The Hale Koa Hotel, Waikiki
UNDER CONSTRUCTION …

UNDER CONSTRUCTION







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An Oldie But A Goodie

Click Here For: Whann Way Hawaiian Luau
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Buying The Luau Leis In Chinatown








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This is an account of our travels from Tampa to Las Vegas, to Honolulu, for the Wedding of our Son, and Future Daughter-In-Law, and Back Again… —————————————————————————————— We Do Start With: Mother of the Groom The Save The Date, and The Wedding Invitations …

On February 13th., 2026 I Turned 65

Gordon and I ‘Out and About’ on My Birthday

65 Feels Pretty Good
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When I Turned 60 I Started this Website Page:
Sixty’s, (Sensational or Surviving?), We’ll See, Right?

(If you would like to read, just click on the link above.)
I didn’t know what 60 would be like? Which is why I started the above website page.
I assumed that I would be blogging about any changes in my body or lifestyle. Perhaps the ‘ups and downs’ of ageing? My intention was that we would explore it together.
I am a very open person. Sometimes to my detriment. But, that is who I am, and I am not going to fight against that.
Now that I am 65, I have been in my 60’s for 5 years now. I have been getting to know the ageing me and I am fine with it.
Yes, I have put on some weight in the middle. That is where my pounds accumulate anyway. They always have.
However, there is just something empowering that comes with ageing that I didn’t know in my 50’s, or 40’s, or 30’s, etc.
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Turning 65

As I like to say, Uglier on the outside, Happier on the inside.
I would not go back if I were given the chance. I feel as if I have reached milestones that are important. As in evolving into the person I am destined to be. I have earned the right to be 65! Ageing is a privilege.
If I could give my younger self a heads up, I would not!
I needed to go through all that I did to get to here. I would not have made it if I did warn my younger self. I have learned that the damage that was done to me by certain people in my life never had anything to do with me. It was their damage they were inflicting on me. I used to regret being nice or kind to certain people. I have however learned that I should never be upset about doing the right thing. They are the ones that should be upset that they took advantage of my kindness, and loyalty.
I don’t know how much time I have left? Oh, as far as I know I am fine where my health is concerned. I am just referring to life in general.
None of us really know the answers to that? I always figured that I would die young. No idea why? I just always thought so. But, before I am gone, I still have many things left that I want to do. I’ll go when I’m ready. I’m stubborn that way. 🙂 But for now, my granddaughter needs me. My daughter and son-in-law need me, my husband needs me, and I need me! 🙂
So, Here Is 65 and Beyond, Finger’s Crossed!
Julie
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BLOG ENTRIES START HERE
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION

A Fresh Coconut Filled With Delicious Coconut Jam, Topped With Flaked Coconut And Dipped With Coconut Rolls A Perfect Little Sweet Snack ————————————————————————— Banana Poi for Isabelle A great way to use up Ripe Bananas, perfect for the little ones. The babies …
A co-worker of Gordon’s sent these to us right before we left for Hawaii. He made them. We thought they were funny and wanted to include them in our write up’s of our trip. 🙂 ————————————————————————————— Gordon and Julie, Honolulu, Hawaii, …

A Delicious Bite
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Crackers with Dried Edible Flowers
My Asian Inspired Spring Wagashi
Wagashi refers more towards Japanese Sweet Treats, that is what I have here.
I tried to find a tablecloth that would accent what I had featured here, I couldn’t, but I did find some wrapping paper that I thought looked great! It did! And that is what you see here, wrapping paper as my tablecloth.

I wanted to put together a table full of Sweet Asian Inspired Treats. That was actually easy to do.
I love my usual Asian Inspired Treats and I wanted to showcase them here.
I am a huge fan of the softly dried Mango in the shape of a flower. It is so delicious! It comes with an excellent spicy chili salt. I can very easily unravel one while eating a few layers at a time. I also thought they would be great placing something nice onto each ‘petal.’
Here, I added some plain Hummus to some of the Mango Petals. I have two different Hummus here. One plain, and one a carrot. I also sprinkled some Butterfly Pea Flower onto each bowl of Hummus. It is an excellent edible flower.

Pineberry’s, Dried Apricots, Softly Dried Mango, Shallot Crackers, Edible Flower Crackers, Candy Coated Asian Nuts, Pink Coated Cakes…


Jazzed Up Cream Cheese Spread, Asian Cranberry Bread Sticks….
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Making The Cream Cheese Spread

3, 8 oz. blocks of Cream Cheese, softened
Pinch Pink Asian Sea Salt
Dash of Japanese Wasabi Salt
1/2 t. Chinese Five Spice
1/4 t. Asian Chili Powder
1/4 t. Ground Black Pepper
Dash of Ground Ginger
1/2 t. Sesame Oil
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Just Combine All Ingredients Into A Medium Sized Mixing Bowl

Mix Together Into A Ball, Refrigerate Overnight
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Matcha Tea Cake…

Hoping to bring more Asian Inspired Wagashi soon!
Julie
Preparing The Luau Invitations 100% Hula Girl Coffee, The Big Island (I had sent a few bags to the future Bride and Groom, and the Parents of the Bride, along with a few bags for us. Just to get us into the …
I Created A New Website:
Click Here For: VintageJulieBarefootArchives
I gave my Web Designers in India instructions on what I wanted, and they did the most remarkable job of bringing my vision to life.
I could not be happier with it!

My current website: (This one.)
..Was no longer working accurately.
Therefore, I decided to instruct my Web Designers in India, to create a “New” Website in order for me to house some of my “Old” content.
Initially, I didn’t figure in that it would be my Florida Website Pages, but it did evolve into just that.

My First Blog Posting On The New/Old Website

I Debuted This New Site On Brodie’s Birthday, November 29, 2025
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Welcome To VintageJulieBarefootArchives.com
(As Taken From Blog Posting from the new site.)

Brodie Keith Kanakaleo Whann
I decided to create this new website because our live site, www.BarefootInFloridaWithJulie.com, was getting a bit too big.
(Admittedly, I was hoping to get a place in The Guinness Book of World Records as the largest amateur website on the internet known to man. But alas, another dream squashed by reality, or human intervention.)
I thought that if I were to create a new website and move a lot of our old content over, that it would lighten the load to our current live site, and I could make this new website about our Florida Life. So, I specifically chose website pages that were of a Florida nature. We love Florida! My ties to Florida go back to when I was a baby in the 60’s, living in Rome, Georgia with my mother, grand-parents, and great-grandparents. Every summer was spent vacationing in Florida. Also, prior to me being born, it was where my mother and her friends, and their families vacationed as well. I have some really great old photos of my grand-parents, great-grandparents, and great-aunts and uncles wearing their old fashioned swimsuits with their old timey cars parked on the beach. Once upon a time you could do that. Drive onto the beach and park your car. Mostly on the East Coast of Florida, they had the longest stretches of beaches.

I’m the tall one with my cute petite friends. St. Pete left, Daytona right.
I can remember the Florida vacations very well. We would leave Rome in the evening, and drive all night down to Florida. I would be asleep in the backseat, wearing pajamas.. My grand-father would do the driving. If I had to use the bathroom on the way down my grandfather would pull over to the side of the highway, they would open both doors, the front door and the backdoor, and I would take my winky-tink between the two doors. Sometimes, cars would honk as they would drive by. I was always in a panic that someone could see me. My grandmother always assured me that no one can. (She was probably lying.)
St. Petersburg was usually our destination. My grand-father would look for Motels with a VACANCY sign flashing towards the street. He would just drive down what is now Gulf Blvd. looking for a Motel that he thought looked nice. He would then pull into those Motels and inquire within for something suitable for all of us. I can remember that we were always on the ocean side, most of the time there was a pool. I can even remember one place we stayed at where we walked out of our motel room door directly onto the beach. There was so much beach sand outside our door.
I have beautiful memories of many Florida vacations with my grand-parents. My grand-father was one to lay on his back in the ocean, floating, and falling asleep. He was a big man, very tall, with lots of cushion. He floated very easily. I can remember one time he fell asleep and was drifting out to sea, a lifeguard was blowing his whistle trying to wake him up to get him to swim back towards shore.
Most every night we would eat at a seafood restaurant. The restaurant was always located on an ocean front, or a canal front. I have so many great memories of finding little fishies trapped between the rocks by the ocean or canals. I would use a paper cup to capture them and take them back to the motel room with me. I loved having them with me in the motel room. I loved watching them. Sometimes I would set them loose the next day, if they even made it through the night. Upon reflection I wish I had known more about helping them. But I didn’t. I was just a child.
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Hello Rosy Cheeks
I remember this very well. It was at one restaurant that was busy that evening for dinner. There were many people waiting to get seated. My grand-parents and I were sitting at a table in the entryway when suddenly this cute boy sat down right beside my grandmother, he sat across from me, he then looked at me and said with all the confidence in the world, “Hello rosy cheeks.” I was in my early teens. My grandmother instantly adored him! I guess charmers must recognize each other because my grand-mother was a charmer. She then burst out laughing.
This cute, charming boy sat there flirting with me. I knew I could fall for him in a minute! But, I was just too shy to do anything about it. But, I have always remembered that cute boy that made this awkward girl feel special.
Oh, and the rosy cheeks were from my being sunburned that day from staying out too long in the sun, on the beach.
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Florida is not just a great state to vacation in, it holds so many happy memories for me and my family growing up. It makes sense that Gordon and I would settle here and live out our days until we are gone. Hopefully that won’t be for a very long time. But, until then we have a grand-daughter to help raise and make many happy Florida memories for her to take with her in life.
An old timey Motel, a Shuffleboard Court, Sun, Sand, Shells, Beach, Oranges, Orange Juice, Drawbridges, Souvenir Shops, Boat Rides, Seafood Restaurants, Summer Friendships with other Tourists, Salt Water Taffy, Vintage Beach Buckets, Sand Shovels, Flamingoes… and being Barefoot!
This is what I carry with me every day.
Happy Vintage Julie Barefoot Memories,
Julie Barefoot
(Julie Lancaster-Whann)
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Florida is Beautiful and Unique,

Located in the South, yet not Really Southern.

Although Florida is the East Coast, and Canada’s Destination

My Florida Favorites

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Some of Veronica’s Artwork
I asked her if she had some of her art that I could display on the new website. She sent over these. This was all she had in her possession. People do hire her to draw and paint for them. I would love to had seen those paintings, but she did contribute some nice things.

Busch Gardens

I told my guys in India that I wanted an Alligator on the bottom left, and Flamingoes on the bottom right.
I do think the landscaping you see in the graphic above looks like Africa, but then again we do have Busch Gardens here in Florida that is theme based on Africa.
So, I guess it all goes together nicely.
Web Design is a lot of fun but it isn’t really something tangible. I mean, the moment I quit paying the monthly fees, it can all just disappear. Or an experienced hacker can just come along and delete the whole thing forever. As much as I love my website’s they aren’t anything that I can hold in my hand, or place onto a shelf for display, or even own forever. My experience with having websites is that they are very vulnerable to those that know how to penetrate them, and abuse them without any conscious or authority whatsoever.
I guess what I am trying to say is that they are very temporary, so enjoy them while you can.
See You At The Beach!
Julie Barefoot
Currently Under Construction ———————————————————————————— Also Check Out My: Click Here For: Julie’s Jezebel Sauce AND, Aloha Wahine Jezebel Sauce AND, An Oriental Jezebel AND, An Old Florida Jezebel (Sauce) AND, One HOT Jezebel for …
PLUM PLUM BUM BREAD CAKE —————————————————— PLUM FLOWERS PLUM PRUNE CAKE/BREAD ————————————————————————————— You Can See How Dense It Is Rich, and Delicious Made With Plums, and Pear and Prune Baby Food ————————————————————————————- Excellent For Breakfast As Well ——————————————————————————– Plums With …
Julie’s Lunchbox Take Out My theory is to always take food with you. You never know what you may encounter, and you shouldn’t be at the mercy of having to settle for something you don’t want, or need to eat, just because …
Welcome to the Enchanted World of our Backyard Fairies Legend has it that a Fairy (Faerie) is a Mythical Being with Magical Powers. They appear in Human Form, and can have a penchant for mischief, and trickery. The Fairy is …

“Izzy, Breakfast!

Izzy, Snack!
Izzy, Juice!
Izzy, Lunch!”
Tutu

Sometimes breakfast is as quick as fresh Blueberries, String Cheese, Banana Muffin, Celery with Peanut Butter, and Crinkle Cut Carrots
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When Isabelle was born and I started becoming her main caregiver when she was 3 months old, feeding time was easy, BOTTLES of Formula, and then Bottles of Milk. Then, as she got older it was Baby Food. It was fun buying Baby Food at the grocery stores. Jars of Sweet Potatoes, Peas and Corn, Prunes, Yogurts, Green Beans, Turkey, Chicken…. even some exotic Japanese Baby Foods of Salmon, feeding times were easy.

Sitting her in her high chair while wearing a bib, as I spooned food into her mouth. She seemed to like everything.

Isabelle and Her Rice Cereal

It wasn’t until she got a bit older and didn’t need the Baby Foods anymore that it suddenly because a challenge to me when it came to feeding her.
I honestly didn’t know what to do? My mind went blank. I even asked my husband Gordon things like, “What did we used to feed our children? Did we feed them? I’m pretty sure we did. I just can’t remember what we used to feed them? What do I do?
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Isabelle, Sitting In Her Bluey Desk Eating Breakfast

(Naan Bites with Plain Hummus and Mozzarella, Toasted)

I get up very early in the morning to be ready for Isabelle. If our daughter Veronica is dropping off Isabelle, then I am up at 4:00 a.m. to be ready for baby drop off. If our son-in-law Brian is dropping her off, I have to get up at 4:20 a.m. in order to be ready. Showered, dressed, dogs and house ready to receive her.
The morning still starts with an old fashioned bottle of milk, followed by a nap. BOTH OF US! After all, our much needed sleep has been interrupted. That morning nap for me will determine whether or not I am a happily engaged Tutu, or a Grandmother that is dragging herself around barely functioning that day. Some days I keep Isabelle are long, other days are short. It depends on Veronica and Brian’s schedules.
When both Isabelle and myself wake up from our nice morning naps she is usually very hungry.
So are the dogs! That is another story though.
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BLUEY Cereal and Kiwi-Strawberry Juice
I immediately fix her some juice that I dilute with water. I avoid anything Apple as any Apple foods or juice tend to contain lots of arsenic. Unless they were organically grown. I buy organic brands of juices for Isabelle. Usually a Peach, or Kiwi, or Strawberry, or Berry Lemonade.
She also likes the Indian River brands of Orange and Grapefruit juices.
I also give her a small little saucer of some Breakfast Cereal for her to snack on while I make her something a bit more substantial to eat.
It is in that area that I want to impress upon you some nice fun foods to enjoy. Some I will create myself, and other’s I will rely upon from great sources like the Disney Princess Cookbook.
I find that as I get a bit older I need to reeducate myself on just how to feed my granddaughter so that she will grow up to be a healthy little human. Foods that used to be safe to eat when I was raising my children, some of them aren’t now. Educating ourselves on good nutrition is important when it comes to feeding our little ones. That is the challenge that I face now as her main care giver. I want my little Peanuku to grow up to be as safe and as healthy as possible. That is where I want to pass on to you just what I am now learning.
I just think we need to share with each other, everything! I hope you think so too!

Happy to have you here!
Tutu (Julie)
P.S. I will be adding more content as feeding times go by. 🙂

If you are thinking that some of these recipes are too simple, I agree to disagree. My website is viral worldwide and I hope to attract people from around the world where these ideas are not so common. Also, as Isabelle grows so will her tastes and I will expand on them as best I can.

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Isabelle, Talking to her Tutu Papa on the old fashioned phone, who is Working Overseas

It is important to maintain those connections so that she knows her Grandfather loves her and cares about her, even though he isn’t here right now.
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Bluey Pancake

Isabelle Loves BLUEY

Waiting for Tutu Papa to cook her Bluey Pancake

(Recipe Down Below)
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Chinese 5 Spice Toast

This was something that I, Tutu, thought of one day.
I had eaten quite a bit of Chinese 5 Spice over the holidays and it dawned on me how good it would taste on buttered and sugared toasts.

(Recipe Down Below)
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Disney Princess Cookbook

Mulan’s Smiling Breakfast Bowl
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Mulan is one of our favorite family movies.
Mulan is a Chinese legend that has inspired many generations. We also love the Asian cultures and foods and include them in our lives. We also have many Asian website pages throughout our website. Therefore, it made perfect sense that the first entry of something delicious was to be from the movie Mulan.

Our Asian Bowls and Spoons

Cookbook Ingredients:
1 Cup Prepared Hot Cereal (such as Oatmeal or Cream of Wheat)
Half a Peach, canned or fresh peeled
3 T. Plain or Greek Yogurt
1 Slice Cooked Bacon
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I did things a bit differently, I will explain below:

I used Steel Cut Oats and made them according to the package instructions.

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I also fried up a few Eggs, and some Bacon.

Instead of using Greek Yogurt and Peaches for the Eyes, I used some of my Fried Eggs and Bacon.
In Isabelle’s bowl I used some Strawberry’s and Blueberry’s. It was delicious!
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Bluey Pancake

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Isabelle is Getting Hungry!

The Bluey Pancake 🙂
(Perhaps a little brown but still delicious!)

I found online a Bluey Cast Iron Skillet with a Pancake Mix included.
I knew it would be fun to make, and I knew that this would help endear Isabelle to her Tutu Papa that was home for a little while from working abroad.

Gordon simply followed the package instructions.
We did need to add some Blue Food Coloring to the mix. Luckily, we had some.

Isabelle Enjoyed it!
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Chinese 5 Spice Toast

If you have ever made Cinnamon Toast then you know exactly how to make this.
Same concept, just replace the Cinnamon with Chinese 5 Spice.

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You will need some sort of sliced bread.
I prefer a thick sliced bread as it holds up nicely once toasted.
Butter, Sugar, Chinese 5 Spice

Place the Slices of Bread down onto a Parchment Lined Baking Sheet
Butter each slice, then sprinkle some Sugar and Chinese 5 Spice over top.

Turn the Oven on to Broil and place in the Oven Keeping Watch the Entire Time.
You Just Want The Bread To Brown a Bit.

If you like you can dip in to some Syrup, and Enjoy!
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Fruity Naan Pizzas
Veronica always sends over sliced Strawberry’s and Blueberry’s most every time I keep Isabelle.
Sometimes I try to think of other ways to feed them to her.
Here is one of those ways.

Although a bit hard to see, I have the small little plain Naan’s, some plain Hummus, and some Mozzarella Cheese, shredded.

Turn the Oven on 300F and spread some Hummus onto the plain Naan’s, topped with the Mozzarella Cheese. Bake for about 8 minutes. When done remove from the oven and place some of the fruit into the Naan.

Simple little morning breakfast. 🙂
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Manapua…

or by another name, Siopao!
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We raised our children in Hawaii. A food item that they both loved was Manapua. Manapua has many names.
Manapua is the Hawaiian name for this excellent food item.
It is a steamed bun filled with a sweet pork center. Eating this food gave our children independence. They would grab one from the freezer, and then throw it into the microwave for exactly one minute to heat up, and they could have their afternoon snack or even lunch, or dinner.

Microwaving is All it Takes

Here Isabelle is being introduced to Manapua.
The food that her mother and her uncle Brodie loved and ate most daily when we were living in Hawaii.
Mahalo for Being Here,
Julie (Tutu)

Don’t Forget the Mickey and Minnie Mouse Waffles 🙂

With Some Bacon, Veggie Dinosaur Bites, with Strawberry’s and Blueberries
Pancake Syrup is always optional. I always just squirt a dot or two of a Sugar Free Syrup onto Mickey or Minnie. 🙂
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Veronica’s Breakfast Quesadilla

Veronica and Brian make a lot of Quesadilla’s at their house. Isabelle always loves them.
They do make a great Breakfast Quesadilla with Eggs, Avocado, and Cheese.
It is plain and simple, but good. Along with a nice dose of Strawberry’s and Isabelle is all set!
(They use a whole wheat Tortilla, a White Cheese, the white cheeses tend to be lower in cholesterol, some Scrambled Eggs, and some Sliced Avocado. You just want to use a non-stick cooking pan, or spray a light cooking oil spray into the pan, on a medium heat, place your tortilla shell down, then add the cheese, your already scrambled eggs, and the sliced avocado. Then place a second tortilla shell over top. You can use a spatula to flatten it all together if you like. You just want to brown the tortilla, and melt the cheese. After a few minutes you can flip it over to brown the top side. When cooled slice into triangles and serve.)

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Gordon’s Scrambled Eggs, Turkey Link Sausages, Kiwi Fruit, and Strawberry Cheerios to Snack on

We always try and start Isabelle’s day off with a protein. Whether it be Eggs and Turkey Sausage, or just some Turkey Sausage Links. She loves Scrambled Eggs and will sometimes eat them with her hands or a fork. We leave it up to her. After all, we don’t care how the eggs get into her mouth, we are just happy she is eating them. 🙂


The small bowl of Strawberry Cheerios is just something sweet that she likes to snack on that she enjoys along with her breakfast. When you satisfy that sweet craving, it tends to stave off a greater sweet craving later on throughout the day.
And as always we give her an Organic Juice that we water down.

Her Valentine Gifts, Things To Take To Hawaii
It was Valentine’s Day, 2026, that we kept her that morning. I wanted to give her the gifts that we had bought for her. A Bluey and Bingo Beach Towel, and some Bluey/Bingo Juices with Bluey and Bingo wearing their sunscreen on their faces that they wear at the beach. Along with a few other things. But, I had in mind how great the juices and beach towel would be in Hawaii.
P.S. They left for Hawaii March 1, 2026
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“I don’t promise to forget the mystery, but I know I’ll have a marvelous time“ Nancy Drew ————————————————————————————– CURRENTLY ON A STAKE OUT, CHECK BACK LATER …
Meet Brodie and Mackenzie December 2024 The Proposal Bok Tower Gardens, Lake Wales, Florida Champagne and My (Julie) Former Engagement Ring My Ring Has Never Looked More Beautiful 🙂 Mackenzie and her Twin Sister Susannah ——————————————————— When I first met Mackenzie …
Coming The Year of the Snake ——————————————————————————- Kung Hei Fat Choy (Happy New Year) Channeling Mulan For Breakfast ———————————————————————————– ————————————————————————————————– If you would like to view our …
Dear Dairy… Olive Films (I just liked the logo.) Today I rearranged the cans in the pantry and dusted them off while wearing my new full skirt I sewed last week for the church picnic, and the pearls that my husband …

Julie In The Kitchen
Aloha In Florida (As Always)
You can take the family out of Hawaii, but you can’t take the Hawaii out of the family. 🙂


Gordon Making Our Macadamia Nut Mahi-Mahi on Asian Sesame Hash Brown Patties,
with a Drizzling of White Wine Coconut Sauce
We are still in love with the foods that we ate in Hawaii for those 13 years we were there.
Which explains our many Hawaii Website Pages.
I started this one because our others were already too full of ONO recipes. We hope you will enjoy this additional ‘More Hawaiian Eats.’
Aloha and Mahalo,
Julie and Gordon
If you would like to check out our other Hawaiian Website Pages, then just scroll down the page, the links are at the bottom.
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Julie’s Oriental Jezebel Sauce
We used my Jezebel as a dipping sauce for our Egg Rolls.
If you would like the recipe….
Click Here For: An Oriental Jezebel

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To Start:

(Gordon and Brodie)
Gordon Making Our Macadamia Nut Mahi-Mahi on Asian Sesame Hash Brown Patties,
with a Drizzling of White Wine Coconut Sauce

Dipping Sauces…

Egg Rolls…

ONO!
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Our Store-Bought Chocolate Kiwi Cake, With Fresh Kiwi, Matcha Mac-Nut Chocolates, and Cool-Whip

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Very Rich and Delicious
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RECIPES START HERE
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Our Meal
Mahi Mahi fillets encrusted with Macadamia Nuts, Panko Breadcrumbs and Grated Ginger. Then we fried up some store-bought Vegetable Spring Rolls. Lastly, I made some Asian Sesame Hash Browns incorporating some of the Macadamia Nut mixture used to make the Mahi Mahi crust. These will be topped with some Chili Coconut Sauce.

Macadamia Nut Mahi-Mahi on Hash Brown Patties,
with a Drizzling of White Wine Coconut Sauce
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Ingredients:

Seen are the Mahi Mahi fillets we used to make this recipe. They come vacuum sealed and will last a long time in the freezer. I have always found this brand to be good. Use one fillet per person.

Here you can see the vacuum seal.
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Panko or Japanese Breadcrumbs are great to use as they add some nice crunch to the crust on the fish.

Start by adding 1 Cup of Panko to your blender, then add ½ cup Macadamia Nuts.

For your Ginger, use a spoon to peel off the outer skin, trust me it works great.
Then slice the Ginger thinly.

Now, chop the Ginger finely as shown. I used a few tablespoons in this recipe, but you can use as much or as little as you like.

Add the chopped Ginger to the blender.

Blend the ingredients together for no more than 10 seconds.

Pour the mixture out onto a bowl or plate large enough to fit your fillets.

Here, I am adding a few tablespoons of Macadamia Nut Oil to my cast iron skillet.
Turn the temperature up to Medium High.
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Remove the Mahi Mahi fillets from their vacuum sealed packages.

Place the fillet meat side down into the bread crumb mixture.

Here you can see the fillets weren’t moist enough to hold onto the breadcrumbs. In this case, you can simply run some water over the fillet to help it hold onto the breadcrumbs.

Here you can see on my second try, the breadcrumbs stuck to the fish with a little help from me to pack them on.

By now, your oil should be hot, so gently place your fillet, breadcrumb side down into the oil.

Coat your other fillets with the breadcrumb mixture and add the second fillet to the pan.

Fry the fillets for about 6 min. on each side. If you look closely as the side of the fish, you can also gage your time by the fish turning white. When the fish changes color halfway up the fillet, it is time to turn the fillet over to the skin side.

Here you can see the other fillets encrusted and ready for the pan.

When I turned the fillets over, you will see they are a little burnt as this is due to the Macadamia Nuts and their inability to take heat. You can also see the one fillet isn’t cooked all the way as it didn’t sit flat in the pan. No worries, this is an easy fix. Simply place the encrusted side back in the oil and hold the fish up so that only that uncooked portion is hitting the oil. As far as the slightly burnt parts of the crust, I like it as it is almost like blackened fish and the burnt tastes really didn’t come through.

Cook all the filets, then when done, add some Hawaiian Sea Salt and freshly ground black pepper.
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Now for the Vegetable Spring Rolls

If you are looking for a more authentic Spring Roll, then check out your local Asian Supermarket.

Heat your vegetable oil to medium high heat and fry the spring rolls until golden brown.
Place the cooked spring rolls on a plate lined with paper towels to absorb the excess oil.

Cook all the spring rolls and place them on a aluminum foil lined sheet pan.
Place them and your Fish Filets in your oven on low until ready to serve.

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The Asian Sesame Hash Brown Potatoes

Ingredients:

Place a few cups of Shredded Hash Browns into a large bowl. Then add about 1 Cup chopped Red Onions and some Sesame Seeds. I like using the Black on White mix.

I also had the idea to incorporate some of the Macadamia Nut crust mix to this tying both recipes together.

Now add some freshly ground Black Pepper and Sea Salt to taste.

Mix all the ingredients together using your very clean hands.
Add some vegetable oil to your cast iron skillet and turn the heat to medium high. Using your hands, make patties out of the potato mixture. When the oil is hot, place your formed potato patties into the oil as shown.

Waiting for the patties to get golden brown… which only takes a few minutes.

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Here you can see the potato patties are a nice golden brown so time to flip them and cook them on the other side until done. Place the cooked patties on a plate lined with paper towels.

Do this for all the patties.
Hey, Brodie and Mackenzie arrived! I love our family! 🙂
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White Wine Coconut Sauce

Brodie can finish the potato cakes while I make the sauce for the fish. Pictured are the ingredients.

Start by adding ½ Cup Heavy Whipping Cream to a saucepan and turn the pan’s heat to low.

Then add ½ Cup White Wine to the pan.

Now add ½ Cup Vegetable Broth to the pan.

Here I am adding about 1 Tbsp. minced Ginger to the mixture. Stir the mixture.

In goes 3/4 Cup Unsweetened Coconut Milk

Peel and slice your Shallots, then chop them finely. Add about 2 Tbsp. of your Shallots to the pan and again stir the mixture. You want the sauce to reduce some to thicken which will take about 10-15 min.

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Check on your Spring Rolls and Fish Filets

They are looking great!
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Brodie, Mackenzie, and Hank are waiting patiently in the Living Room.
Sparks seen on the back of the couch loves his time with Hank.

I am getting the serving platters ready for all the food. Arugula is a nice peppery base for this. I placed the Asian Sesame Hash Browns down first, then placed a filet on top.

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Now that the sauce has reduced some, add about 1 Tbsp. Sweet Thai Chili Sauce to the pan and stir. Lastly, add a few Tbsp. of butter whisking it into the sauce until melted and incorporated. This will give the sauce a nice rich taste.
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This is a great picture of how I finished plating this dish. You can also see we placed out other sauces for the spring rolls.
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The sauce for the fish is nice and thick. You can tell this by how it coats the spatula.


Pour your Chili Coconut Sauce over the Sesame Hash Browns topped with the fish.

Great pictures Julie… catching those delicious drips.

Here is my finished platter of food. I think it looks great!

Have your family members grab a tray and a plate and serve themselves.

We love to eat on the couch!

Little Spooks looks so cute!

Picture time!


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Mackenzie and Brodie… an action shot!

Somebody made a nice plate! Great picture Julie!

Brodie and Hank… two peas in a pod!
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Check Out Our Other Hawaiian Pages:
Click Here For: Whann Way Aloha

AND,
Click Here For: Whann Way Aloha, Hapa Elua (Part 2)

AND,
Click Here For: Blue Hawaiians and Huli Huli Chicken

AND,

AND,

AND,
Click Here For: Weekend Spamin’ Spam Musubi

AND,
Click Here For: Julie’s Lunchbox

AND,
Click Here For: Gordon’s Hawaiian Potatoes and Huli Huli Pork Chops

AND,
Click Here For: Whann’s In Not Always Paradise

AND,
Click Here For: Julie Barefoot Cookies and Beachy Edible Gifts

AND,
Click Here For: Grillin’ With Aloha

AND,
Click Here For: Julie’s Vintage Hawaiian Mango-Mac Nut Bread Cake w/ Pasta Flowers

AND,
Click Here For: Gordon’s Dole Pineapple Outrigger Canoe and Cocktail

AND,
Click Here For: Hawaiian Hum Lum Sun Prunes

AND,

AND,

AND,
Click Here For: A Mother’s Day Aloha

AND,
Click Here For: Aloha Wahine Jezebel Sauce

AND,
Click Here For: Whann Way Hawaiian Luau

AND,
Click Here For: Hawaiian Popcorn and Moana Maika I’ Loa

AND,
Click Here For: Beachy Hawaiian Thanksgiving Pu Pu’s

AND,
Click Here For: Barefoot Beach Teas

AND,

AND,
Click Here For: Hawaiian Kalikimaka

AND,
Click Here For: Christmas/Kalikimaka Oysters on the Grill

AND,
Click Here For: Tropical Hawaiian Cranberries and our Mele Kalikimaka Me Ka Hauoli Makahiki Hou

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Easter, April 9, 2023 ——————————————————————— Experimenting With Our Easter Table ———————————————————————————– Our Easy Easter Table Vegetarian Normally our Easter’s are a bit more elaborate, however we had just hosted a big Baby Shower for our daughter and son-in-law two days prior, so this …

Aloha, Hawaii

The Haku Lei I Bought For Veronica From Hawaii
(Haku Means Head Lei)

The Beautiful Blossoms of Plumeria and Hibiscus I Purchased Online

The Reed Like Thing You See Above, I Found on Our Ewa Beach and Painted it, It Houses My Lei Needles

1988
Although you can’t see her, Veronica is on my back! 🙂

Macadamia Nut Goodies are Always Loved Here
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My Skulpy Ornaments/Tie On’s

I did a lot of craft projects while we were living in Hawaii and working with Skulpy was a favorite of mine. I loved the clay that you could create and mold into anything, then bake into an oven to set. Here are some tie on’s/ornaments that I made. I used rubber stamps on many of them to create the indentations. Then, once baked I would color them in with colorful pens or markers. Always remember to create a hole at the top before baking for a hook or a ribbon to thread through.
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The Kodak Hula Show
Waikiki, Hawaii

The Aunties With Their Ukulele’s

This is Tahitian, not Hawaiian
The very fast dancing that you see here is not native to Hawaii. It is from Tahiti. But, because there are many Polynesians on the islands of Hawaii, you will always see this dancing at Luau’s and other events.
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The Hula Tells a Story
The dancers use their arms and legs to tell a story in a dance. The grass skirts are traditional, but when the missionaries came over to Hawaii they encouraged the people to wear clothing. And, the only clothing they could get the Hawaiian women to wear were big and roomy with very loud prints. Hence, the Muu-muu is born. (My Grammaw’s favorite attire while in Hawaii.) 🙂

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I wanted us to make some special foods for Lei Day, but I wanted to keep the foods with Lei’s in mind.

Macadamia Nut Hummus with Taro Fries

Topped with Toasted Macadamia Nuts

Macadamia Nut Hummus with Chips

Our Hawaiian Haku Lei Muffuletta Sandwich

Looks a Bit Like a Haku Lei, Doesn’t It?

Bok Choy Works Great Here

Sliced and Ready to Eat

Doesn’t It Look Great?
(Recipes Down Below)
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Click Here For: Aloha Wahine Jezebel Sauce

My Aloha Wahine Jezebel Sauce Plays an Important Roll in our Sandwich
For the recipe, click on the above link.
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Black Lava Salt
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These are Actually, Pretty Good!
(These pickled items are really delicious and added to our meal.)
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Julie and Veronica, our Backyard in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1988
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February 13, 2024
My 63rd. Birthday


Peanuku and Myself Wearing Our Lilly Pulitzer’s
(The closest thing to Hawaiian attire I can find in Florida.)

Our Hawaii Living Room

Isabelle’s First Taste of Sugar, My Birthday Cake, 2024

Back Home and Enjoying some Chocolate Covered Macadamia Nuts
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When we were living in Hawaii from 1986-1999, Lei Day was always a fun day. You would see people wearing lei’s all over the islands whether they were at work, school, or just going about their daily lives.
One year, my friend Kathy bought me a lei and presented it to me. We were running errands for our Girl Scout Troop. I was so proud of it. No one had ever given me anything like it before and I loved the gesture! I did have a really hard time with Tuberose. It is extremely pungent and perfumy. It was actually making me a bit sick to have that around my neck but I kept it on all day long. I was not about to hurt the feelings of my friend. Kathy was born and grew up on the Big Island in Kona. She was what the locals called, Hapa-Haole. That meant that she was half Japanese and half Caucasian. Going around the island with her was a different kind of experience. My interaction with the local people was always a bit guarded on their part. But, when I was with Kathy, their guards were dropped and they were so much more accepting of me because I was with her.
I miss Hawaii, I miss Kathy, and I miss Lei Day,
Julie (Kulii)
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Haupia
(Eaten at Most Every Luau)

Usually White in Color Except I Used Coconut Sugar, and not Granulated Sugar
(Recipe Down Below)
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Giving The Gift of Hawaii For My Birthday
(Gifts for my Children and their Partners from Me.)

Bags of Hawaiian Sea Salt

Plenty of Candied Macadamia Nuts, Various Short Bread Cookies, Many Pancake Mixes, Sea Life Crackers, Hawaiian Mugs, Tropical Stuffed Fish, Macadamia Nut Brittle, Spice Mixes, Hawaiian Coffees, Hawaiian Coffee Candies, and plenty of Hawaiian Tea Towels.

Toffee Macadamia, Chocolate Macadamia, and Sea Life Crackers

More Close Up Pictures of the Goodies

Various Pancake Mixes

Gordon Cooked Ours and They Were Delicious!
(Had we eaten them with a Coconut or Pineapple Syrup, they would have been perfect!)

My Favorite Were The Taro Pancakes

Da Kine! Spice Mix Seasoning
(The purple box behind these spices was a Taro Shortbread Cookie. The best I have ever eaten!)

Love The Tea Towels!
So, exactly why am I giving gifts to others on my birthday? Because I want to!
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Putting Together the Gift Leis

Veronica and I were Assembling These While Isabelle was in the Chair, above right.

Although what you see above is a jumbled mess, the mess does become more organized as we work on these lei’s.
Gift Lei’s are given in Hawaii at various celebrations. They are perfect for Children’s Birthday’s, or even Graduations, etc.
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Gift Lei’s

This is a Macadamia Nut Gift Lei

This is a Candied Chocolate Macadamia Nut Gift Lei

These Gift Lei’s are for Veronica, Brian, Brodie and Mackenzie, to get them into the mood for a trip to HAWAII!!!! 🙂
Snacks, Toys, Masks for the Airplane, Sunscreens, Key Chains, Candy, etc.

The ZERO Bars are for Brian and Gordon. It’s their favorite candy bar.
You can see the Blue/Green colorful face masks for us to wear on the airplane.

You Always Add a Flower to any Gift Lei
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Me, With Baby Veronica at the Waikiki Aquarium
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Items For Gift Leis, And How To Make Them

Gift Lei’s are fun to assemble. You just need to decide on a theme, or an array of items you wish to use. Here, what I wanted to do was assemble some fun things for a trip to Hawaii! 🙂
The first thing you need is the nylon netting used to create a nice gift lei. You can see the colors in the photo above. Green, Orange, and Red. and Blue. Whether for a child or an adult, you do need to make sure you have enough of the nylon cut to allow for the size of the person, and the items you will be using in the lei’s.

Here I chose Honu’s (Sea Turtles), Candy, Sunscreen, Macadamia Nuts, and various little trinkets.

Here Are The Sunscreens

Here are Some Heart Pins to Add

You Also Need Some Thin Ribbon to Use to Tie Between Each Gift

When you have your lei just as you like it, you will need to tie the nylon together into some sort of square knot. This is difficult because the nylon will then sort of unravel. I use hot glue to make sure it doesn’t unravel, BUT, the hot glue can melt the nylon so I just use enough of it to seal it, and not melt it. I then adhere a nice artificial flower to “hide” the knot.

The Nylon that I used above on these leis was recently purchased by me from online. But, what you see above is the nylon from the lei’s I saved from our time in Hawaii. Ah, memories. 🙂
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A Honu Lei For Peanuku

I put this gift lei together for my Grand-Daughter.
Veronica has it hanging in her bedroom. It is a lei of many colorful Honu’s, (Sea Turtles).

Peanuku With Her Honu Lei

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RECIPES START HERE
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Macadamia Nut Hummus

w/ Roasted Macadamia Nuts and….

Veggie Hawaiian Chips
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Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts
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Ingredients:
2 – 6 oz. Jars of Mauna Loa Macadamia Nuts – Roast a little more in the oven
4 – 10.5 oz. Cans Chick Peas/Garbanzo Beans – drained and rinsed
~3 Tbsp. Tahini
2 – Garlic Cloves
~2 Tbsp. Pineapple Juice
1 tsp. Hawaiian Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Pepper to taste
1 Pineapple Ring
~1/2 to 3/4 Cup Olive Oil
~1/4 Cup Water
The Juice of 1 Lemon
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Into The Oven

Here I placed the Macadamia Nuts onto a sheet pan and in a 300’F oven for about 10
min. or until they got a little color to them, and/ or I could smell them. Doing this will bring
out their oils and make them just taste a little better.

Here you can see the roasted Macadamia Nuts.
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The Chick Peas

I drained them in a colander first…

Then rinse them with cold water to remove that canned taste to them.

Here are the Tahini, and Garlic Cloves

Now, place your Macadamia Nuts into the blender and blend them until most of the
large pieces are gone.

Put some of the Macadamia Nuts aside for the Hummus Topping

Add your rinsed Chick Peas to the blender along with the Tahini.

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Now add your Garlic Cloves, Hawaiian Sea Salt and Freshly Ground Black Pepper to
the other ingredients in the blender.

I then added some Pineapple Juice to give it that extra Hawaiian taste.

Here is a great picture of all the ingredients so far.

Now add a Pineapple ring from the can.

Here I am pouring in some nice Olive Oil.

Use a rubber spatula to move the ingredients around and up off the bottom.
I also poured in a little bit of water to make the Hummus creamy.

Blend the ingredients well…

Then blend them some more. It looks good, but how does it taste? Here I felt it needed
the acid of lemon, which is in the original hummus recipe.

Blend in the Lemon Juice well then taste again… I thought it was perfect!
Hope you enjoy this amazing Hawaiian inspired Hummus!

Be Sure to Decant into a Nice Bowl

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Our Hawaiian Hummus and Taro Fries

Topped With Black Sesame Seeds on the Hummus,
and Black Lava Sea Salt on the Taro Fries
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Served With Our Hawaiian Muffuletta

Taro Fries

If you go to your local Asian Supermarket, they do sell Taro.
It usually comes in a block which you then cut into, creating the French Fries.

Fill a Cast Iron Pot with Peanut Oil, and when it comes to temperature, add your Taro Fries.

Cook them as you would French Fried Potatoes,

then place onto paper towels to drain, with a sprinkling of Black Lava Sea Salt
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Our Hawaiian Haku Lei Muffuletta

Here is the Round Hawaiian Sweet Bread we used to make this great sandwich.

In preparation to make the sandwich, slice the bread by taking off the main part of the
cap as shown. This will allow the sandwich to be thick.

Now remove the inside of the bread leaving about 1 inch around the sides as shown.
This bread is very good so keep it to use for a cheesy dip or quick snack.
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Prep your Bok Choy and lettuce by washing them under cold water and setting them on
paper towels to dry.
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Pineapple Rings

Using a large non-stick sauté pan, cook them over medium high heat until slightly browned
on both sides.

We thought a nice Hot Asian styled mustard would go well with this sandwich. Mix the
dry mustard as directed. Taste it so you understand just how hot this mustard is.

We would have loved to have had some sweet Maui Onions, but these Vidalia Onions
will be just as good. Slice them into ¼ inch slices then saute them in a large saute pan
over medium heat.

Add some Olive Oil

Macadamia Nut Oil
Macadamia Nut Oil to keep with the Hawaiian theme.
(We used two different Olive Oil’s here to saute the onions.)

Use a lid to help keep the heat in…

Then to brown them, take the lid off which will evaporate the moisture.
Continue to cook them until they are softened and browned.
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Now It’s Time To Build The Sandwich

We also decided to use some of Julie’s Aloha Wahine Jezebel Sauce as well as some
Eckrich Spicy Pineapple Ham, and Provolone Cheese.

Here you can see all the ingredients are prepped and ready to be made into this great
sandwich. This is called mis en place in culinary terms.

In the front you can see our previously made Macadamia Nut Hummus, which works
great with this sandwich.

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Start by placing some Hawaiian Jezebel Sauce on the bottom and sides of the bread as
shown.

Then add your Romain Lettuce leaves to the sandwich. These will provide a nice
crunch.

Now lets add some of the Spicy Pineapple Ham slices.

On top of the Ham, add some of the Hot Asian Mustard, then some Provolone Cheese
slices.

Then fill the cavity with your sauteed Pineapple slices…

And top that off with your sauteed Sweet Onions.


Then place some of your Bok Choy leaves around the sandwich basically giving each
slice one Bok Choy.

Looks nice, and we are almost done.

I felt the sandwich needed a little acid, so we found some Enoki Mushroom Pickles.

Add a few dollops of them around the top of the sandwich ensuring each slice will have
some.

Lastly, I spread some on the Macadamia Nut Hummus on the underside of the bread
cap.


Our Hawaiian Muffuletta Sandwich

Looks a Bit Like a Haku Lei, Doesn’t It?

Place the cap on top of the sandwich as shown and slice it into equal portions.
We hope you enjoy this Hawaiian take on the classic Muffuletta sandwich.

Our Hawaiian Muffuletta Sandwich

ONO!!!!

Brok’ Da Mouth!
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Haupia
Haupia is a standard at every Luau. It is a classic Hawaiian dessert. It is a coconut pudding.
Most Haupia is White, because of the White Granulated Sugar used to make this dessert.
However, mine is a lovely tan, because I used Coconut Sugar in place of White Granulated Sugar.
I, Julie, am using a classic recipe. The only area where I differed was in using the Coconut Sugar, and topping it with a Chocolate Coconut Candy. I also used a Hawaiian Sea Salt in place of Kosher Salt.
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Ingredients:
2/3 Cup Sugar (I used Coconut Sugar)
1/4 t. Hawaiian Sea Salt
1/2 Cup Corn Starch
3 Cups Coconut Milk
1 1/3 Cups Whole Milk
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Golden Coconut Sugar, Hawaiian Sea Salt, and Corn Starch
(Just a few of the ingredients.)

In a Medium Sauce Pan combine the Coconut Sugar, Hawaiian Sea Salt, and Corn Starch.

Next, add the Coconut Milk to the Sauce Pan…

Whisking It In..

On Medium High Heat

You need to continuously whisk the ingredients in the Sauce Pan until they start to simmer.
Once everything starts to simmer you want to turn the heat down to Medium-Low, but continue to whisk, as the mixture starts to thicken, 4-6 minutes.
The mixture will go from liquid to very liquid, before it starts to thicken.
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Pour in the Whole Milk while continuing to whisk. Bring the heat back to Medium and continue to whisk. You want the mixture to the consistency of Glue, and can coat the back of a spoon. Yet another 4-6 minutes.

When thickened, remove from the heat and pour into an 8 or 9 inch Baking Pan.

Let Cool for About 10 – 15 Minutes

Once Cooled, Cover with Saran Wrap and Place into the Refrigerator for About 2 Hours to Set

Veronica With Isabelle

After the Haupia has set, cut into squares and serve.

Here I placed each serving into a cupcake cup, topped with half of a Chocolate Coconut Bar.

This was Isabelle’s first taste of Coconut, and she loved it! 🙂
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UNDER CONSTRUCTION










———————————————————————–
Check Out Our Other Hawaiian Pages:
Click Here For: Whann Way Aloha

AND,
Click Here For: Whann Way Aloha, Hapa Elua (Part 2)

AND,
Click Here For: Blue Hawaiians and Huli Huli Chicken

AND,

AND,

AND,
Click Here For: Weekend Spamin’ Spam Musubi

AND,
Click Here For: Julie’s Lunchbox

AND,
Click Here For: Gordon’s Hawaiian Potatoes and Huli Huli Pork Chops

AND,
Click Here For: Whann’s In Not Always Paradise

AND,
Click Here For: Julie Barefoot Cookies and Beachy Edible Gifts

AND,
Click Here For: Grillin’ With Aloha

AND,
Click Here For: Julie’s Vintage Hawaiian Mango-Mac Nut Bread Cake w/ Pasta Flowers

AND,
Click Here For: Gordon’s Dole Pineapple Outrigger Canoe and Cocktail

AND,
Click Here For: Hawaiian Hum Lum Sun Prunes

AND,

AND,

AND,
Click Here For: A Mother’s Day Aloha

AND,
Click Here For: Aloha Wahine Jezebel Sauce

AND,
Click Here For: Whann Way Hawaiian Luau

AND,
Click Here For: Hawaiian Popcorn and Moana Maika I’ Loa

AND,
Click Here For: Beachy Hawaiian Thanksgiving Pu Pu’s

AND,
Click Here For: Barefoot Beach Teas

AND,

AND,
Click Here For: Hawaiian Kalikimaka

AND,
Click Here For: Christmas/Kalikimaka Oysters on the Grill

AND,
Click Here For: Tropical Hawaiian Cranberries and our Mele Kalikimaka Me Ka Hauoli Makahiki Hou

—————————————————————————-
Kon’nichiwa (Hello) Yokoso Chisana Atsukau (Welcome to Small Treats.) Watashitachi Wa Anata Ni Motarashimasu Oishi Shokumotsu Atsukau (We will bring to you delicious food treats.) To Do Yatte Ni Tsukuru Karera (And, how to make them.) I’m sure that a lot …
My Tassel Oriental Bowl —————————————————————————– Glorioso Blossom My Glorioso Vine in my Japanese Carp Vase A Few Spring Rolls….. …doused in My Oriental Jezebel Sauce An Excellent Ranchi (Lunch) ——————————————————————————— An Oriental Jezebel A Marinade, A Glaze, and A Dipping …

EASTER 2022

The green cup in the photo above is a handmade ceramic cup, probably made by a child. It was found in a box in the attic of my son’s girlfriends house.

I spotted it and saw a treasure! She spotted it and said, ‘you can have it.’ 🙂
I love the little trinkets that were inside of it. A Puka Shell Bracelet, a Key with a Butterfly on it. A few coins….The items tell me a little bit about the owner. The owner was a nice person, obviously!
I love it! It’s beautiful and I am so happy to have it.
Thank you Mackenzie!
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WELCOME
(But, NO Soliciting.)
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Morning Dew

Where Our Lilies Bloom
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Happy Easter

My Raggedy Wreath
I made this wreath decades ago when we were living in Hawaii and I was very much into crafts at that time.
I simply purchased a straw wreath, and some springtime fabric. I cut the fabric into small squares with a serrated edge scissors. I then used a screwdriver to push the fabric into the wreath, making sure the entire wreath was covered.
I next used pins to secure the rag bunny that I purchased from a thrift store, into the middle of the wreath at the bottom. I also used some pretty springtime ribbon to fashion a very casual bow to the top, allowing the ends to trail off.
It is pretty raggedy looking now, which is why I wanted to use it here with this particular Easter. I think it’s perfect!
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Bunny Ears Coming Out of the Flowers
(I placed two antique spoons in the pitcher of flowers above to represent bunny ears.)
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Our Simply Easter Table

Our Giant Carrots Stuffed With Fried Rice, Egg Noodles in Chicken Broth with Peas, Green Herbal Deviled Eggs…

…Spinach Loaf with Hard Boiled Eggs

Dinner Rolls and Easter Things
(I made the little wooden card above years ago. Gordon and I went to a home improvement store and we bought some wood. Gordon then cut it up into rectangles for me. Even sanded some down. I then painted the wood, and decoupaged some graphics onto it. When dry, I would sometimes hot glue either a ribbon turned into a bow, or some cute little ornament. I would then give them as gifts. A few I still have left that I bring out occasionally. This was one time I thought it looked good with our table surroundings.)

Close Up of our Spinach Loaf with Hard Boiled Eggs

Close Up Of Our Giant Fried Rice Stuffed Carrots

BLT’s Our Way
(With the exception of the bacon, this Easter Dinner is Vegetarian.)

When we created this Easter menu I had my Great-Grandmother Keith in mind. I wanted to create foods that would be on her “poor” table. She didn’t have a lot of money, but the foods she made were so delicious. I still have the taste of her cornbread in my mouth even though the last time I ate it was when I was a young child. My Great-Grandmother Emma was a simple person. There was nothing fancy about her at all, but she was genuine. The foods above are what I imagined would be on her Easter Table.
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Leftovers
Who doesn’t love leftovers?

Leftovers to me mean that we don’t have to cook for a few days. We can enjoy the same tastes again, and again. Those tastes equal memories of those special foods, for that special occasion.

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Simple Antique China and Silverware

A Stuffed Carrot Reimagined
Vroom, VROOM….
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Even MORE Leftovers!

The Other Egg Stuffed Spinach Loaf…

surrounded by our Leftover Herbal Deviled Eggs…

but this time, topped with an Herbal Green Sauce.
(Recipes are all down below.)
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Sarajane Whann’s Herb Book
We Based Our Easter On Recipes Here

This Virginia National Bank notebook that my mother-in-law put together decades ago, is filled with information on Herbs, Herbal Remedies, Herbal Recipes, How to Grow Herbs, in addition to many of her own recipes where she used Herbs in her cooking.
This is a treasure!
When she and Gordon’s father moved from their home to an independent living facility, they downsized and got rid of many of their things. This giant notebook of valuable information, was one of the things they got rid of. We were happy to snag this!
When I was looking through it I was so inspired by the delicious herbal recipes. When I saw Green Mayonnaise, the ideas just flooded in me to create Herbal Deviled Eggs, and even some sort of Herbal Meatloaf.
Which is why we are bringing to you our Simply Easter.
I admit that I am not too thrilled with the name. After all there are so many cookbooks out there with the word “Simply” so and so. But, when I tried to come up with a name, I mentioned to Gordon that this is probably our most simple Easter. And the name just stuck. I guess that is why there are so many cookbooks out there that start with the word “Simply.”
Happy Easter to All,
Gordon and Julie
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Making Green Mayonnaise
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Julie’s Deviled Eggs With Green Mayonnaise

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The Bunnies Were Painted by our Daughter Veronica When she was Young
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Table Cover Project

I came across these packs of gingham ribbons one day when I was looking through some of our Easter things.
I immediately saw the possibility of weaving together a table covering with them.

They are Wired Paper Ribbons

Weaving them together wasn’t that difficult, but I needed to adhere them to the table in some way so I grabbed the Scotch Tape.

I did tape them down, but there wasn’t enough to cover the table, or even have some overhang, but not to worry, I used our food platters to cover the ends and it all worked out great.

I love it!
It was a fun creative project that I’m quite proud of.
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The Bunny’s Melted in the Car
(When I bought them I just loved the coloring and thought they would look good with this Easter.)

The Melted Blobs
I was not about to throw these away. My creativity took over and I decided to save them and turn them into some sort of dessert for us. So, I filled them with ice cream, and placed a few little candied bunnies inside of them, reattached the yellow bow to one of them, and a sprinkling of edible sprinkles. I did place them into the freezer until we were ready to eat them. 🙂

The Revamped Melted Bunny’s
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Greens Are The Star in This Easter

The Micro Greens We Used
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Washing and Drying All These Wonderful GREENS

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My GREENS Craft Table Decoration Project

Curly Red Leaf Lettuce
I wanted to make some sort of ‘corsage’ for the table.
Not a ‘corsage’ to wear, but a corsage to place beside a dinner plate.
It would make a nice gift if you were having a lot of people over.

So, I got out some of my ribbons to play around with creating a few bundles for the table.

The pretty Red Leaf Lettuce, some Flowering Chives, and even some Peace Lilies from our garden before they have fully opened up.

Tied With Some Ribbon

Keep in the Refrigerator Until Time to Set the Table

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Recipes Start Here
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Spinach Loaf With Hard Boiled Eggs

Our Very Healthy, Delicious Spinach Loaf main Course…

…with Hard Boiled Eggs Center Stage
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Gathering Our Ingredients

(This recipe makes 2 loaf pans)
Ingredients:
8 Cups Fresh Spinach Leaves – Chopped
1 Large Sweet Onion – Sliced into a small dice
2 Tbsp. Butter – for the Onions
1/2 Cup Butter – Melted for the Egg Yolks
1 Tbsp. Lemon Pepper for the Onions
1 tsp. Lemon Pepper for the Egg Yolks
1 Cup Herb Seasoned Breadcrumbs
6 Eggs – Separated into Yolks and Whites
6 Eggs – Hard Boiled
Freshly ground Black Pepper to taste
Pam Cooking Oil Spray as needed
2 Cups Crispy Fried Onions – (French’s Brand)
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Chop your fresh Spinach as shown.

As they are chopped, place them in a large bowl.

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Slice your Sweet Onion by cutting off the root and stem ends first, then remove the outer skin.

Slice the onion in half then into small sections. Then slice it into a small dice as shown.

Place your 2 Tbsp. of Butter into a large saute pan turned up to medium heat. When the butter melts, add your diced onions.

Add your Lemon Pepper to the onions and mix well. Continue to saute the onions turning occasionally.

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Herb Seasoned Bread Crumbs

Add your Bread Crumbs to the chopped Spinach.

Here you can see the onions are cooking nicely.
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I melted the stick of butter in the microwave. This is for a later step.

Mix your Spinach and Breadcrumbs well.

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When your onions are fully cooked and tender, add them to the Spinach.

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Mix the Onions well with the Spinach.

Crack your eggs on a flat surface to avoid breaking off the shells. Open the egg into your hand and let the egg whites drain into a small bowl. Then place your egg yolk into a large bowl. Then add your egg whites into a large bowl. It is done this way to ensure you separate your eggs properly.

Here I am separating an egg again.

Now you can see the egg yolks and the egg whites each in their own bowl.

Rapidly whisk your Egg Yolks as shown until smooth and slightly frothy and look Lemon Yellow.

Melt your butter in the microwave. When done, add it slowly to the egg yolks as you constantly whisk the yolks. You have to add the butter slowly as the hot butter could cook the eggs too quickly making scrambled eggs and not a Hollandaise sauce. It is best to have someone else pour the butter for you while you quickly whisk the eggs.

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Here I added Lemon Pepper and not lemon juice to the sauce. I then added more freshly ground pepper.

Whisk these ingredients into the sauce.

Now, add your Hollandaise sauce to the chopped spinach bowl.

Mix the ingredients well.

Here I have all the egg whites in a large bowl. Whisk these well as shown.

I played drums when I was younger, so doing this is fun to me. It should take you about 3 min. time to make them frothy.

Continue to whisk the whites for about another 30 seconds until the egg whites can make stiff peaks as shown.

Add the whisked egg whites to the chopped spinach bowl and fold them into the spinach. This is done by taking your spatula from the bottom of the bowl and moving it up and into the center of the bowl. Turn your bowl and continue this motion until the egg whites are completely folded into the spinach. You want to do this gently.

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Spray your loaf pans with a cooking oil spray.

Add some of the Spinach mixture to the loaf pans as shown.

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Then add your hard boiled eggs (Shells off) to the pans… three to each as shown.

Now, cover the eggs with the rest of the spinach mixture.

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Carefully pat the mixture down with your spatula.

Place the loaf pans into a large baking pan and pour a few cups of boiling water into the pan.
Bake the loafs for 50 min. at 350’F.

Into the Oven

Testing to See if it is Done
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Crispy Fried Onions

Sprinkle the Onions onto the Spinach Loaf.
Back into the Oven for 5 More Minutes to Brown the Onions

Beautiful! Ready to Plate!

Here we sliced the loaf lengthwise to show the eggs inside. 🙂
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Giant Carrots Stuffed With Fried Rice

We bought these massive carrots at our local Asian Supermarket. Julie had the idea to stuff them since they were so large. We thought about it and came up with the recipe below. We hope you enjoy it as well as we did.

Making Fried Rice

(We made the white rice the day before. Older rice works best.)
Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. Vegetable Oil
~ 2 Cups of day old rice
1 Package Rice Seasoning
2 Green Onions – sliced thinly
3/4 Cup Frozen Peas
3 Tbsp. Soy Sauce – We used Aloha Brand
2 Tbsp. Sesame Oil
2 Eggs
5 Large Carrots
5 Tbsp. Butter for each
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Glazed Carrot Garnish Ingredients:
2 Cups Carrot Sticks
1 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
~2 Tbsp. Butter
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Place your oil and the day old rice in a Wok and heat it to medium temperature. Add your Rice Seasoning package, Soy Sauce, and Sesame Oil and mix the ingredients well turning often.

Move the rice off to the sides of the Wok as shown and add your two eggs. Use your spatula to scramble the eggs in place and when mostly cooked, stir them into the rice.

Continue to cook the rice turning often and then add your peas and green onions. Mix all the ingredients well and remove from the heat.
(We made the Fried Rice the day before, and refrigerated it overnight.)
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Now it is time to prepare the extra large carrots.

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Place one carrot into the center of a piece of aluminum foil adding a Tbsp. of butter.

Wrap the carrot tightly in the foil sealing the edges.

Place the carrots in a 400’F oven and bake them for about 40 min. or until tender.

Here the carrots have been fully cooked and tender.
You can slice a knife into them easily.

Here is the finished fried rice we made earlier.

Slice the carrot lengthwise deeply being sure not to go all the way through.
Slice the carrot again down the side as shown and lift out the main top section of the carrot.

Use a melon baller to remove the main center of the carrot as shown. Do this for all the other carrots.

Using a spoon, fill the carrots with the fried rice up to the edge.

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Repeat this step for all the carrots.

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To make the glazed carrots, place all the ingredients into a large saute pan and heat the ingredients to medium high to basically steam the carrots. Stir this mixture occasionally. As the carrots steam/cook, the water will evaporate and make the carrots tender. When most of the water has evaporated, the leftover ingredients will combine to make a sweet glaze. Remove the carrots from the heat.

Top the stuffed carrots with the glazed carrots as shown.
We made a lot of these glazed carrots as they are soooooo good!

Here are our stuffed carrots that are both sweet and savory!
They make a great side dish for a number of occasions.
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Green Mayonnaise

Chives, and Tarragon

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Fresh Tarragon
2 Cups Fresh Watercress
2 Cups Fresh Parsley
1/2 Cup Fresh Spinach
1 Egg
1 tsp. Delicatessen Style Mustard – (Boar’s Head Brand)
1 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
1 tsp. Hawaiian Sea Salt
1/2 tsp. Table Salt
1 Tbsp. Sweet Paprika
Juice from 1 Lemon
~2 1/2 Cups Canola Oil
1/2 Cup of Chopped Chives
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Our Ingredients

Place 2 inches of water into a medium sized pot and heat to a boil.

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Add the Tarragon to the boiling water and blanch the herbs for about 2 min. or until bright green in color.

Remove the herbs with a wire meshed strainer and plunge them under cold running water to stop the cooking process.

Repeat the steps for the Watercress…

Parsley…

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and the Spinach.

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Place all the herbs onto paper towels to remove the water.

Like so…..
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Add your Egg, Mustard, and White Wine Vinegar to a blender.

Then add your Hawaiian Salt and Sweet Paprika to the blender.

Now add your Lemon juice… Here I used 1/2 of the lemon as I wanted to taste it before I added any more.

Now I am Measuring Out the Canola Oil

Add it to the blender, then blend all the ingredients.

While the blender is on, add 1 cup of Canola Oil slowly and the mixture will emulsify to mayonnaise.

Here I wanted the mayo to be a little thinner, so I added more Oil. Taste the Mayonnaise. I thought it needed more acidity, so I added more Lemon Juice.

Here I am separating the large stems from the leaves of the herbs that I blanched.

Removing the Stems

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Place your herbs into the blender.

Here I am chopping the Chives which we grow in our garden.

Place them into the blender and blend well.

I again tasted the Mayonnaise and thought it needed more Salt, Paprika, and Canola Oil.
I used table salt as it is saltier than Sea Salt.


Blend all the ingredients well and taste the Mayonnaise again.
If you like how it tastes…

Place it in a jar for later use! That is how simple it is to make your own Mayonnaise!
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Green Mayonnaise Herbal Deviled Eggs

Never Fear The Green Ring
Deviled Eggs are my (Julie) most favorite thing for Easter.
Which is why I was so excited to try making them with an Herbal Mayonnaise.

I made them my usual way. I hard boiled the eggs until they have that lovely green ring. 🙂
I then removed the yolks and set them aside in a mixing bowl, and placed the white shells onto the egg platter that I would be using.
I then got to work slapping all of the other ingredients together. The Green Mayonnaise, some Yellow Mustard, Freshly Ground Black Pepper, I didn’t have my usual Pickle Relish on hand so I chopped up a few Dill Pickles. I then added a few dashes of my Tabasco Sauce, mixed it all together and then inserted them usually rather sloppily into the egg whites.

As always with Deviled Eggs, the amounts of the ingredients you add is up to your personal tastes.
Which is why I don’t write down measurements.)
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Add a Sprinkling of Paprika
(Keep refrigerated until ready to eat.)
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A Few Easy Sides

Egg Noodles Cooked in Chicken Broth

Sugar Beets From a Can Warming on the Stove

You just want to add some Chicken Broth to a pot and bring it up to a simmering boil. Then add your Egg Noodles and cook until they are Al Dente. While they are cooking add some Frozen Peas to the pot as well.

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When done simply place into a serving bowl with some of the liquid.
Not all of the liquid as you don’t want this to be a soup.
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BLT’s Our Way

These are going to be sooooo good!
And, we will be using our Green Mayonnaise!

For a beautiful presentation, be sure to find tomatoes that have that lovely green stem at the top.

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Ingredients:
2 Tbsp. Bacon Fat
1 Large Onion – chopped
1/2 Green Bell Pepper – chopped
1/2 Orange Bell Pepper – chopped
1/2 Red Bell Pepper – chopped
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp. Dill Weed
6 Large Tomatoes – Top sliced off and insides removed
15 Bacon strips – cooked until crispy
~2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese – grated
3 English Muffins – Sliced in half and toasted
6 Lettuce leaves
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Add your bacon fat to a large saute pan and heat to medium high heat.

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Slice the root and stem off a large onion, slice it in half and remove the outer skin.

Now, slice the onions into small sections as shown.

Add the onions to the saute pan.

Slice your bell peppers in half, remove the seeds and stem…

then slice half of each bell pepper lengthwise into small sections.

Slice those long sections into small pieces as shown.

Green, Orange, Red

Place all the sliced bell peppers into the saute pan with the onions.

Add your salt and pepper to the onion and bell pepper mixture.

Then add your dill weed to the pan and mix all the ingredients well.
Saute the ingredients until softened taking about 10 min.
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You will need a baking pan or dish for this.

Slice off the top of all the tomatoes.

Use a melon baller and remove the insides of each tomato leaving a small portion of the sides intact.
Place your tomatoes into a large baking pan.

Fill the tomatoes with the sauteed onions and bell pepper mixture.

Like so…..


Add your cooked bacon to the top of the tomatoes as shown.

Now add your cheese to the top of the bacon.

Bake the tomatoes in a 350’F oven for 10 – 15 min. or until the cheese has melted and the tomatoes are hot.

Look How Beautiful!

Slice your English Muffins in half.

Toast the English Muffins and top them with some lettuce leaves and our Green Mayonnaise.

Top the lettuce with the stuffed tomatoes and enjoy!
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Happy Leftover BLT Sandwich Easter to YOU!
(Throwing together and leftover Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and Cheese.) 🙂
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Making an Herbal Green Sauce for our Other Spinach and Egg Loaf
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Ingredients:
~4 Tbsp. Canola Oil
2 Slices of Wheat Bread – Crust removed
3 Tbsp. White Wine Vinegar
3 Celery Stalks – sliced into sections
2 Garlic Cloves
1 Large Bunch of Parsley – Large stems removed
~12 Chives
Salt and Pepper to taste
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Ready to Get Started


Remove the bread crusts then place the bread onto a plate and pour your White Wine Vinegar evenly onto each slice.

Set the plate aside.
Here, I added the celery to the blender and as you can see, they were too long.

I sliced the celery in half which worked much better. Now, add the celery to the blender.

Then slice off the root ends of the garlic and add them to the celery.

Here I am slicing off the thicker stem ends of the celery.

Add them to the blender.

These chives are from our own herb garden.

Add them to the blender and turn the blender on high for about 45 sec.

Doing this will initially chop down the ingredients.
Now add your canola oil to the blender.

Blend the ingredients again and if the ingredients don’t move, add a touch more oil.
These moved just fine.

Add your pepper and salt to the mixture.

Here I am removing the herbs that stuck to the spatula with the slices of bread.
I used spatula to scrape the sides of the blender.

Add your bread to the blender.
The bread will give the sauce some body and the vinegar will provide some nice acidity.

Blend the ingredients for another minute or so or until the herbs are mostly ground down.
Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning as needed.

Pour your sauce into a gravy boat and serve!

This was our Second Spinach and Egg Loaf.
The Green Sauce was perfect here!

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Happy Easter to All Those That Celebrate!
Julie and Gordon
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Happy Easter Everyone! Welcome to our Artsy Easter (We shot this in 2021) This Easter is actually based on cleaning out the attic and going through many storage containers in our attic, in an attempt to get rid of some of …
Hello Welcome to our Backyard Lanai This is where we spend a lot of our time in the spring, summer, and autumn. It is a nice big area where we can spread out and entertain, even if it is just for …

The Smith House History Cookbook
(Only in the south do you find teaspoons. Especially in silverware sets.)
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Easter, 1970
Me, my little brother Johnny and my mother, Mary Keith in our front yard in Dahlonega, Georgia.
(Although my mother does look like an airline stewardess here.)

Me, and Baby Johnny in our Front Yard in Dahlonega on our way to Church.
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We lived in Dahlonega, Georgia for about 3 years when I was a girl. I was 7 when we moved there and 10 when we left to move to Roanoke, Virginia. This was in the late 60’s- early 70’s. My step-father was the only doctor in the small town, he even made house calls. Something unheard of in our ‘for profit’ healthcare system we have now. He liked being a big fish in a small pond. My brother Johnny was born there when I was 8. I was happy there. I think we all were.
One special memory I have of Dahlonega was this restaurant called, The Smith House. It was unlike other restaurants at the time. There was no menu for you to order off of. You would enter the restaurant while being greeted with what was quite a nice tradition at the time called ‘Southern Hospitality.’ Things are a bit different in the south now but I did get to live through a time when the south was hospitable. They would sit you down next to another family that you didn’t know. If you had a large group then you got a table to yourselves, but if you were a family of 2, or 3, or 4, then you would get seated next to another small group of people. We would introduce ourselves to our fellow diner’s and the polite conversation would ensue while we waited for our food to arrive.

Julie and Johnny, Dahlonega 1970
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Family Style Dining

(I do love that the bread basket in the photo at right is empty.
Looks like I’m not the only one that loved those dinner rolls.)
The food is cooked fresh everyday in the kitchen and placed into bowls and platters and set on the table in front of you. You had no say on what they placed in front of you. At least that is how I remember it at the time. You would then serve yourself and pass the bowls around to the other people at your table. When you ran out of mashed potatoes you would motion to the waitress and she would disappear into the kitchen and return with a heaping bowl full to place in front of you for you to enjoy. It was all southern cooking. Probably very plain in taste by today’s restaurant standards but the food was delicious because you were tasting the food. Not tons of spices or sauces.
Salt and pepper, butter,

bacon grease, lard, and gravy

were all you really needed to season your food.
At least that’s how we liked it in the south.
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There’s Gold in Them Thar Hills!

I can’t talk about Dahlonega without mentioning it’s gold mining past. It was during The Great Gold Rush to California that gold was discovered in Dahlonega. To prevent the residents of Lumpkin County from leaving, the mayor of Dahlonega said to his residents not to leave because, “There’s gold in them thar hills!”
Most people have heard that quote before but hardly anyone knows who said it.
My family and I used to go spelunking and panning for gold when we lived in Dahlonega. I never found a nugget just lots of gold flakes that were put into a vial of water and worn as a necklace. But we have certainly prowled our way through many caves in our spelunking adventures. My mother has all those photos.
I can also remember us driving up through the mountains and pulling over to the side of the road where I was handed a paper cup by my mother telling me to pick up those Garnet Nuggets because they were everywhere. So, we climbed steep embankments and started looking through the dirt finding them. I don’t remember how they knew they were all over that embankment but we got quite a haul that day. And I believe for my following birthday I was given a rock cleaning and polishing kit. It was a machine and was very loud so we set it out in the garage, but the rocks came out all smooth and shiny. I even have a few of those stones that we had placed into jewelry. They are somewhere in my house.
Spelunking, Panning for Gold, those were the days!

Mary Keith, my mother, and Me
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When you drive through Atlanta you will see the Georgia State Capital building and it’s gold dome with gold from Dahlonega.

Georgia State Capital Dome
Atlanta, Georgia

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My one food memory that I have from Dahlonega, and The Smith House were their Dinner Rolls. Rolls were my food! As my Grandfather used to say, ‘All Julie cares about eating are rolls, rolls, and rolls.
The Smith House made the best rolls I have ever eaten in my life and it occurred to me to look online and see if the recipe was out there for me to make them myself. That is when I spotted their book online and of course, I purchased it.

The Smith House History Cookbook
Of course I am enjoying reading a bit about the history. Some things I knew and other’s I didn’t.

But what I am enjoying the most are the recipes listed throughout the book.


The Recipes!
There are many and I am not going to post them all but the one that I was THE most excited to find…..

IS………..

THIS ONE!
Smith House Yeast Rolls!!

YES! YES! YES!!!
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This entire Easter Dinner is based on these.

Smith House Recipe Yeast Dough
(Waiting for the dough to rise.)

Made by Brodie and Mackenzie



The Smell is Amazing!
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2020

I made sure the basket was sitting right next to me on our Easter table. 🙂
The rolls were delicious! They tasted a bit like I remember and Brodie and Mackenzie had never baked bread before so taking all that into consideration they did a wonderful job, but the rolls that I remember had probably been made hundreds of times by the same women in that Smith House kitchen. They had perfected a technique that they probably had no idea that they had. Just handing out a recipe doesn’t mean that we will be able to recreate it exactly as they did. But I was given a delicious taste of a happy childhood food memory that I have carried with me from the age of 7 and I do appreciate that.
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Me, on a swing with Anne Catherine Folger in Dahlonega.
(She’s the pretty one. I’m sticking my tongue out.)
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Sequoya’s Alphabet

(The photo above is a post card that my Grandmother sent to us from Las Vegas in 1992. It depicts Indian symbols and their meanings. There is a section in the Smith House History Cookbook that speaks of Sequoya (Sikwayi) and his Alphabet.)
The Indian Tribe that we most know of in the state of Georgia is the Cherokee Nation. Sequoya’s mother was Cherokee and his father was white. Sequoya was most impressed that the white man could “put talk on paper.” The Cherokee Alphabet was invented in 1821. Sequoya created an alphabet of 86 characters. The English Alphabet only has 26 letters. The Cherokee Nation embraced Sequoya’s Alphabet.
I grew up in a family that loved our Native American’s and we were taught quite a bit about them. My parents admired them for the great people that they were and are, and they passed that down to me and all 3 of my brother’s. We have spent many a family vacation visiting Indian Reservations throughout our country, in the south as well as out west.

This is me, July 1969. I don’t know where we are here but I know that my Grandfather took the photo. I also remember him buying me that necklace. 🙂 I am with a Native American Chief here.
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Sadly, the Trail of Tears started in my hometown of Rome, Georgia. But, I was happy to see Sequoya included in this Smith House History Cookbook.
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I wanted to add that this Easter Dinner wasn’t just about remembering The Smith House, it was also about remembering all my childhood Easter’s with my Grandparents and Great-Grandparent’s. Adding the table extensions to the dining room table in order to seat 8-10 instead of 4. The dining table pad that would be placed on top of the table. The white linen tablecloths ironed to perfection, same with cloth napkins. The beautiful China bowls and platters set on the table filled with delicious southern, and northern cooking. (I had Yankee relatives too.) Shhh…. 🙂
Remember the crystal goblets, and let’s not forget the silver that would be polished a week or so in advance so that everything gleamed and sparkled on our Easter table.
That is why this year I wanted for us to eat all those delicious southern foods that I grew up with. Some cooked their way, and some cooked our way. I did use the Smith House cookbook as a template for the foods I wanted on our table although the only recipe we followed from the book was for the yeast rolls. At least, so far. Rediscovering traditional southern cooking has been something I have been doing for the last few years. It is fun to try the newest cooking trend but that is all they ever seem to be. Trends. I guess where food is concerned lately I’ve been more interested in going home.


Me, playing on my tire swing in our backyard in Dahlonega. And me with our dog Little Bit. Sadly, the neighbor right in back of us, the Whitmyer’s didn’t like our dog so the man took him away one day and left him in the mountains to die. That is what I was told by my mother. So, on that happy note…..
Happy Easter,
Julie
Oh, and P.S. Former President Jimmy Carter has eaten there. He was born and grew up in Plains, Georgia. His family were the only white people in that small town. He didn’t see his first white person (other than his immediate family) until he was 14.
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Our Easter Table

Easter Baskets Adorn
(Along with the GOLDEN EGG. Something I never found at childhood Easter Egg Hunts.)

Our Extended Lanai

Brodie and Mackenzie
Living in Florida does give us an advantage to enjoying outdoor life throughout the year. I knew that I wanted us to eat outside and enjoy our spring weather before our hot summer arrived. I also knew that I wanted to make the best of this Easter and just enjoy our lovely holiday while in lockdown due to the Coronavirus. It was just the 4 of us, Gordon, myself, our son Brodie, and his girlfriend Mackenzie.
I knew that I wanted to use all the old linen tablecloths and napkins that belonged to my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother’s. I knew that I wanted to use my Grandmother’s silverware. I knew that I wanted our food put into some of the platters and bowls that once belonged to them as well. I knew that I wanted to set a formal table but also bring it into my tastes. I knew that I wanted to make it formal but also fun and casual all at the same time.
I knew that I wanted for us to cook the foods that I remember from my youth, but I also knew that I wanted Gordon to create something new and tasty at add to our traditional southern menu. And he did!

When in Lockdown Fake Flowers work Nicely

Brodie and Mackenzie with Sparky and Spooky

Julie and Gordon

Julie and Mackenzie
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I would like to introduce you to:

Our Easter Menu

Bone In Pork Roast

Mashed Potatoes with Carrots

Macaroni and Cheese
Green Beans with Blue Potatoes

Corn and Creamed Corn

Purple Beets

Lima Beans
Sea Island Red Peas and Ham

Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Grandma Nell’s Squash Casserole
Yeast Rolls

Gravy

Julie’s Deviled Eggs
AND,

A little something for the Easter Bunny!
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The Iced (melted) Tea Table
(Served two ways: Sweetened, or Unsweetened.)
I knew that I wanted to honor my past by having what every edible function I had ever been to in my life had, Sweetened, or Unsweetened Iced Tea. Usually with a little card in front of the pitchers letting you know which one was which. Something I didn’t have time to make prior to this dinner. But the two pitchers do represent the only two selections in the south. 🙂
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Traditional Place Setting

I enjoyed getting out the China and Silver.
No crystal goblets though.
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Gordon’s Bone In Pork Roast Cooked on the Grill

Gordon Carving our Bone In Pork Roast


Looks delicious, doesn’t it?

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Our Easter Table

Of course my Deviled Eggs took center stage. Easter is all about the eggs.
I placed them over a pretty spring wreath that I had.
Another thing I love about Easter is that even the foods are very colorful with all the colors of spring.
As if the Easter Bunny had painted them himself.

Mackenzie and Brodie Digging In

Gordon and Julie Ready to Feast

My, Julie’s, Dinner Plate and Place Setting
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Another Southern Reminder…….

My Honeysuckle Vines
I am just waiting for the blooms to emerge. Having grown up in the south most every property had Honeysuckle growing, whether it was crawling all over fences, gates, trellis’s, it was everywhere most of the time growing wild. It was also overlooked as being some weed and not really appreciated. Same with grape vines that grew everywhere. My friends and I would always pick the blossoms off the Honeysuckle Vines and place the sweet stem from the bottom of the blossoms in our mouth and suck out to taste the sweet nectar. I still do whenever I see the vines growing.
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Easter Baskets Filled with Goodies

It wouldn’t be Easter without a Chocolate Bunny, or two.

I did manage to get my hands on two Easter Lily plants for this Easter.
Oh, and see the picnic basket in front of the table?
I made that when we were living in Hawaii. It only took me a few hours.
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The Dessert Table
(We don’t have time to make everything from scratch.)

3 small pies that we bought from the grocery store and had delivered. 1 peach and 2 apple. I thought they looked plain so I opened our stash of Easter candies and doctored them up a bit.
China plate, Silverware, Magnolia Tree wreath, old Chandelier, Lacey Basket Liner, and a hand drawn in pastels picture by our daughter Veronica that I wanted to include here.
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Into the Kitchen
RECIPES START HERE!

Getting the Lanai Ready for Easter
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Making Southern Iced Tea
(We just call it Ice Tea)

Lipton Tea Bags
(This to the south is GOLD, but to the rest of the world it’s just tea dust.)

It was always Lipton or Nestle. Those were the brands of tea that everyone would buy. There were always two pitchers, one for Sweet Tea and one for Unsweetened Tea. My grandmother would boil water on the stove top and then pour it piping hot into a glass pitcher with tea bags. To prevent the glass pitcher from breaking she would insert a knife into the pitcher to prevent that from happening. Don’t ask me how it works, it just does.
Once the tea has cooled then into the refrigerator the pitchers go to get really cold. Right before the tea is served ice cubes are usually added to the tea. With sugar added to only one pitcher for those that like it sweet.
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Gordon and Brodie in the Kitchen Working Their Magic

Gordon did grow a beard for lockdown.
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Spooky and Sparky love being in the kitchen with us when we are cooking.
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Gordon’s Bone In Pork Roast

We Made TWO!

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Ingredients:
2x ~6lb. Bone in Pork Roasts
1 1/2 Cups (Weber’s) Roasted Garlic and Herb seasoning

Let the pork roasts come to room temperature.

Remove the plastic covering on the pork roasts and rinse the excess blood and bone debris with fresh water. Not shown, remove the silver skin from behind the bones as your would with ribs. It usually peals off fairly easily once started.

Remove the excess water using a paper towel until dry. Using a sharp knife, score the fat about 1/8 inch deep to allow the spices to penetrate the meat and help the fat to drain off.

Here is a picture of the spices I used.
These have a bold garlic taste and the herbs compliment the flavor of the meat.

Place a large amount of the spices into your hands and push and rub the spices into the meat.

Do this on all sides of the meat.

Here you can see the meat is well seasoned. I then wrapped the meat in plastic until I was ready to cook them. This will also allow the seasoning to somewhat marinade the meat.

Heat your grill to medium heat and place the fat side down to get some initial cooking on the fatty side. Here I have the burners on directly under the meat.

Here you can see I am cooking more food in the pot next to the grill.

Cook the meat on the fatty side until you begin to get some good char.

(Easter Bunny Carrots Grilling as well.)
Once you have the char you like, turn the meat over and begin to cook the meat on the other side. Now, turn off the burners directly under the meat and turn on the ones to the outside of the meat to medium high. This will prevent the fat from catching on fire and burning your meat. Having the burners on will roast the meat from the heat on both sides.

Cook your pork roasts until they have an internal temperature of ~140’F.

The heated juices will raise the meats internal temperature to 145’F as the meat rests. The heated juices will return to the center of the meat if you let it rest for ~15 min.

If you don’t let it rest and immediately cut into the roast, those moving juices will just run all over your plate. Here you can see a nice end cut of the meat. Trust me, it is difficult to let the meat rest as it looks so good!
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Leftovers……. 🙂
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Easter Bunny Food

Here Gordon is preparing the multi-colored carrots for roasting in the grill. Slice off both ends of the carrots and peel them if you like.

Her you can see the sliced carrots.

He roasted the carrots above the pork where they will cook absorbing the great pork flavors. Roast them until just tender about 35 minutes.
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Sea Island Red Peas

Soak the Red Peas in water for at least 24 hours. This will re-hydrate the peas.

Just place them in any sort of container with a lid.

After 24 hours when the peas are tender then drain them of the excess water through a colander and rinse them.
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Here you can see the peas after they have absorbed the water and are ready for cooking.

Mackenzie showing off her knife skills by slicing a medium yellow onion to a small dice.

Add the diced onion to a large saute pan with a few tablespoons of bacon fat/grease. Let the onions cook for a few minutes then add some diced ham. I buy the Deli end cuts all the time from the Commissary (Military Supermarket) This isn’t sold in most stores. The end cuts are exactly that, the ends of the meat that are cut off to get to the nicer slices. In the Commissary they are half the price per pound and are perfect for dishes like this. Brodie is slightly browning the onions and ham together where each will absorb the other’s flavors, along with the great taste of the bacon fat!

Here you can see Brodie sauteing the ingredients with the bacon fat.

Cook the peas in a large amount of water to help them become tender. This will take a few hours of cooking. I didn’t add much salt to the water as the pork and bacon fat have enough salt in them.

Since I was cooking at the grill, I thought it would be a great idea to use my grill’s side burner as shown. Cover the Red Peas and cook them until tender.
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Cooking the Red Peas on the Grill Burner

Once the peas are tender, remove most of the water and add the pork and onion mixture, cover with a lid and place on low heat stirring occasionally so they don’t burn.

Seeing as how we ate outside we didn’t plate the peas. We just kept them on a simmer to stay warm and everyone just helped themselves.
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Smith House Yeast Rolls

Below are the ingredients from above:
1 Package Yeast
1 1/2 Cups lukewarm water
2 Unbeaten Eggs
4 Tbsp. Sugar
1 tsp. Salt
3/4 Cups Wesson Oil
4 1/2 Cups Plain Flour
When ready to bake:
1 Stick of Melted Butter

Smith House Recipe Yeast Dough
(Waiting for the dough to rise.)

Made by Brodie and Mackenzie


Mackenzie ready to make some biscuits from scratch!

Here are all the ingredients they used to make the great biscuits.

Here they are dissolving the yeast in a bowl in the lukewarm water.

Brodie is then adding the Wesson Oil to the bowl.

Stir in a little bit of the sugar to help the yeast activate which will only take a few minutes. You will see frothy bubbles forming when the yeast activates or blooms.

Once the yeast activates, add in the rest of the ingredients.
Here they are adding the eggs.

Then add the salt, sugar, and lastly the flour. Mix all the ingredients together as shown.

Adding more flour….

as you add the flour, you will see the dough start to form.

This is what you will get once all the flour is added. Now, knead the flour folding it over and over again on itself for a few minutes. This will help to combine all the ingredients and start the dough to form gluten, which makes the dough elastic.

Place the dough in a large bowl that has been lightly oiled. Oil the dough as well which as is grows will help it to rise along the sides of the bowl. Place the dough in a warm spot and cover with a dish cloth. If it is cold out, I will use my oven for this. Turn the oven on for about 30 seconds then turn it off and place the covered bowl inside. Don’t open the oven for about 45 min.

Here you can see the dough has risen.

Now punch down the dough as Brodie is doing and place the dough back in the warm spot for another 45 min. to let it rise again.

Here you can see the dough has risen a second time and Brodie is now ready to roll it out on a floured surface.

Lightly sprinkle the flour over the counter top as shown. Remove the dough from the bowl and begin to flatten it to 3/4 of an inch thick.

Brodie is placing a little flour on top as well to prevent the roller from sticking.

Melt one stick of butter in the microwave.

Using a biscuit cutter, cut the biscuits into perfect rounds.

Here you can see the nicely cut biscuits.

Remove the excess dough and form it again into 3/4 inch round and continue to cut out more biscuits.

Spray some oil onto a baking pan and place your biscuits on it with a little separation as shown. They then brushed the butter on the top of the biscuits instead of dunking them as per the recipe directions.

Set the biscuits aside for about 30 min. to let the biscuits rise for a third time.

Here, the biscuits are ready to be baked at 400’F for about 10 – 12 min. or until lightly browned. Halfway through the baking, turn the biscuit pan in the oven for even baking.

The Smell is Amazing!

Because these were made the day before Easter we allowed them to cool and then ate them at room temperature the following day. That’s the thing about bread. It tastes good hot, neutral, or cold. 🙂

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Macaroni and Cheese

Macaroni and Cheese is always a favorite at our house. I especially love the colorful pasta that we use when we do make it. This time I had some lovely Bow Tie Pasta’s from Italy that I wanted for us to use. They are vegetable dyed. Brodie and Mackenzie made this the day before Easter and we just kept it in the refrigerator overnight, and then baked it about an hour or so before we ate.
This is a recipe that we sometimes change up our cheeses by using whatever we have in our refrigerator. But, most of the time they are white cheeses like Manchego, Parmesan and Gruyere. White cheese also has less cholesterol than the yellow ones.
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Ingredients:
About 1 Pound of Pasta
4 T. Flour
4 T. Butter/Margarine
3 Cups of Milk (I used Skim)
1 Cup Half and Half
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Grated Nutmeg (About a good sized Pinch)
4 Cups White Grated Cheeses of Your Choice
(We used Gruyere, Manchego, White Cheddar, Fontina, Parmesan, and some leftover Cheeses.)

Gordon Supervising the Cooking… a great teaching moment!

To make the Cheese Sauce (in culinary terms called a Mornay Sauce) you first have to make a roux, then a gravy (Bechamel Sauce), then a Cheese Sauce (Mornay Sauce or Fondue). This is done by first measuring out equal parts flour and oil/fat/butter/bacon grease. As you can see you can make many different flavors of roux as it will be based upon the fat you use. About 1 Tbsp. of flour will make just over 1 cup or so of Bechamel Sauce.
Using a large saute pan or cast iron skillet, melt your butter over medium heat then add your flour. Mix the two together making a wet sand consistency. Continue to cook the now roux for about 3 min. stirring constantly. You need to cook the flour slightly which will rid it of that flour taste. You don’t want the roux to turn color as it will not be able to thicken as much the more it browns.
TIP: If you want to make a brown gravy, simply continue to cook the flour and butter mixture until you get a light brown. The mixture will also turn a slight amber if you cook it longer, but this will not thicken as much as a light brown roux will which is a typical brown gravy. Follow the rest of the below procedures to make the brown gravy.
Now that you have slightly cooked the flour and butter, add 3 cups of milk and continue to stir all the ingredients together. In just a short time the magic will happen and the milk will thicken.

Here you can see Brodie adding the milk to the roux. After making it many times, you won’t need to measure the milk you add.

Here you can see the ingredients getting thick. Once it begins to thicken again, add your half and half and stir in to combine. You can see it has thickened when you can make a line in the pan and it stays. You can also use a whisk for this step if needed to make smooth. Once combined, turn down the temperature to low.
Congratulations… you have now made a Bechamel Sauce!
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To make a Mornay Sauce, simply add your cheese! Using your spatula, stir all the ingredients together. As the cheese melts it will create a beautiful smooth sauce.

TIP: If the Mornay sauce is too thick, add a little more milk or half and half and stir to combine. As the flour sits, it will continue to absorb the liquids, so you may have to add a touch more milk or Half and Half just before serving as a Fondue if it sits for a period of time.

Here you can see they added a touch more milk making the Mornay nice and creamy!
Perfect guys! They are also done cooking the pasta in a large pot of boiling water… nice timing!

Drain the pasta in a large colander as shown, being sure not to rinse it. Rinsing it would remove the starch making the cheese not stick to the pasta.

Here they are grating some fresh nutmeg to the Mornay Sauce. It just doesn’t get any better than that!

Stir in to combine.

I really enjoy teaching my son all the culinary things I learned over the years and at school. It’s also great that Mackenzie is interested in learning as well.

He and Mackenzie have really become great cooks.
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Now time to add the pasta to a large bowl and ladle in the Mornay sauce.

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Continue to add the Mornay Sauce to the pasta until it is to your liking. Gently fold all the ingredients together so as not to breakup the pasta.

Add a ladle of Mornay Sauce to the bottom of the baking dish as well…
this will help prevent the pasta from sticking or burning.

Then pour your pasta into the baking dish.

Place the pan into a 350’F oven for about 45 min. or until the mixture begins to boil around the edges and middle. If you want you can top with some grated cheese or breadcrumbs if you like.
Always a family favorite!
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Grammaw Nell’s Squash Casserole
This is a family recipe that my grandmother would make quite a bit. Except, she never topped hers with cheese and breadcrumbs. Hers was perfect just the way that it was. BUT, I have experimental cooks and a chef in the family that likes to change things up every now and then. Hence, the toppings. It was good, but you don’t mess with perfection and you DON’T mess with a tried and true family recipe. I just wanted to think of her on this day and taste her recipe, not something new.

Ready for the Oven
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Brodie and Mackenzie also made this, with Gordon’s supervision, of course. They made it the day before Easter which helped out tremendously, and we baked it about an hour or so before we ate dinner. It really does help to eliminate the stress and amount of cooking if you can make things ahead of time.
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Ingredients: Squash Casserole
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Old Photo of my Grandmother’s Casserole and what it is supposed to look like.

Here are The Ingredients For HER Casserole
4 Zucchini Squash (sliced into rings)
7 Yellow Squash (sliced into rings)
3 Onions (sliced into half rings)
1 1/2 Cups Sharp Cheddar Cheese (1/4 Cup reserved)
3 Eggs Beaten
1/2 Cup Miracle Whip
3/4 Cup Seasoned Bread Crumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste

And this is how clean it comes out when done.
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Here is the start of Gordon, Brodie and Mackenzie’s Squash Casserole
(I’ll let Gordon do this write up.)

Slice your Zucchini and Yellow Squash into ¼ inch thick round slices.

Then slice your onions the same way into rounds. Place all the Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and Onion into a large pot adding enough water to just cover them.

Bring the water to a boil and add about a tsp. of salt to the pot and vegetables. Boil the vegetables for about 5 min. or until just tender.

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Occasionally remove a round of squash to test its tenderness. You don’t want it fully cooked and mushy, to be technical. You want the squash to still have a little bite to it.

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When done, pour the squash and onion rounds into a colander and drain fully.
In a large mixing bowl, mix together your eggs, and Miracle Whip, then add your cheddar cheese.
Pour the drained squash and onions into the cheese mixture and add a touch more salt and freshly ground pepper.



Fold all the ingredients together until fully mixed.

Here is what it looks like when fully combined.


Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray and add the squash and cheese mixture to the dish.

Add your seasoned breadcrumbs to the top of the casserole. Bake the casserole at 350 for ~45 min.
(Ignore that fried SPAM in the photo at left, top.) 🙂
About 5 minutes before the casserole is done you can top it with more cheese and then place back into the oven to finish cooking and to melt the cheese.
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Into the Oven Go our Squash Casserole and our Macaroni and Cheese Dishes
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Vegetables on the Stove Top Cooking
L to R: Lima Beans, Corn and Creamed Corn, Pot of Mashed Potatoes and Carrots, Green Beans and Blue Potatoes, and Purple Beets.

Mackenzie Stirring the Corn, and Creamed Corn
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Time to Make the Blue Potatoes and Green Beans

Scrub and wash your potatoes.
Slice into quarters about 2 to 3 potatoes per person. Place the potatoes into a large pot of water and turn the water on to boil. Add about ½ tsp. salt to the water to add flavor to the potatoes.

Cook the potatoes until they are fork tender which takes about 15 min. of boiling.

At the same time, wash your green beans and cut off the ends.

Place the beans in a pot of water as shown and boil them for about 10 min. or until just tender.

Drain the beans in a colander and add the cooked potatoes to the green beans in the pan.

You can reserve a little bit of the water so they don’t burn and just keep the burner on low until ready to serve. You could also add a little bit of olive oil and some garlic powder if you like.
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Purple Beets
(This pretty much came from a can heated up on the stove top so there is no write up.)
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Corn, Creamed Corn, and Blue Potatoes and Green Beans
(The Corn and Creamed Corn came from cans as well so there is no recipe for these. I was just a bit disappointed that the creamed corn was so runny and I added a can of regular corn just to thicken it up.)
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Roasted Brussel Sprouts
This is also a big family favorite of ours as well. Easy and delicious. Can also be prepared a few days in advance but does need to roast the day of.

Brodie Placing the Brussel Sprouts onto a Sheet Pan with Foil
(Although we don’t have many photos in the preparation of these. I can explain to you what we did.)
A Few Days Before Easter…..
Wash the Brussel Sprouts and slice them in half. Place the cut halves into a large Ziplock Bag and marinate the cut halves in about 2 packets of dry Zesty Italian Seasoning Mix. Add just enough Extra Virgin Olive Oil to the sprouts to just coat them. Marinate the sprouts in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.

Place a sheet of non-stick aluminum foil on a sheet pan and place the sprouts cut side down. Roast the sprouts at 400”F for ~20-25 min. or until the cut side turns slightly brown and caramelized.

Roasting in the Oven for Easter
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Mashed Potatoes with Carrots
(This recipe is based on Gordon’s sister Heather’s recipe. I, Julie, first ate Heather’s Mashed Potatoes with Carrots when we stayed with them in Orlando in 1986 on our way to Hawaii to live. She made these for us and they are the best mashed potatoes that I have ever eaten. To tell you the truth, I don’t even remember what else we ate. I only cared about these. Which is why I wanted to recreate these for this Easter meal.)
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Wash and peel about 8 potatoes and cut them into medium chunks. Wash and peel your carrots as well and cut them into rounds or chunks. Place your potatoes into a large pot of water and turn on high to boil.
TIP: If you place the cold potatoes into boiling water, you will over cook the outside of the potatoes before the inside is cooked. This is why some peoples potato salad is mushy and the potatoes don’t have a nice shape to them.

After the potatoes have cooked for about 15 min. add your carrots to the pot. Yes, the boiling water will cook the outside of the carrot faster, but the carrot is a little more dense and hearty than a potato and won’t hurt it. Cook the carrot and potatoes for about another 10 min. or until the carrots are tender and the potatoes are fully cooked.

When cooked, pour the carrots and potatoes into a colander.



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Add a few tablespoons of butter the the pot.

Then add some course Sea Salt.

Then some fresh cracked pepper.

Lastly, add about 1/2 Cup of milk to the pot.

Using a potato masher, mash the potatoes and carrots until just combined. Over mixing these ingredients will make them turn to paste. Taste the mixture, and add salt, pepper, butter or more milk if needed.

A nice twist on simple mashed potatoes.
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Lima Beans

Gordon HATES Lima Beans! 🙂
These came from a can so there is no recipe but at least I don’t have to worry about Gordon eating them all. 🙂
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“Homemade” Gravy

SouthEastern Mills, Inc.
Rome, Georgia
(Gravy from home.) 🙂
I am originally from Rome, Georgia so this gravy is HOME! It is a white gravy, which is a country gravy. We just followed the package directions. You can always add a spice or two to anything. Remember that. Although we didn’t doctor this up, you always can.
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Cute Spooky and Sparky Doggie Break
w/ their Stuffed Critters

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I wanted to give a big THANK YOU to Brodie and Mackenzie for all that they did to make this holiday meal special.
I knew that they had done a lot of the cooking but I never realized just how much they did until I put all of this together when I worked on this post.
They have a future of bringing delicious meals to their own table and satisfying their future guests with their cuisines.
We love you guys!!!!
Julie and Gordon
(Just invite us over occasionally.) 🙂
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Good Lighting, Camera, ACTION!

Happy Easter!
Good Morning! Rise and Shine! Our Sunny Kitchen Table —————————————————————– Is Everybody Hungry? Juice? Coffee? Oh, I know, how about our: Whole Wheat Heaven and Heat Breakfast Muffins? Don’t they smell absolutely delicious? If you’d like the recipe scroll down the …