Changing Things Up

You may have noticed the blog looks a little different. There may be more changes coming as I’m still not entirely happy with it, so I hope you’ll bear with me and I’ll try not to make the ride too bumpy!

I hope, if it is your tradition, you had a lovely Easter with friends and family to celebrate the risen Christ. It’s my favorite holiday and I love to have a large table of friends on that day. This year, including our family, we had a total of 16 adults, 7 kids, and 2 infants. My menu stays very similar from year to year with the biggest difference in the desserts. Still, there’s always a chocolate dessert and always a fruity dessert, rarely the same from year to year. This is what we had this year:

Grilled leg of lamb with oregano, cracked pepper, and garlic rub Baked ham with apricot preserves Praline sweet potatoes (I never seem to get a photo of it when I make it!) Mashed potatoes with gravy Steamed asparagus Orange-glazed carrots Green peas Baby greens salad with grape tomatoes and cucumber Dinner rolls (I thought about making potato rolls but simplified things for myself and used store-bought again)

Fresh strawberry pie Turtle cheesecake White cake with lemon and raspberries

Just as I’m changing things on the blog, I made a change in strawberry pie for our Easter dinner. I did use a ready-made graham cracker crust (I bought the larger size pan) but rather than using the brilliant scarlet-colored gel that has a fake strawberry taste or using strawberry gelatin, I made my own with fresh strawberries.

Strawberry pie

1 graham cracker crust 1 pt. (maybe more than a pint) fresh strawberries, cleaned and whole

3 Tbsp. corn starch 3/4 c. sugar 8-10 fresh strawberries, cleaned and pureed 1 c. hot water

whipping cream

Fill the crust with strawberries, cut a few to fit in if necessary but keep most of them whole.

Whisk together cornstarch and sugar in a small saucepan. Add the strawberries and stir until smooth. Add the hot water and stir over high heat until mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Cool. Pour over strawberries. Refrigerate until serving. Decorate with whipping cream.