Easter Bunny has hidden all over the living room—very exciting! Ellice is 1, Derek is 3, and Joel is 6 years old. Joel is obviously the one with the past Easter experience, stuffing his basket as fast as possible before Derek can get there (he’s still trying to figure it out) and at the same time, stay out of the parents’ fairness radar. Derek is actually charmed by the little wooden animals while Joel is bagging the loot, in a kind, big brotherly sort of way. Ellice mostly sits, looking around at the unusual activity in the room. The truly funny part is when Derek, twice within about 3 minutes, dumps his whole basket of candy while tripping over his own feet trying very excitedly to get somewhere in the room and is totally unfazed—a couple of “3 Stooges” moments! Joel notices his opportunity to snag a lot of loot at one time, but isn’t sneaky enough. It’s highly entertaining!

One is of Derek and Ellice wearing bunny faces (about 4 years later).

In later years, Dad (Grant) has made it his mission to hide the kids’ Easter baskets in unusual and difficult-to-find places with the rule that you must find your basket before you can hunt for the goodies. A few of you may have heard stories of the agony in one camp (the kids) and glee in the other (the parents). Some of the best hiding spots have been up in the chimney, under a sink behind the pipes, hanging behind drapes above their heads, suspended back behind tall bookshelves, in the washing machine, in an empty toilet tank, and behind air vents. The intensity has grown with the kids! Thankfully, the goodness of our Heavenly Father and the selfless gift of His Son super cedes this minor craziness!

One is of Grant hiding a basket 10 years later in 2003 in Michigan!

So, our traditional Easter meal usually includes fresh rolls, green salad, green beans or corn, mashed potatoes, Amish Ham, and Mom’s (Grandma’s) famous Strawberry Pie (see below) found in the Barbara D. Eliason cookbook. Enjoy! And please feel free to call if you need to clarify something. I might note that this is the only gravy that Joel will eat—spicy, sweet—and we’ve doubled or tripled the ham recipe as needed. I’m including a green bean and salad recipe just for fun, though we change our recipes for those items regularly! Happy Easter 2010!

Easter 1993

Amish Ham

2 slices center cut cured ham, cut about 1” thick

(I can’t find it cut this thick at the store, so I usually buy a ham butt or shank and cut it off from around the bone myself, also cutting off any fat and outside rind. Meat departments used to cut it for me, bone and all, but not anymore.)

1 t. powdered mustard

3-4 T. packed brown sugar

1 t. allspice

¼ t. ground pepper

Milk to cover (about 2 c. or more)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Layer the ham in a large casserole dish. Sprinkle with sugar and seasonings. Pour enough milk over to barely cover the meat. Cover and cook for one hour, adding more milk if needed. Ham will be tender. Thicken the milk gravy with flour, and serve hot over mashed potatoes. (It may be handy to use a dutch oven type of pot that will transfer from the oven (baking the ham) to the stove top (to thicken the gravy). Or you can just transfer the milk to another pan for the microwave or stovetop.) Serves 4-6.

Spinach Strawberry Salad

½ pound fresh strawberries, washed and sliced (or more if you like)

8 to 16 oz. fresh, washed baby spinach (or cut regular spinach)

½ small red onion sliced thin

1 c. crumbled, cooked bacon pieces, optional

Dressing:

2 T. sugar

¼ t. Worcestershire sauce

¼ t. paprika

¼ c. extra virgin olive oil

¼ c. Balsamic vinegar

1 T. toasted sesame seeds

Mix salad ingredients. Whisk dressing together and toss with salad. (May not use all of the dressing according to personal preference.) Serve immediately. Serves 6.

Blue Cheese Green Beans (My favorite!)

¼ t. Dijon-style mustard

1 t. cider vinegar

2 t. finely chopped shallot (or sweet onion)

1 T. extra virgin olive oil, divided

¼ c. slightly chopped pecans

¾ lb. fresh green beans, trimmed and halved

1 ½ oz. blue cheese

In large bowl whisk together mustard, vinegar, shallot, and 1 ½ t. oil for the dressing. Set aside. In a small skillet, heat 1 ½ t. oil over moderately high heat. Add pecans and salt to taste; cook, stirring frequently, about 1 minute. Transfer to paper towel. In large saucepan of boiling salted water, boil beans until just tender, about 3 minutes; drain and transfer to ice water. Stir until just cool. Drain well and add to dressing. Crumble blue cheese over beans and toss with half the pecans. Top with remaining pecans and serve. (This keeps the pecans from being all on the bottom of the bowl when you serve it!)

Strawberry Pie (from Barbara Eliason cookbook, pg. 56)

1 baked pie shell

Fresh strawberries

1 c. mashed strawberries

1 c. cool water

3 T. cornstarch (mixed with above water)

3/4 c. sugar

1 T. lemon juice

Pinch of salt

Cook together until thickens. Let cool. Slice fresh strawberries into a baked pie shell until pretty full. Pour above mixture over the strawberries. Chill. Top with whipped cream.

contributed by Karen, Barbara's daughter

Mom's turn! Monkey Bread & Shrimp Stroganoff

Who would have guessed when we got married and started our family we would be blessed with 8 beautiful and wonderful children, each holding a special place in our home and hearts. We have had many varied and wonderful experiences together—the children never complaining about our frequent moves. But they adjusted and enjoyed each area and experience – some best forgotten such as burnt chili, Swedish meatballs laced with ginger cookies, and blue stroganoff.

We were always on the move and couldn’t even stay in one place when we were in the same area such as 4 different homes in Kentucky and 3 in Bandelier. I guess I spent most of my time cleaning homes, packing up our belongings, and having and caring for our GREAT children!!!

Some of the experiences the children won’t remember were when we went from Yellowstone Nat'l Park at 8,000 feet elevation to Death Valley Nat'l Mon., which was below sea level. We remember things there that have stuck in our minds—such as bread in Yellowstone that was always too light no matter how much yeast Mom decreased it and then having cookies in Death Valley that were like hard rocks and not very sweet. As we entered Death Valley, we wondered if our decision was very wise as we looked at the dry mountains and strange valley. Then, when we looked at the trailer we were supposed to live in, we almost turned around and left. However, we cleaned and cleaned the trailer and as time went by we grew to love the desert and were very surprised when Spring came and the mountains were covered with beautiful flowers.

Do you remember going up to the No. Cascades Nat'l Park,

finding and playing in watermelon snow?

No matter where we lived (some of which were places we had little knowledge about) Dad helped us learn about the world around us and to appreciate all of God’s handiwork. We learned that we could love and appreciate any place that we had the privilege of living in, and be happy. Sometimes the children were their own best friends. We were also blessed to have Church activity wherever we lived or in whatever remote area we were in, which made our experiences even more enjoyable.

Our Crowning Experiences, however, were having ALL the family together in the Temple at Brenda and Jared's marriages and sealings, where the spirit was very strong and where we can return often to receive help and feel that same spirit. We love and appreciate ALL our children, their spouses and our grandchildren. The Most Important things in our lives are our Wonderful Family, our Testimonies of Jesus Christ and the Church – with the goal of Eternal Lives Together, where there are no empty chairs.

Monkey Bread (A new bread to me but easy and good—fattening)

2 c. lukewarm water

1 T. salt

½ c. sugar

2 T. yeast

Mix together and let set for 8 min.

2 eggs, beaten

4 T. cool melted shortening or oil

7 c. sifted flour

2 T. dough enhancer (opt.)

Add eggs and 3 c. flour to water mixture and mix well. Add oil and remaining flour; knead well. Let rise till doubled. Punch down; chill.

Melt 1 cube of butter in each of 2 Bundt pans. Roll out dough to ½ inch thick. Cut in squares;place around butter in Bundt pans, forming a continuous wheel in bottom of pan. Let rise 2-3 hours. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 min. (some ovens work better at 375 degrees for 30 min).

Note: to fit busy schedules, can leave dough in fridge overnight, then put in Bundt pans and put back in fridge. Take out 1-2 hours before baking. (This uses a lot of butter-you may want to decrease that in the pan and pour a little over the top and/or use less all together.)

For cinnamon rolls: cut dough into circles with biscuit cutter, pour melted butter out of pans,dip each roll in butter, then in mixture of 1 c. sugar and 4 tsp. cinnamon, then form wheel. You can also drizzle the rolls with powdered sugar icing while they are still warm.

Shrimp Stroganoff

2-3 lbs. uncooked med. shrimp and/or other seafood

½ c. butter, divided (or less)

½ lb. fresh mushrooms, sliced

½ c. each - chopped onion, celery, red pepper

1-2 cloves garlic, mashed

2-3 T. flour

1 c. chicken or beef broth

¾ tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 T. chopped fresh dill, opt

½ to 1-½ tsp. salt

1 c. sour cream

Cooked rice or noodles

Saute the shrimp in 6 T. of butter for 5 min. Remove shrimp and set aside. To pan, add remaining butter, mushrooms, onion, celery, red pepper and garlic; cook for 5 min. Add the flour to the broth, Worcestershire sauce, dill and salt, then add to pan, mixing well. Simmer for 2 min. Stir in the sour cream, mix well, then add the shrimp. Heat but do not boil. Serve with rice or noodles. Serves 6 (PLEASE – NO blue coloring!)

by Barbara!