Easter

Today is Easter Sunday, the Easter Bunny will have arrived and left eggs and gifts for the little ones.  Many of you will be going to Church and possibly a family meal later today.  The day ahead has mild temperatures predicted, hopefully more snow will go.  It is clear and the sun is shining, looks like it is going to be a great spring day. Brad Gushue will play for gold in the World's Men Curling, which is truly a miracle the way he started out. It is gearing up to be not your average Sunday.

My Dad loved Easter, mainly the egg hunt.  He grew up in a large family and I understand that his mom would color about 14 dozen eggs.  The kids would haul straw into the house for the Easter bunny to bury the eggs. The family story is that Grandma used beet juice to get red eggs. I don't know how she colored the rest of them, but my Grandma was so resourceful, I am sure she figured out how to make every color possible. Bear in mind that those eggs wouldn't be refrigerated and would sit out all night in the straw. No one got sick, they gobbled them up all day the next day. 

We were raised on hidden colored eggs, but no straw in the house. In my world, there is simply nothing like a colored hard-boiled egg, so much better than an ordinary boiled egg. Sometimes the bunny would leave a chocolate egg on the table, sometimes not.  I do remember the year we got a chocolate egg with our names on them. How on earth did the bunny know our names. 

When I was an Easter bunny, I colored and hid boiled eggs along with chocolate ones. I was the only one that enjoyed the boiled eggs the next day. The bunny would leave a chocolate treat as well as a small gift, nothing elaborate.

                                 

I am sure we will all agree that Easter traditions have changed.  I am sure a colored boiled egg has not crossed the lips of today's kids.  Children are blessed with many Easter gifts, and it seems it is just like a birthday. Kids still enjoy the process of coloring and decorating Easter eggs and I assume they go in the garbage when they are done admiring them.

Easter has an interesting history, the Easter Bunny has been around since the 1700 century. It is believed that early German immigrants brought the story of the Easter Bunny to the Western world. The German tradition involved an egg-laying hare called "Osterase".  The children of these settlers made small nests for the hare to leave it's brightly colored eggs.  Slowly this myth spread and eventually the bunny delivered chocolate, candies and small gifts. It is thought that coloring eggs became popular because eggs were forbidden to eat during Lent. As Easter neared, people would decorate them in celebration of the end of the fast, consuming the eggs on the holidays. 

Our resident Easter Bunny 
in Condo Land

The Easter story is steeped in religious traditions dating back to the second century. For many, Easter functions as the unofficial kickoff of spring. For the Christians around the world, the Easter holiday is the most important celebration of the year.  Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ.   

I want to say to each of you "Happy Easter".  Whatever traditions you are celebrating this Easter weekend, do enjoy yourself. It has been fun for me to walk down the Easter memory lane.  I hope it has made you think about what Easter means to you and your family.  It is always so much fun to reflect on family traditions and what is meaningful to your family. 

In closing, I am sharing some of my recipes that I like to make for Easter.  

 

Hot Cross Buns

Prepare yeast: 1/2 c water, 1 tsp sugar and 1 envelope or 1 tbsp of yeast

Cream: 1/4 c softened margarine,1/4 c sugar and 1 egg.

Mix into creamed mixture: 1 c of flour, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, 3/4 c warm milk.

Add: prepared yeast, 2 1/4 c of flour and 1/2 c of raisins. 

Let dough rest for 10 minutes and then knead until it is soft and elastic. 

Let the dough rise until it is double in size.  Make into 12 buns and cut crosses in dough.  Let rise to double the size and bake at 350 degrees for 18 mins or until golden brown.  Fill crosses with white icing. 

Easter Nests

Press prepared puffed wheat cake into 12 muffin tins with a small hollow in the middle. Grease a bowl that resembles a nest.  Push the remaining cake into it with a hollow for candies. Let chill and set.

Color coconut with green or yellow food coloring and make a light covering in the nests.  Add candies of your choice. 

* You can also add 1 cup of chocolate chips to a Rice Krispy cake and make nests. 

Kay's Puffed Wheat Cake

Boil for 1 1/2 mins: 1 cup of brown sugar, 

1/2 c syrup, 1/2 c margarine, 1/2 c cocoa 

and 1 tsp vanilla.

Add 3 c mini marshmallows until melted. 

Pour over 8 cups of puffed wheat. 

Press into 9X13 pan. 

Easter morning at Mom's
several years ago