Our Easter--Food, Fun, and Leftover Ideas

We had a wonderful Easter Day at our house!  The appetizer lunch was stuffed clams, panko shrimp, arancini (rice balls), a Caprese salad, deviled eggs, pickled beets, artichoke, mushrooms, olives, dips with chips, and fresh vegetable crudites.

We then had fun taking family photos, our grandchildren did an Easter egg hunt, and we all played some games -- this year it was the game Scattergories.

For dinner, I made a small roast leg of lamb, a spiral ham with a maple brown sugar glaze, manicotti, a corn pudding, stuffed mushrooms, peas and carrots, asparagus, and escarole with chickpeas and peppers.

 

Dessert was a cheesecake and mini bundt carrot cakes, which I decorated with cream cheese frosting and Peep bunnies.

My kids took home lots of leftovers!

I always freeze a portion of the ham and the ham bone to make pea soup at a later date, but this year I was left with quite a few vegetables. I decided to chop all the leftover potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, and half of the asparagus and incorporated them into a frittata with eight beaten eggs, and some cubed mozzarella cheese. a quarter cup of grated Parmesan cheese, and a few grinds of black pepper.  I greased a springform pan and sprinkled breadcrumbs on the bottom of the pan to cover the bottom and then poured in the mixed egg, vegetable, and cheese mixture. and then sprinkled bread crumbs on top.  I baked it in a 375-degree F oven for 40 minutes,  The frittata is so easy to make this way in a springform pan and it is a good way to use up pre-cooked vegetables. It came out so delicious!  We ate slices for both dinner and breakfast.

The next day I made elbow pasta--any small pasta shape can be used--and in a skillet, I sauteed chopped leftover ham, leftover peas and carrots, and asparagus chopped into pieces in small amounts of olive oil. I then added some chicken broth and grated Parmesan and gorgonzola cheese mixing well until the cheese was melted. I blended in the almost-cooked pasta to the skillet, removed the skillet from the heat, added about a half cup of pasta water, mixed well, and covered the skillet for five minutes until the pasta completed cooking.  It was another delicious and easy-to-prepare meal.

I hope I gave you some ideas on how to re-invent leftovers so that you can make them into a new delicious dish and cut back on food waste. 

Our grandchildren are keeping us busy as their annual baseball and lacrosse games have begun, as well as school theater plays, art shows, and upcoming dance recitals. It's wonderful that we can enjoy all these special events in their lives. 

Spring weather in Colorado always keeps us guessing and we've had unusually warm temperatures followed by snow so far this April. I'm sure there may be more snow before summer arrives, but we welcome all moisture in our dry high altitude climate.

My little "kitchen windows greenhouse" is doing well.  I repotted the peppers and tomato seedlings into larger containers and I'm patiently waiting until the end of May when I can replant them for the final time into their larger pots on my patio.  I will then surround the pots with wire to keep out the deer and rabbits the best I can. I had success doing this last year and I hope for the same this summer. I just love watching them grow!

Pasque Wildflowers

I hope you all had a Happy Easter if you celebrate it, and that your Spring is full of wonderful things!

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