In the Kitchen...

No-Fuss Easter Menu

Loi Palmer, Art of Homemaking Editor

    Make this Easter dinner as easy as possible on yourself. Several of these recipes can be made ahead so less time is spent in the kitchen cooking on Easter.

Ham or Fried Chicken

    For easy clean-up and a juicy ham, I always bake mine in baking bags found on the isle with the plastic wrap and aluminum foil at most stores. Fried chicken from Wal-Mart is always a great option. Call on Saturday to reserve a box of chicken, they often sell out. If your family will only eat white meat, the chicken fingers work great. Plan on two to three chicken fingers for each person.

Peach Delight

This can be made a day in advance.

    1 large can crushed pineapple with juice, 2 small packages of peach Jello, 2 cups buttermilk, 1 cup chopped pecans, 8 ounce Cool Whip.

    Heat the pineapple with juice in a medium sauce pan. Add Jello; dissolve and set aside to cool. Mix in buttermilk, Cool Whip, and nuts. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

String Beans

The string beans can be cooking while you are at church.

    1 large can Swanson's Chicken Broth, 2 ( 24 ounce) cans green beans, 1 finely chopped onion, 1/4 cup olive oil plus 1 tablespoon.

    Saute' the chopped onion in 1 tablespoon of oil until tender. Dump all ingredients into Crock Pot and simmer on low for three hours. Drain the broth and serve.

Twice-Baked Potato Casserole

    This wonderful casserole can be made days in advance and kept in the fridge, covered, until ready to bake.

    8 large baking potatoes, 1 cup sour cream, 1 stick butter, 8-ounce package cream cheese, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper, 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese, 6 slices crumbled crisp bacon, 1/2 cup chopped chives.

    Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Pierce the potatoes and place on baking rack. Bake the potatoes for one hour until very soft. Peel and mash the potatoes in a large bowl. Add the cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and one cup of shredded cheddar cheese. (Reserve the second cup of shredded cheese for the last 5 minutes of baking and the chopped chives and bacon bits for garnishing.) Blend with a potato masher. Stir in the salt and pepper.

    Lightly spray a 13 x 9 baking dish with vegetable oil. Place the potato mixture into the dish and cover with plastic wrap.

    When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove the plastic wrap and bake the potatoes for 40 minutes, until hot. Sprinkle the remaining one cup cheddar cheese over the top of the casserole and return to the oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted. Garnish with the chopped chives and crumbled bacon bits before serving.

Spinach Salad

    1 large bag of fresh spinach, 2 tomatoes wedged, 3 sliced hard-boiled eggs, 1 chopped orange pepper, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, 1 box croutons, 6 slices of bacon fried and crumbled.

    Layer the ingredients in a large salad bowl according to how they are listed. To insure crispness, add the nuts, croutons, and bacon just before serving.

    Dressing: 1 and 1/2 cup Hellman's Real Mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons catsup, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 teaspoons salad oil, 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1/2 cup milk.

    Whisk all of the ingredients together until well blended. Pour over salad and enjoy.

Biscuits

    Mrs. B's frozen biscuits are fantastic. Pop them in the oven fifteen minutes before you are ready to sit down and eat. Delicious slathered with butter and peach preserves.

Caramel Cake

    1 package plain white cake mix, 1 cup whole milk, 1 melted stick of butter, 3 large eggs, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract.

    This can be baked in a 9 x 13 pan or two 9-inch round pans.

    Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease cake pans with solid vegetable shortening, then dust with flour. Shake out excess flour. Set pans aside.

    Place the cake mix, milk, melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed 1 minute. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and blend for two more minutes. Pour batter in cake pan.

    For round cakes: bake for 27 minutes. For 9 x 13 cake: bake for 40 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes then run a knife around the edge of the pan and invert onto a cooling rack.

    Ice cake with Quick Caramel Frosting.

Quick Caramel Frosting

  1 stick butter, 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar, 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup whole milk, 2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar, 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract.

    Place the butter and brown sugars in a medium-size heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir and cook until the mixture comes to a boil, about 2 minutes. Add the milk, stir, then remove the pan from the heat. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla. Beat with a wooden spoon until the frosting is smooth.

    Use immediately, while still warm, to frost the cake. If it does harden while you are frosting the cake, simply place the pan back over low heat and stir until the frosting softens up.

Family

Easter Basket Ideas

Stephanie Little, Soul Food Editor

    * Put in a beautiful, white stuffed lamb to represent the Lamb of God, Jesus.

    * Hide an empty plastic egg in the basket to symbolize the empty tomb.

    * Use the salvation bracelet colors for all of your eggs and jelly beans. Black = sinful heart, red = blood of Jesus that covers our sin, white = heart made clean, gold (yellow) = promise of Heaven, green = Christian growth, blue = rapture.

from 52 Simple Ways to Build Family Traditions by Paul Thigpen and Lesa Thigpen

"Eight of the eggs we place on the tree are hollow plastic shells numbered one through eight. Inside each of these is a passage of Scripture to be read for each of the eight days of Holy Week, beginning with Palm Sunday.

    Palm Sunday: Matthew 21:1-11

    Monday: Matthew 21: 12-17

    Tuesday: Matthews 21: 18-22

    Wednesday: Matthew 26:6-13

    Maundy Thursday: Matthew 26:17-30

    Good Friday: Matthew 27:27-54

    Holy Saturday: Matthew 27:55-66

    Easter Sunday: Matthew 28:1-20"

The Face in the Third Row

Vicki Huffman, Empty Nester Editor

Copyright by Vicki Huffman 1995

   My eyes kept going back to the face in third row of the choir as they sang their Easter cantata. Her hair, rather mousy and streaked with gray, refused to shine despite the golden rays streaming down on her from the cross in the stained glass window. She was ordinary in many ways. Except one. Her face glowed with pure joy.

   Because my husband and I were visitors to her church, I didn't know anyone to ask what I longed to know: "Does she usually have that wonderful expression or did she just forget to shed her smile (as many do) before entering the choir loft? Enquiring minds want to know. At least mine did.

   When I pointed her out to my husband, he too began to watch her. As she sang--whether on key or not, we couldn't tell and it didn't matter--she seemed to have no audience but God. In an anthem she laid claim to the word "Hallelujah" and made it her own. This woman had found joy and informed her face of it.

   It was her face that convicted me. Not of sin, necessarily, but of loss. Of letting the years and theological knowledge pile up, while letting some of my spiritual vitality slip away.

   When I looked at her, I had to smile and wanted to cry because I recognized that joy. I had often experienced it rising up in me like lava in a volcano, surging toward the surface. It defied circumstances or reason, even coming like a flood as I stood beside a loved one's fresh grave--palpable proof of Jesus' promise that the joy He gives is unlike any the world knows. Of late I had missed those rising currents, now a sluggish occasional trickle. On reflection I had, as a character in a classic novel said, "several excellent excuses." I was older now. (But so was the woman in the third row.) Some people are naturally more effervescent than others. (A good point but the conviction stayed.) One couldn't expect to live on a perennial spiritual high. (I was grasping at straws.)

   Then the truth broke in, slowly, almost imperceptibly. I'd lost my joy in the journey--the joy "indescribable and full of glory." And I wanted it back. Like David I knew I needed to pray, "Restore to me the joy of Your salvation." (Psalm 51:12)

   The winter of my discontent began to wane. Outside, naked branches would soon don leaf-green choir robes and tulips would push through frozen ground to lift their heads in worship. Nature was rehearsing joy, beckoning me to join in the chorus.

   I thought of others who temporarily lost their joy because of a day called Good Friday, only to be surprised by joy three days later. I imagined the faces of some of Jesus' friends who would always remember that Easter Sunday as the day that changed everything. John's face glowing with the knowledge that the God who "so loved the world" had given his Son for him. Peter's face beaming because he, who had failed miserably, had been restored completely. Mary's face radiating love for the resurrected Lord who had trusted her first with his message of victory over the grave.

   John, Peter, and Mary -- and the face in the third row -- all shared the secret of the third day. The secret that with God there is nothing dead beyond resurrection. The secret that the God who gives new life to trees and plants and people can also resurrect joy in the heart of anyone who has lost it. The secret that it is possible in any circumstance to sing "Hallelujah" and make it your own.

Reaching Out

Looking for a way to reach out to friends and loved ones who may not know Jesus as Lord and Savior? Here are some easy ideas to introduce the Easter story this holiday:

• I read about someone who kept a basket of nails by her front door. When someone came to visit, such as a delivery man or a friend, she would give them a nail and point out that they should carry it as a reminder of the nails Jesus took for us. ~ Stephanie Little

• Jaylen, my 5-year-old daughter, told me this weekend she wants to be a missionary when she grows up. I've been thinking about something she could do at Easter to spread the joy of Jesus -- without leaving the country. One idea is for her to make resurrection eggs to give to friends as she tells them about Jesus. Then we'll go to a hospital or a park where she can tell children she doesn't know about Jesus as well. ~ Rita Stone Smith

• Prepare an Easter basket with baked goodies for work and place in the break or conference room. Attach a brochure, bookmark, or flyer that tells the Easter story to the basket. ~ Beba Schlottmann

• Host a neighborhood Easter Egg hunt and hide the resurrection eggs, in with the others. Once the eggs are found, gather the children and have them open the eggs while you tell the Easter story using the resurrection eggs. The parents will often stand around and listen as well. It's a wonderful way to share the Gospel and to reach out to those around us. ~ Stephanie Little

• Strategically hide large plastic eggs with excerpts from the Easter story. When the children find the eggs, have them put the story together, like a puzzle, and read it to the group.

Soul Food

Give Me Liberty

Stephanie Little, Soul Food Editor

    I'm teaching my son about the Revolutionary War for his history lessons. We just made a "Liberty Tree" medallion. Have you ever heard of a Liberty Tree? It was a symbol worn by patriots to show their loyalty to the American colonies during the Revolutionary War.

    During the late 1700s, there was much friction between the colonists as some felt great loyalty to the King of England and many others were consumed with the freedom, or liberty, of the colonies. As a means of identifying their allegiance, the Patriots wore small wooden medallions stamped with a tree, symbolizing their freedom from the oppression of England. They also built replicas of the Liberty Tree in their towns to identify themselves as committed to the new America.

    In my Bible study I'm reading through the book of Deuteronomy. In today's reading I was struck with the words of God as He called the Israelites to proclaim their loyalty. He says, "See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply...I have set before you life and death, blessings and cursing; therefore, choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days..." Deut. 30:15, 19b-20 (NKJV).

    As I read these words, I thought about my walk. Am I a symbol of Christ? Is there anything about me that lets others know God is my life? Does my commitment to Him show? Those early American patriots were committed to the cause of liberty, so committed that they were willing to lay down their lives for it. Am I committed to the One who hung on the ultimate Liberty Tree--the cross, to pay the price for my freedom?

    My prayer is that people will  know that I am a Christian by my actions, my words, and even my daily schedule. I hope that they'll see my commitment to the Lord through my love for my family, my friends, complete strangers, and my love for the church. I want my life to be a symbol for God so that others will be drawn to Him by it.

    I have a question for you...what kind of symbol are you? Do you need to make some changes in your life so that you will be growing closer to Him?

    This season is a wonderful time to make life changes. As we approach Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus, why not ask the Lord to make radical changes in your life so that you can be a symbol for Him? I know He is working on me. If you need prayer about any changes, just let me know. I will certainly pray for you. We'll see God do great things together!

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