What's For Dinner Wednesday: 2012 Easter Dinner Menu

We found a butter lamb!

It seems that every time a major holiday passes, the dinners in our house for the subsequent week are really boring since we're basically coming down from a weekend-long eating fest.  Easter weekend was no different this year and I am happy to share with you our 2012 Easter dinner recipe roundup.  With the exception of the traditional Pillsbury Crescent Rolls that we serve at every holiday dinner (it's true, we do), this menu was designed completely from recipes that I found and repinned on Pinterest.  If you've ever read this blog before you know how much I love this site and the great new recipes that everyone shares there.  I even created a spicy version of Alex's favorite Easter treat (deviled eggs) based on a Pinterest recipe.  I've included the full menu here with my notes and links to the recipes on their respective blogs. 


Alex's favorite Easter treat

Hope you enjoy!


2012 Easter Dinner Menu:

Citrus Roast Chicken

This is another recipe courtesy of my friend Kit's blog Kit(tchen).  As you may recall from my Thanksgiving post, roasting a whole bird is not my strong suit and after attempting another roasted chicken last Easter which also never cooked through, I was 0 for 2.  Kit's recipe is great.  The citrus and white wine add some great  flavors to the chicken and her recommendations for timing were right on the money.  Finally, a roasted bird success story!


Broccoli Gruyere Gratin
I don't typically fix rich cheesy vegetable dishes, but if you can't indulge at the holidays then when can you? When I saw gruyere in the title of this dish from Talkin' Chow Playin' House I was sold. Second only to goat cheese, this is one cheese that can make any boring dish a favorite for me. For your reference, a 1/2 lb. block of gruyere is more than enough to yield the shredded amount needed here. I even subbed in 1/2 cup skim to the 2 cups of whole milk the recipe calls for and it was still rich and delicious. I'd also recommend adding a dash of nutmeg into the cheese sauce.

Balsamic Roasted Potatoes

What a delicious side dish.  I want to make this all the time and since it was actually pretty healthy, I probably could.  This recipe is courtesy of The Baking Beauties blog.  I used tri-colored baby potatoes simply because I love the look of the purple potatoes and I also used fresh herbs from my deck instead of the dried herbs that the recipe calls for.  Also, I cut the recipe in half since it was only 3 of us and we still had a decent amount of leftovers.

Lemon Ricotta Cheesecake Tart

I love a fruit dessert at Easter-- I think maybe because the fresh fruit flavor reminds me of good weather and summertime and at Easter it sort of feels like that is all right around the corner (even though it is currently really cold in Chicago again).  And it's always nice and refreshing after a heavy meal.  This dessert was perfect-- not super sweet with a little tang from the fresh lemon and not super rich either.  Baking it in a tart pan is key here as you get a good crust to filling ratio which is the issue with your typical cheesecake and can make the dessert feel so heavy.  I found this recipe on Delicious Shots and have a tip for you: make sure you know what size tart pan you are using!  In the recipe they use a 9-in. pan and I didn't realize until it was time to bake that mine measures 11 inches.  After some quick math it worked out fine, but be prepared when you are stocking up on ingredients.  I served this with whipped cream, fresh raspberries, and a fresh raspberry sauce.  Just cook down some fresh raspberries along with a little sugar and a splash of orange juice.  Let it cool, pulse it through the food processor, and enjoy!