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Easter at Babci’s was very special. Her enamel coffee pot on the back of the stove would be filled with chicoried black liquid, and the ham in the oven gave off a brown sugared warm aroma.

The colored Easter eggs were in a brown basket on top of a hand crocheted white doily right next to the yellow raisin bread. The polish sausage (kielbasa) was wrapped in tin foil and was slowly cooking along with the ham in the oven. Her pickled beets were everyone’s favorite…her recipe sits below for you. All of the food was fine indeed but the focal point in Babci’s kitchen was not the food so much as her love. Her easy smile, her selfless caring, Babci was the draw.

Pickled Beets

2 cans of Red Beets
2tbsp. of brown sugar
2tbsp. of cider vinegar
Touch of salt
Thinly sliced onions
A dash of pepper

Mix all ingredients together and place in a large glass jar…overnight in fridge. You may add whole hard boiled eggs that have been peeled. This colorful array makes a nice addition to your Easter festivities.

© 2000 Caroline Shaw

by Christine Steendahl

Easter is just about here and one of the fun activities to enjoy this and every Easter season is to decorate Easter eggs. Easter eggs are easy and enjoyable to decorate; you just need to adhere to the following hints.

Easter eggs generally start with hard boiled eggs, so shop for a dozen or two for adorning. Put them in boiling water for about 10 minutes. The eggs will cook and become hard boiled. Now just let them dry.

The easiest way to color your Easter eggs is to buy an Easter egg coloring kit. These kits most likely include dyes to paint your Easter eggs several colors, templates or stickers to decorate and design them, and an Easter egg holder to conveniently allow them to dry. Most kits only cost a few dollars and are very practical.

You can also create your own colored dye. You can mix about 1 tbsp. of food coloring with 1/2 teaspoon of vinegar, then add about 1/2 cup to a third cup of water. Now just soak your Easter egg into the colored cup of water. The longer your egg sits in the water, usually the deeper and darker the color.

In addition you can hand paint your Easter eggs. You can find many water color paints or other types of paints to design and decorate your eggs. Even undiluted food coloring generally works. It is important to note that you shouldn?t eat any eggs that you have used paint on.

Designing or coloring your egg is fun and easy as well. Once the eggs are hard boiled, you can affix stickers to the egg, use a brush to carefully coat a unique design, or adhere construction paper cut outs to your egg. Some people even dress their Easter eggs up with doll or handmade costumes made from cotton or other types of fabrics.

For a cute free Easter coloring page visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/easterbunny.pdf. For clever healthful Easter Basket Ideas take a look at http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com/article-easter-basket-idea.htm
Article Source: Lady Pens

by Michele Cooking-guru

Easter Brunch

Easter will be here soon. We get together for brunch with our family and enjoy Easter Egg hunts, visiting with each other, and great food. I love to bring an Oven Omelet dish. It’s quick, easy, and delicious.

Oven Omelet

1/4 cup butter, melted
18 eggs, beaten
1 cup sour cream
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup chopped green pepper (optional)
1/4 cup chopped onion (optional)
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups ham, cubed
1 small can mushrooms, sliced

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Melt butter and coat the bottom and sides of a 9×13 glass baking dish. Mix the remaining ingredients together and pour into buttered dish. Bake approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until done.

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About the Author: Michele Cooking-guru, is a 39 year old wife and mother of two teenagers. She grew up doing a lot of cooking for her family, and then married into a large family that loves to get together. So of course, more cooking. She’s also the guru at http://www.cooking-tips.com. She’d like to share cooking tips and recipes with you You can reach her at cookingguru@yahoo.com and visit her website at:Cooking Tips and Join her fabulous My Life-Tips Newsletter