Our Easter Feast
Today for Easter we hosted my parents and brother for pre-church breakfast, and then my mother-in-law and her best friend joined the group for post-church lunch. I had a fantastic time planning out the menu, decorating the house with fresh flowers, and cooking the meals.
First, I have to share our Easter baskets. The “Easter Bunny” brought me some gourmet all-natural chocolates, yogurt-covered pretzels, sugar free gummy bears made with all-natural organic ingredients, some “Yes to Carrots” facial wash and a new bath brush, and Larabars. The “Easter Bunny” brought my husband Whoppers eggs, Starburst jellybeans, SweetTarts, Fruity Pebbles cereal, and a planter to hang on the deck that will grow tomatoes AND herbs (I hope he picks cilantro!). Quite a contrast, right? I felt a little hypocritical getting him so many of his traditional (sugary, processed) favorites while I filled my own basket with healthier treats, but I told him this was a way to start viewing those treats (including that darn cereal) as TREATS, not everyday options. The candy is not so hard for him year-round, but the sugary cereals are a habit I haven’t gotten him to break yet.
OK, on to the meals! I decided not to try to modify every single recipe to be sugar-free, and I did serve way more bread/baked goods than necessary in one day, but I did make everything from scratch and used organic, high-quality ingredients.
For breakfast I served carrot muffins, scrambled eggs, ham, and biscuits I made from scratch. I was excited that my parents loved the muffins. I used a “baking soda biscuits” recipe from my Williams-Sonoma Baking cookbook. They turned out good (and it was fun to have bread now that Lent is over) but I didn’t think they were anything to write home about. The scrambled eggs were the eggs I blew out of a batch of eggs I hollowed and then decorated using silk ties. The decorated eggshells were a pretty decoration, and I couldn’t bear to waste a whole dozen eggs so that was the reason for serving scrambled eggs with our ham and biscuits. My parents had mimosas and we had a nice festive breakfast!
Our Easter table! You can see the carrot cake in the background on the cake stand, too.
For lunch I served almond butter chicken, quinoa with mushrooms, kale, and sweet potatoes, homemade dinner rolls, and fresh homemade lemonade (squeezed lemons, water, and Stevia—no cayenne pepper for this crowd!) The reason I didn’t serve the traditional ham for Easter lunch was that I wanted to share these new favorite recipes with our families, and both got rave reviews, even from my brother the picky, but increasingly adventurous, eater (I recently got him to try goat cheese and it did not go well). My mom is intrigued by quinoa and plans to try to make a few recipes herself, and my husband’s mom had never tried kale before! It was fun to fill everyone in on my experiences recently, learning to shop and cook differently, trying new things (like kale!) and of course enrolling in IIN. Again, the bread was good but strangely, as good as it felt to be able to have it (as always after six weeks without) I found I didn’t enjoy it as much as I had enjoyed the anticipation, and I was happy to save room for dessert instead of filling up on bread. Quinoa is definitely my favorite grain, even above homemade bread now!
Cookies for dessert
Dessert was carrot cake (made entirely traditionally except that I substituted applesauce and canola oil for vegetable oil), jello-pretzel salad my mom brought (a family Easter tradition!) and shortbreads and lemon sugar cookies.
Weighing myself for the first time in 6 weeks was pretty fun this morning. I saw a number I haven’t seen in years! It wasn’t as low as I expected, though…I’ve lost a total of 11 pounds since I first met with Cameron, and only about 4 since Lent started, but since one of my smallest dresses was big on me when I wore it to church today, I can’t complain! I’m thinking I won’t weight myself again for at least a month…it’s really empowering not to worry about it!
I can’t pretend the Whoppers aren’t enticing me as much as they are enticing my husband, but all-in-all I can say this is my healthiest Easter yet, both in body and mindset. Instead of craving candy this evening, I find myself wondering if I have room yet in my still-full stomach for leftover quinoa and veggies…I’d say that’s progress!
