Enjoying the rest of that Easter ham?
Other than a few stray jelly beans, Easter leftovers aren’t an issue at my house, because I never have leftovers. Until this year.
Here’s how my usual Easter dinner menu planning goes:
Me: “Johanna, what would you like to have for Easter dinner?”
Johanna: “A small farm animal on the grill.” i.e., lamb.
Me: “Roger, what would you… “LAMB!”
Me: Looking at guest list, doing the math… “It’s so expensive.”
Roger: “It’s only once a year. Get a whole leg; I’ll butterfly it myself.”
Me: “Guess we’re having lamb.”
I sigh, dreaming of the ham and bean soup I won’t be eating later in the week. Sure, I could make lamb and bean soup but I doubt it would be good with cornbread and besides – leftover lamb? Not at the Ely’s. If there’s lamb on the table, you better guard your plate because certain people aren’t above snatching food when you’re not looking. You know who you are.
So I priced the ‘small farm animal’ – pretty much equivalent to buying a small farm.
Not gonna’ happen. I put my foot down. They pouted. Then I really irritated everybody by singing, “O LAMB of God” as I cooked the Easter HAM. For BRUNCH. I figured while I was at it I might as well really topple those traditions.
The final menu: Grilled turkey, ham, roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs and grilled asparagus, orzo salad, pancakes with strawberries, lemon cheesecake plus myriads of other dishes my guests contributed. I made the mistake of trying the pancakes first and barely touched the rest of the meal – I make really good pancakes.
Even after sending everyone home with plates of food we had lots of leftovers. I didn’t want to let anything go to waste so I spent this afternoon making and prepping meals for the week from all the ham and turkey and scrambled eggs left in the fridge. Did I mention the two dozen Easter eggs no one ate?
Here’s what we’ll be eating:
- Breakfast burritos
- Egg salad
- Chef salad
- Scalloped potatoes and ham
- Gumbo
- Fried rice
- Turkey tetrazzini
- Turkey soup
- Ham and bean soup.
Total grocery bill for the turkey and ham? $30.
Like my grandson sang at his Easter program, “I’m so happy, so very happy!”