The day after EASTER

EVERYTHING IS POPPING!

The chives, the mint, the Magnolias- everything is blooming weeks ahead of schedule and no one wants to give this up!
I wish I had taken picture of the foods I made for Easter Dinner. Being from Wisconsin, we used to always do Easter Dinner. But when I moved to Illinois, I was surprised to find out EVERYONE ( ok, the majority) do brunch. My husband and I often did brunch with the relatives if we were in town. When on Spring breaks with the boys, we always did brunch so we could get to the beach. So when we had brunch, I never knew what we were suppose to do the rest of the day....So yesterday we had dinner. Such a beautiful day~ Mass, then bloodies with good friends and a quick scamper home to fling open the doors/windows to let the warm breezes come in, get the boys to help clean the bathrooms, vacuum and finish up the dinner. I often used these family dinners to try out new recipes so I can them tweek them or make the adjustments. I made this gelatin recipe which I found on the Myrecipes. com site. I would definitely make changes- they were pretty on the table and beckoned one to check them out but they were really too stiff
I also made a puree of cauliflower ( so Atkins! ) and served a grilled, marinated lamb. We also had a side of potato patties, topped with chimichurra and goat cheese. A tossed salad with homemade French dressing and a multi seed dinner rolls made with Rhodes frozen rolls. Um! And the dessert my sister made, OMG! Now that was something to see and share. She made a chocolate torte with fresh strawberries.our water glasses had fresh cucumber slices- such a refreshing change!