I spent twelve hours on the day before Easter cleaning the house, doing laundry, and preparing food so that I could finally have a holiday go off without a hitch. I grocery shopped (with a LIST) and actually planned a menu of ham (of course), green bean casserole, hash-brown casserole (BTW, Tater Tots DO NOT work as a substitute for the hash browns, so shop early-UGH!), strawberry jello, Italian pepperoni salad (my favorite and see recipe below), banana bars, and dinner rolls. I even planned and prepared in advance two appetizers of bacon wrapped water chestnuts and crock pot cheesy nacho dip.
I woke up early on Easter morning and turned on my crock pot and put my casserole side dishes in the oven. My oven has a setting where you can schedule it to turn on and off at a certain time. I have no idea how to set it, but my husband Ron does, so I had him schedule the oven to crank up right about half way through our church service. That way, the side dishes would be just about done when we got home.
My large electric roasting pan would serve as my second oven for the day. I pulled it out of the basement, rinsed it off, set the temperature to 300 degrees and proceeded to unwrap my ham. The ham had been thawing for three days in my refrigerator (it was a frozen ham that came from a whole pig that my dad bought from a farmer and had it butchered).
Unfortunately, unlike Jesus, even after three days, my ham did not rise from the dead. It WAS DEAD! I unwrapped it and discovered that it had a nasty freezer-burn. (I'd like to know who came up with the term freezer-burn. It just seems wrong that you can burn food in the freezer.) My ham was definitely burned, and pending another Easter miracle, it was headed to the bottom of my garbage can.
My morning was carefully scheduled and time was running out. If Ron and I were going to make it to church with the boys on time AND have an Easter dinner that included a ham, one of us would have to run to the grocery store (a fifteen minute ride to town from our house which is in the middle of nowhere.)
Ron volunteered to go while I showered and got ready for church. He is so much faster than I will ever be in a grocery store! He returned with the ham and I was dressed and had most of my make-up on, the rest could be done on the way. I got the ham into the roaster and we hurried the boys to comb hair, brush teeth, and get in the van. A last minute informal inspection of the boys Easter attire left me wishing I had noticed earlier that one of my boys was wearing a Chicago Bears shirt. I made a slight comment, but reminded myself that God is concerned with the heart and out the door we went. Go Bears!
We made it to church and had a wonderful time of worship. When we got home, we walked through the door and were greeted with a potpourri of aromas including that of baking ham, green bean casserole, and buttery Tater Tots with chopped onions that smelled better than they tasted, but I didn't know that at the time.
All of our family members grouped around the kitchen table and bowed to pray and thank God for His sacrifice and our celebration. We were especially mindful and thankful for the successful rescue of Captain Richard Phillips, the American captain of the Maersk Alabama merchant ship that was hijacked while carrying relief supplies to Mombasa, Kenya. Somehow, my Easter morning frustrations waned in the light of the heroic efforts of the brave Americans that were involved in the Maersk event at sea. What a perfect holiday!!
Italitan Pepperoni Salad
1 head romaine lettuce (washed and torn)
1 green pepper, sliced
6 hard-boiled eggs sliced
cherry tomatoes
1 can drained pitted black olives
2 teaspoons drained capers (usually located near the pickles in the grocery store)
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 oz pepperoni sausage, diced (use more if you are a real pepperoni lover)
4-6 slices of good quality white bread cut into 1/2 inch cubes
On a large platter, arrange lettuce, pepper slices, tomatoes, olives, and capers. This can be done artfully to impress the "Martha" in your life! Heat oil in non-stick skillet and cook pepperoni and bread together for a few minutes until bread is crisp and golden. Remove from skillet, drain and cool.
Serve with your favorite Italian dressing (we LOVE Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar - YUM!) Also delicious with a red wine vinegar dressing or something homemade as long as it is vinegar and oil based, you're good.
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