Debbie Dance Uhrig
‘In your Easter Bonnet, with all the frills upon it. You’ll be the grandest lady in the Easter Parade.’ I do hope you remember this beautiful old tune. If you don’t, call on Easter Sunday and I’ll sing it to you! When I was teaching school, my friend, Sharon, would have an Easter Parade with her Kindergarteners. The girls would make Easter Bonnets and the boys were dressed as rabbits, “IF” I recall correctly. Then in the music classroom I would teach them the ‘Easter Parade’. They would go from classroom to classroom modeling their spring attire. We even went to the local nursing home a few times. What I do remember was I could not play the full score of the arrangement and I had to ‘fake it’ when I accompanied the kids. The musicians will understand that comment!
As a young girl it meant a new dress for Palm Sunday and a new dress for Easter Sunday. Sometimes this also meant new shoes. There was one year I remember distinctly. Grandma, Lucy Richardson, did cross-stitching on the skirt section, of all our dresses. However I built up more anticipation over the flowers my father, Jerry, bought for my mother, sister and I for Easter morning. Dad would order beautiful corsages for his ‘girls’ every year. I felt so special and admired by my Dad. See, it’s those little things that stay with us in the journey of life.
The food at Easter was always ham at our home. and mother would accompany it with scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs, specialty salads, hot rolls and desserts of all kinds. When my brother was small we had bunny cakes! I am proud to say that our household finally chose a dessert for Easter 2017. Phillip, our son, has requested a lemon cake. Not only are we having lemon cake, but I’ll also do different flavors of macaroons, and a few chocolate chip cookies. Should time allow there’s going to be a brand new cherry dessert? Ham will be our featured meat with a cherry sauce. Instead of scalloped potatoes we’re having twice baked this year. Scalloped Pineapple, creamed peas, cooked carrots, strawberry green salad, hot rolls and the desserts should wrap us up and stuff us to the brim!
I’m guessing when some of you read creamed peas, you went yuck! In our household this is a favorite food. I also think we have to provide vegetables that will stay hot on the table. I like doing sautéed asparagus but it’s hard to keep them hot at the table. Steamed is always my preference for vegetables, but again when it’s transferred to a bowl, it cools fast.
On my Easter agenda is a list of everything that needs to be done throughout the entire week, in order to make the event special. When you work this makes the most sense. If you stay up Saturday night til’ 2am you’ll be a grump! There’s also a list for the dish or container that goes with each entrée. Then there’s the table. It will be fully set on Saturday or Friday evening so I can enjoy looking at it for a few hours. My friend, Francis, cross stitched a table cloth for me several years ago and I always feature it on Easter Sunday. Everything will be photo ready (hopefully) by the time the guests arrive. I’ll do my very best to make the day seem like it just sorta’ happened with no work involved. The coffee carafes will be heated and the switch ready to throw. A good dessert calls for a good cup of coffee. The meal will not be hurried and memories will be made.
With all the talk about food and Easter memories it’s most important to remember the real reason, for this Christian holiday. He rose again so that we might have eternal life. Let that be a part of the message shared with those we love. Happy Easter, Simply yours, The Covered Dish. www.thecovereddish.com
Lemon Dream Cake
1 (18 ounce) box lemon cake mix
1 (3 ounce) box lemon instant pudding
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon extract
Zest from (1) lemon
1/2 cup lemon juice fresh or bottled
1/2 cup oil
In my first cookbook, ‘Simply Yours’ you will find our family, ‘Chocolate Birthday Cake’. This lemon dream cake recipe is simply a lemon twist following the same recipe structure.
Mix all the ingredients beating about four minutes on medium speed. The batter tends to be a bit stiff. Bake in a greased & floured Bundt pan for about an hour at 325 degrees. If I have plenty of time I like to bake this cake at 300 degrees which renders an even lighter outer edge on this delicious cake.
‘If’ you were doing an icing I would do a simple lemon glaze or consider pairing the cake with Persimmon Hill Farms Amaretto Blueberry Syrup. This can be purchased through the Persimmon Hill Farms website @ persimmonhill.com.
During one of my classes a guest shared a tip that I have found quite interesting. She said when a cake mix expires not to dump it unless it has something in it etc. Instead add 1 teaspoon of baking powder and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the mix. One day I decided that I would like to see this cake a bit taller so I added 1/2 teaspoon each of baking soda and powder. When the cake came out all the zest had gone to the outer edges and turned dark. The extra ‘umph’ sent the zest to the outer edges. So, if you want this cake to be tall leave out the zest and then add the additional baking soda and powder. This recipe has brought me lots of good feedback. I originally served it with my apricot chipotle ribs, found in this book!
