Memories and Moments by GrannyJo

I SMELL A MEMORY
Copyright 2003

EASTER BASKET OF MEMORIES

There we were, all dressed up in flowery dresses with new spring coats, hats and purses to match, shiny Mary Janes clicking noisily down the walk in the Easter Parade to St. Barth’s. All the boys looked stiff and uncomfortable in their little suits, white shirts and ties, but they, too, strolled beside their parents on the way to Mass, one beautiful Easter Sunday morning in the forties.

1948

COUSINS CONNIE AND PAT

We’d been up several hours, eager to find the colored eggs and treasure-laden baskets that the Easter Bunny had left us, along with the new outfits. We’d enjoyed the traditional Easter breakfast of fruit cocktail with bananas, frittata, toasted Easter Bread and Café’ Latte; fitting fare to break the abstinence of the past 40 days of Lent. Now we were going to church to celebrate the religious glory of the meaning of Easter.

Meanwhile at home, sauce was simmering for the homemade cheese ravioli that was always served at Easter dinner. There would be chicken and braccioli cooking away in the sauce until oh! -- so tender!

The usual mountain of tossed salad appeared with the ravioli, and then we would have a course of baked ham, sweet potatoes glazed in the ham juice and pineapple slices that were brushed with brown sugar and broiled.

Dessert was usually some type of layered Jello-O fantasy, depending on what was all the rage that year, and the ever present nut roll. Of course, there was never any lack of candy, including what came in the baskets and the luscious fruit and nut or marshmallow nut eggs from the confectioners. The latter two were so rich, that slices were cut from the huge eggs and quartered. A little went a long, long way!

We usually had our Easter Dinner about 1:00 p.m. and then we’d go visiting to the homes of our relatives, to be back in the evening in time for them to come and visit us! Most of the time, folks were a bit hungry again by then, so we’d be munching ham sandwiches, hard-boiled eggs from the hunt, some pickles and pickled peppers and there would be plenty of sweet Easter Bread to toast and butter, along with nut roll and Jello-O. Thus passed another holiday to be remembered by the scent of spring flowers, and the tantalizing aromas and flavors of something good.

When our children were young, in the sixties and early seventies, we still did the new outfits for them and had much fun awaiting the Easter Bunny and hunting eggs. Our breakfast held as true to tradition as always and even today the grandchildren get new duds, while the bill of fare doesn’t vary to any great extent. Sometimes we have turkey for dinner, since we get the yen for it by then, so far from Thanksgiving, but we have never done without cheese ravioli in my memory. I make Easter Bread and nut roll--if there isn’t any in the freezer from Christmas, and most of the time I make the ravioli, too, although you can now buy them frozen, and of quite good quality.

Spring and Easter always bring about opportunities for new memories, and why not? Spring is the beginning of everything young and fresh and smelling sweetly of new life. It is time to remember the past and relive the traditional, while we savor the aromas of the present world around us.
(See EASTER MENUS & RECIPES)

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EASTER SUNDAY BREAKFAST
MENU

FRUIT COCKTAIL WITH SLICED BANANAS
TOASTED EASTER BREAD
FRITTATA
KIELBASA
COFFEE -- CAFÉ LATTE
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EASTER BREAKFAST
RECIPES

Frittata

Preheat Oven to 325

9x11x2 Glass Baking Dish
(Butter heavily on bottom & sides)

1 lb Loose Italian Sausage, brown and drain well

8 oz Pepperoni, sliced thin

8 Eggs - ½ C Milk - 1 tsp Salt - ½ tsp Baking Powder

Arrange Pepperoni slices to layer bottom of baking dish. Blend Eggs, Milk, Salt and Baking Powder in blender for 1 minute.
Pour over Pepperoni in dish.
Sprinkle cooked Sausage over the Eggs, pressing under the batter slightly with a spoon.
Bake until Butter Knife inserted in center comes out clean and top of Frittata starts to brown--20 to 30 minutes.

Cut in 2 inch squares and serve straight from the baking dish.

Easter Bread

Large Bowl for mixing and raising

Large Cookie Sheets for Baking

4 Packs Rapid Rise Yeast, dissolved in 1 C very warm Water
After yeast is dissolved add 4 T Sugar, dissolve & set aside

12 Large Eggs Beat in Mixer 5 minutes on High speed. Beat in 30 drops of Yellow Food Coloring (a bit more if you like a deep yellow color.)

While Eggs are beating:

Heat 1 13 oz Can Evaporated Milk Heated to very HOT
Remove from heat and add 1 STICK BUTTER, allow to melt
Cool the milk mixture to warm and add to the yeast mixture - set aside

Slowly add 3 C SUGAR to the beating Eggs, beating constantly and scraping bowl until the mixture is creamy and light.

Beat in 4 oz. Pure Vanilla.

Alternately add approximately 14 C All Purpose Flour and the Yeast/Milk Mixture beating well each time. Start and end with the FLOUR. To the first Cup of Flour and 1 T SALT.

When the batter is too heavy for the mixer, use a wooden spoon. After all flour and liquid is used, flour a board well and turn out the dough, working in enough more flour, as needed, to make a VERY stiff dough.

When dough is stiff enough, KNEAD 5 to 10 minutes, or until dough is elastic and shiny.

Oil a BIG BOWL on sides and bottom in which to raise the dough. Put ball of dough into pan, punch down a bit and turn over, oil side up. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double. This takes 4 to 6 hours with rapid rise yeast, and up to 12 hours for regular yeast, because of all the sugar and vanilla. DON’T PANIC! Easter Bread is a creation of “patience”.

When dough is risen the first time, punch down, cover and let rise again until double. (Takes about half the time of the first rise.)

When dough is doubled, cut it into 8 pieces. Form round smooth balls about the size of a grapefruit. Place on lightly oiled cookie sheet 2 or 3 to a sheet---or---

Shape 3 rolled lengths of dough into a braid, and place an egg into the dough for a ‘head’. Place 2 or 3 dolls on each sheet. (Draw a ‘face’ on the baby doll after the bread is baked and cooled.---OR--- make any combination of loaves and dolls in any size you desire.

Cover loaves with clean towels and let rise in warm place until double. (2 to 4 hours) Again, Don’t Panic. Loaves need to be airy and light or they won’t bake through. Time and Patience are your best friends when you are baking Easter Bread.

Preheat Oven to 325. Bake on middle rack, one or two trays at a time, depending on size of your oven. Do not bake on double racks, however. Bread takes about 20 minutes to bake--check in 15. Medium brown color and a hollow sound when tapped, indicates bread is done. Remove from sheet and cool on rack.

You can decorate the loaves with confectioner’s icing, or if you wish a shiny brown loaf, beat an egg together with a tablespoon of milk and brush on loaves before baking.

(I made enough dough to make 4 baby dolls and 8 small loaves of bread to give as gifts and for Easter Breakfast here. I started at 4 P.M. on Tuesday and helped myself to some 'patience' by letting it rise through the night. I finished the baking at 1:00 P.M. on Wednesday afternoon...and slept most of today. 8-) Happy Easter, EVERYONE and enjoy your day of Memories!