Recipes: Resurrection Sunday (Easter)

Food Wishes Video Recipes: Some Happy Easter Lamb Recipes | foodwishes.blogspot.com.

Happy Good Friday if you’re celebrating! I am celebrating several Holidays this next week or so: Passover, Good Friday, and Resurrection Sunday (Easter). Hopefully, some of you are having a long weekend away from work. I’ve been thinking a lot about life symbolism this week. My brain started churning after watching a 1940’s movie (full of symbolic meaning for me). Then, I started thinking about Holiday food symbolism…for instance: the unleavened Passover bread, and what that means in my life. I then began to think about lamb for the coming weekend. Many have ham to celebrate this weekend, but lamb has more significant meaning for me. I often read British recipe sites, and they always have an abundance of lamb. I want to yell, “Stop it! Just stop torturing me with the lamb recipes!” lol. Lamb is not as common in the U.S., from what I can tell. Aisles and aisles of beef and pork, with a lonely section for lamb (if there is one at all). So, I decided for those of you in favor of lamb, I would share this link. There are several tasty-looking options to choose from: Grilled Lamb Steaks with Minted Honey Sherry Vinaigrette (pic), Pistachio Crusted Lamb Chops, Toasted Sesame and Root Beer Glazed Lamb, Grilled Lamb Chops with Orange and Fresh Mint Sauce, and Jinx-Proof Braised Lamb Shanks.

Savory Herb Cheese Bread | fivehearthome.com.

A bread wreath is also common for many. This monkey bread recipe immediately reminded me of the ‘crown of thorns,’ but also of the fact that this dough is ‘risen.’ The recipe is quite simple and uses fridge biscuits. But, you could easily make your own.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing weekend (whether you are partaking in Holidays this week or not). I will be back sometime next week!

The Many Uses of Food Powders

Adding to my other posts about preserving our foods, I thought the many uses of dehydrated and powered foods might be interesting. As you can see from my pics, I dehydrated red beets, sweet potatoes, and chard, then ground them into powders. I dehydrated golden beets around the same time, but after tasting one…well, they got eaten! Many people are allergic to artificial dyes and colors, so this is a great way to get the food coloring you want and save some cash. I’ve pictured veggies, but fruits (like cherries, black and blue berries, etc.) or herbs are also wonderful.

Colored pasta is the first thing that comes to mind for me (it’s ALWAYS pasta for me!), but there are a plethora of other uses. You can use your powders to enhance color and flavors for broths (you can thicken them a bit with sweet potato, as well), cream, sauces, bread doughs, cakes, truffles, and frosting. You can make powdered drink mixes, use them for garnishes, and they are great for craft projects. Mix them with a little water and use them as an alternative to water colors for little ones. Naturally-dyed Easter egg shells are fun, or you can make marbled eggs like Chinese tea eggs (see my pic. *As a side: In case you’re interested, I made those from an adaptation of this recipe: Chinese Tea Eggs.*). Teas and coffee are fab in that they are already dried. They can be used for food dyes, but also try them for natural and inexpensive wood stains (fruits and veggies, too).

I used a blender for my veggies this time, but you can also use a spice mill. I store my powders in recycled containers with a desiccant to keep out the moisture. There are probably a ton of other options, but those are just a few I’ve thought of for now. I will post more ideas as they come to me.