Happy Easter!

I hope you and your family and friends had a wonderful Easter holiday together.  My family had a small gathering at our house -- the first time we celebrated Easter here!  While I don't typically blog about food, I'd like to share a few of my new-found recipes that were quite a hit!  Be fore-warned: these definitely aren't low fat dishes, but I'm a firm believer that calories don't count on holidays!

The first is Tyler Florence's Tangerine-Glazed Easter Ham -- which my hubby will definitely not let me wait until next Easter to try again.

I had difficulties finding Tangerines in stock at our local grocery stores, but Trader Joe's had a great deal on mandarins, which are actually widely available in the Sacramento Area.  Be prepared, though -- it took about 16 mandarins to get 2 cups of juice.  The resulting glaze, however, was heavenly!

I also used some fresh rosemary in my initial herb rub, as I had some growing fresh in the yard.
(photo courtesy of www.foodnetwork.com)

Next up was Scalloped Potatoes with Creme Fraiche.  If you've never used Creme Fraiche before - it's Auh-MAZ-ing!  It's a French concoction that is somewhere between whipped butter, sour cream, and cream cheese.  Creme Fraiche is available in most specialty grocery stores and Trader Joe's.

The sauce made according to the recipe was rich, but a little on the bland side, so I added some carmelized onions and a good portion of Costco's Salt-Free Herb and Seasoning Mix.

In an effort to lower the fat-content, I used Fat-Free Half-and-Half which resulted in a bit of a watery sauce.  Next time, I'm going all out and just pouring the fat on!!

(photo courtesy of www.foodnetwork.com)

For dessert, I opted to make a Meyer Lemon Bundt cake with my brand new Bundt pan that the Easter Bunny brought me!  He he he.

Meyer Lemons are great for cooking with, especially in desserts!  They're much sweeter than your typical lemon and very fragrant.

I could not, for the life of me, find cranberries - either fresh or frozen - so I used frozen blueberries instead, and I think it turned out pretty well.

Unfortunately, I didn't read the part about pouring the Meyer Lemon Simple Syrup over the cake the night BEFORE, which is really too bad, because it was really, really good!  I'll bet leftovers, tomorrow, will be even better!!

(photo courtesy of www.foodnetwork.com)

And last, but not least ... one of these little peeps were at each place setting:

This picture is of the real deal, courtesy of my hubby.