Easter Celebration Dinner

Easter is such a wonderful holiday for so many reasons.  In the Christian faith it is a day of great joy and celebration in honor of the resurrection of Jesus from his grave following his death on the cross.  It also represents the beginning of Spring and the rebirth of flowers, gardens and the birth of baby animals.  What better way to celebrate than sharing a great feast with family and friends!  

We gathered at my Mom's house, as we do every Sunday, and enjoyed a spactacular meal, of which this gorgeous Honey Baked Ham was the star!

  

Mom's Potatoes Au Gratin is based on a classic casserole recipe of frozen hash brown potatoes combined with cream of mushroom soup, mayonnaise and cheddar cheese topped with french fried onions, dots of butter and garnished with paprika.  Old school in its ingredients, but no one can argue with how delicious they actually are!

My baked beans were simple as well, though rather spicy.  My Mom has a serious sweet tooth and has a tendency to go heavy on the sugary food, especially on Easter, so I treated to counter balance all the sweet with these smoky, hot chipotle baked beans.  I rendered the fat from 4 pieces of bacon cut into 1 inch pieces until brown.  Once browned, I added 1 small chopped onion and 1 garlic minced garlic clove and sauteed them in with the bacon until the onions were translucent, about 5 minutes.  In a large mixing bowl I combined the sauteed bacon, onion and garlic with 1 large can of vegetarian baked beans, 2 tablespoons of chipotle puree, 1/4 cup of ketchup and 1/2 cup of beef stock.  Pour bean mixture into a dutch oven and bake at 400 degrees for about 30-40 minutes until bubbly.

Here is an example of Mom's sweet tooth.  The hot cross buns placed ever so lovingly in a dainty little bun warmer.  She, once again (she did this on St. Patrick's Day too), drove all the way to downtown Mishawaka to the West End Bakery just to get her prized glazed hot cross buns, along with the lesser showcased dinner rolls (for everyone else) which were mindlessly tossed in a homemade foil packet in the background.  

Here's Mom's lovely Easter Dinner serving table!  In our family, we fix our plates in the kitchen and then take them to the dining room to eat.

And here is the dinner plate!  What a great holiday we had with our family and how fortunate we are to have been blessed with an abundant dinner table. Thanks to Mom for her hard work each and every week when we all invade her house for dinner on Sunday and especially for the fabulous Vanilla Mouse Cheesecake she made for dessert which was sublime!