This weekend we are prepping for our big Eater Party next weekend with family! How exciting. The kids are super into it too – Chloe is making center pieces out of peeps and daisies, Carter is working on decorating a cake with chocolate eggs. LOVE it. For the food – keeping it classic and simple. Here’s the menu with links for recipes.
Easter Sunday Brunch:

  • Slow cooker cheesy breakfast potatoes – Breakfast Potatoes
  • Valentine Coffee – Valentine
  • Giada homemade biscotti (making this 1 week in advance, store in air-tight container) – Giada’s Biscotti
  • Fruit salad (whatever you have + 1 cup of plain greek yogurt, salt, pepper and dash of vanilla, stir stir stir.) – Fruit Salad from Summer

 
Easter Sunday Early Dinner:

Dinner Prep tips:

  1. The kitchen is a common place for EVERYONE to hang. Make sure you have some things in mind for those that ask “what can I help you with ” – You know it’s coming! 🙂
  2. Prepare as much the week before as possible
    1. Decide on where people will eat
    2. menu
    3. grocery deliver, if available
    4. meal prep + grocery lists
    5. what dishes others will bring
    6. drinks! – I like having a “signature drink” for each holiday
    7. Set aside the plates, cups, napkins, serving platters, serving utensils (the more you have done early, the less run around on Easter Sunday!)
    8. Decide if you’re using linens and if they need to be ironed. If so, get this done asap, or send them out. This takes a lot of time (I waited one year) and you don’t want to be starching and ironing the night before Easter when the bunny is supposed to be hiding things!
    9. You are not an octopus, so make sure the things you’re making on Easter Sunday either have a kitchen helper, or use multiple cooking/baking methods.
      1. I’m using a crock pot
      2. Double oven
      3. And baking the night before
    10. Have your menu TIMED OUT. In other words, you don’t want the food to finish cooking at different times. This can be tricky if you’re making an entire menu for the first time. Run thru it in your head.
    11. Always have a back up plan. I like to keep canned or frozen items in my house for easy access. I know that if I mess up my scalloped potatoes, I can easily pull out some frozen potatoes o’brien and bake them at 350 for 45 minutes with a cup of cheese and campbells soup to make a cheesy baked potato dish. Also, I can roast just about any vegetable in 40 minutes and it will replace anything that I mess up. Be open minded. Be flexible. Nothing is perfect.
    12. I keep extra no-bake desserts in the house too. Just in case I don’t have time to make my cupcakes, we still have something sweet and special to enjoy on Easter.
    13. The most important part of this meal is TOGETHERNESS. Don’t forget that. If someone asks to help say yes. You don’t have to do it all. And some of the greatest memories come from some of the biggest kitchen screw ups…with family!
    14. Whatever you don’t finish, nobody else will know.
    15. Cheers! Don’t forget to have a splash of your favorite beverage + treat yourself for this amazing meal!
    16. SMILE! Nobody likes a grumpy cook in the kitchen.

We are off to get a few things: new table cloth, material for a grey chevron table runner, and other layering items for a spring like tablescape. I can’t let my family down on this – they LOVE a good tablescape. And so do I. Have a fantastic spring break week – I know you LOVE when I blog about our family vacations, so I’ll be posting some nut-free finds on our trip this week. Enjoy the season!
Thanks for stopping by! Please post what YOU make – I LOVE hearing from readers.