Garden Veggies

Garden Veggies
Made into tile for my stove backsplash

Portland Rose Garden

Portland Rose Garden
Mike and my 2 youngest sons Ian and Leif

Grandson Michael's Birthday 2014 throwing water balloons

Grandson Michael's Birthday 2014 throwing water balloons
With son Beau, Grandson Luke and his mom Jennifer

Maren

Maren
I cut this out of a wedding line. I must take more pictures of her.

Sunday, April 1, 2012

EASTER BRUNCH RECIPES & IDEAS


My son Ian came for Spring break from school in Portland Oregon and since he was leaving before Easter I had a brunch for him before he left.   I filled my DIY  (which I learned stands for "do it yourself") serving platters with fresh fruit and then I have included recipes for some of the things I served.
After buying some fun yellow plates at the Dollar store I noticed that the matching bowls were quite tall and I wanted to make some serving plates for elevation.  The Dollar store also had green plates and bowls so I made two, gluing the bottom of the bowl to the bottom of the plate with a generous amount of epoxy glue.  I also made a red one from Wallmart because they have tall bowls in their open stock dishes.  They have lots of different colors.  The plates there are $2 and the bowls a dollar I think.
I served my favorite brunch dish Asparagus Quiche  I made half with bacon and half without.

I served Nutella French Toast  with a Buttermilk Carmel Syrup, which is heavenly to my taste buds.

This has always been a favorite with my family, Dutch Pancakes.  I served it with fresh strawberries and whipped cream or a Buttermilk Carmel Syrup recipe to follow.

DUTCH PANCAKES -  In an extra large baking dish (bigger than 9x13)  put 1/3 butter and set into a 425 degree oven to melt.  (don't burn, have all your ingredients ready to blend before you put the butter in the oven)  In a blender put 1 1/2 C. of whole milk or 1 1/4 C. milk and 1/4 C. cream.  (Low fat milk is also fine)  Add 6 large eggs and blend a little.  Add 1 1/2 C. flour  and 1/4 tsp. salt and blend for 30 seconds.  Pour into the hot dish and bake for 15-20 minutes until cooked through and brown.  Be sure to let everyone see it before it deflates, so beautiful!  Cut into pie wedges.  It serves 4-6 generous servings or 8 if you have other food.

BUTTERMILK CARMEL SYRUP -  I wanted a little syrup for the Nutella French Toast and the Dutch Pancakes for those that don't like strawberries (like my husband) so I tried this from Pinterest
It comes together very quickly.  This is my Version. In a large saucepan add:
1/4 C. butter and stir on medium heat until it browns a little then add:
1 1/2 C. buttermilk
1 C. of granulated sugar
1 C. brown sugar
1 T. corn syrup (in case it wants to go to sugar in the refrigerator)
Bring to a boil and boil 1 minute.  Remove from heat and add 1/4 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. vanilla.  I added a T. of dark rum also.   We loved this sauce and I can see it on bread pudding, fresh apple cake, ice cream and lots of other things. I can also see me eating this out of the jar for lunch.

 CURRIED DEVILED EGGS - This is my favorite deviled eggs.  Bring 6 eggs to boil.  Turn off the heat and let sit for 12 minutes.  Drain and cool with ice and water if needed quickly.  Peel and slice in two and remove the yolks.  Finely chop 1 smalish stalk of celery and add to the yolks with 3-4 T.  mayonnaise, 1/4 tsp. curry powder and salt and pepper to taste.  Very easy.  Add a little more curry if you wish.  I like a mild curry taste.  

I Served these Strawberry Bannana Muffins at last year's Easter Brunch.