Easter Dinner (Happy Ham Day!)

Happy Easter! Or Happy Ham Day!

Over the weekend, we have been cooking ham and other goodies to celebrate the holiday as we have done in past traditions.

Sandwiches. . . growing up we joked because we would make our sandwiches “Bleed” as we had an egg Easter bread, beet horseradish sauce, ham and cheese.
Cvikla s Chrenom – Beet and Horseradish Relish (http://slovakamericankitchen.blogspot.com/2014/04/cvikla-s-chrenom-beet-and-horseradish.html )

Easter bread: Paska (https://dcslovaks.org/slovak-easter-traditions-paska-bread/)

Easter Cheese: Veľká noc Cirák (https://slaviccooking.com/slovak-easter-cheese-cirak/)

We kept it simple (we didn’t make Cvikla s Chrenom, Paska, or Veľká noc Cirák but do remember them as a kid.)

 

We made three hams (actually my friend and my brother made the hams.)

I focused on the sweet potatoes with marshmallows.

What is awesome is that with ham. . . there are so many things you can do with the leftover. . .

  • You can add it to scallop or augrutin potatoes.
  • You can add into bean or split pea soups.
  • Add it to Mac N Cheese
  • Yes of course you can just keep it simple and make a bunch of ham sandwiches.

Note: Ham has a lot of salt, so make sure you drink a lot of water to get a lot of the salt out of your system.

This ham is addicting that I’m dealing with a stomachache from eating too much. So I am taking a nap now.

Baking: cookies and cakes

I love to cook, and I usually cook at least one meal 5-6 days out of the week on average.

However I also love to bake.  Usually those around me have to exercise or they end up gaining weight.
I used to make a joke if I can’t lose weight,  I will just make everyone else around me weight more.

Seriously I enjoy baking cookies. My favorite cookie to make and eat are my chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. (I’ll give you a secret, I use the “The Joy of Cooking” Oatmeal cookie recipe. I just add a lot of chocolate chips. ) They are soft, chewy, and or course have chocolate.

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I also love to bake cakes. I prefer chocolate, but I have made layered cakes and even pineapple upside down cake.

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I will be honest though I’m not that great at decorating cakes, but family are just happy that is edible, not burnt, and tastes good.