We had a lovely Easter feast…yum! It was slightly Italian inspired & but slightly traditional to an all-American Easter meal (ham included). We basically made a bunch of spring/Italian foods that we love and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

My aunt and uncle joined us and the company was just wonderful. Here are my favorite recipes from that meal (both deviled eggs and roasted veggies are easy to make – with a simple google or Pinterest search you can figure out how to do them yourself). These recipes are great for spring or summer (actually all year round)! Whatever you make for your special holidays I hope you have fun and enjoy the feasting!

On the menu:

Bacon-wrapped Dates

Ham (Honey Baked Style)

Roasted Chicken with Fresh Herbs

Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan

Strawberry Salad

Classic Deviled Eggs

Italian Bread & Butter

Laura’s Bacon & Date Roll-Ups

Ingredients:

-Pitted Dates

-Cream Cheese

-Bacon

Directions:

Select pitted dates (or pit yourself). Add cream cheese. Wrap with bacon (about half a slice per date). Bake at 400 for 15 – 30 minutes (bacon should be cooked & golden)!

Aunt Evelyn’s Strawberry-Romaine Salad

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vegetable oil

• ½ cup red wine vinegar

• 2 cloves garlic (minced)

• ¾ cup sugar

• ½ tsp. salt

• ½ tsp. paprika

• ¼ tsp. ground white pepper

• 1 large head of romaine lettuce

• 1 head of Boston lettuce

• 1 pint strawberries (sliced) (you can sub w/ raspberries or kiwi’s*)

• 1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

• ½ cup chopped walnuts (toasted)

Directions:

Combine first seven ingredients for dressing. Blend in blender or

shake in large covered jar or container.  Tear washed lettuce into

bite size pieces. Combine lettuce & other ingredients in large salad bowl. Pour dressing over salad and toss gently (you will have more dressing than you need so go easy on pouring it to toss).  The dressing should keep in your fridge for at least a week and the salad should easily serve 12 people making this great for a party & left-overs!

*for 4th of July you could add blueberries for color*

This post was originally posted in 2011 and has been reposted in a few different ways. While the photos are not great quality, I believe that the menu and the recipes here in this post are great and so this post has been updated for content and clarity.