In my family, if the eggs survived the hunt, we’d make egg salad for the next day’s sack lunch.  And, to this day, there is nothing I love more than a really good egg salad sandwich made with really good mayonnaise on really good wheat bread.

This recipe is another family recipe and is from my grandmother – Medora III. Every time I make it, I think of her….and smile.

Egg Salad
Serves 3 – 4

4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped
1 finely chopped celery stalk (no ends or leaves)
1 Tbsp. sweet pickle relish
¼ cup, more or less, of mayonnaise – use either Duke’s or Hellman’s
½ tsp. onion powder
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
A couple of dashes of Tabasco sauce

Instructions:

In a medium/large mixing bowl, gently toss the eggs, celery and relish together.
In a small bowl, mix together well the mayonnaise, onion powder, salt, pepper and Tabasco sauce. Fold into the egg mixture and refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.
Special Note: During warm weather, be sure to keep egg salad well-chilled. And, if it has been left out for more than an hour or so, it is probably wise not to eat it.

Easter Egg Decorating Tips & Instructions:

Melted Crayon Egg Decorating

What You Need:

HOT Hardboiled Eggs

Crayons

Food coloring or egg dye

Just hard boil your eggs and while they are still hot use crayons to draw/decorate on them.

Tip: Put them on a surface little hands can easily manipulate to minimize them actually having to touch the hot egg. The egg cartons work well.  You can shift the carton around to work on the different sections of the egg.

The crayon glides on smoothly, melting right onto the hot egg which produces some awesome looking results.

After the crayon is complete, place the egg into the dye or food coloring and the crayon designs will really stand out!

Shaving Cream Egg Decorating

What You Need:

hardboiled eggs

food coloring

shaving cream

vinegar

dish or tray to work on

lots of napkins

Dip your eggs in vinegar before you start dyeing - this is supposed to help seal in the color.

Start with shaving cream on a tray and added dots of food color

Using the tip of a paintbrush swirl food color to give a fun marbled look.

Tip: You don’t want to swirl too much or the colors end up getting too mixed and brownish.

Drop in egg and cover with mixture completely (use gloves since food coloring will get on your hands!)

Remove eggs and let sit with shaving cream mixture

After a couple hours, wipe off shaving cream and you have a unique colored egg!

Tie Dye Easter Eggs

What You Need:

eggs

food color

paper towels

spray bottle

vinegar

water

plastic baggies

rubber bands

tray

Start by putting 3 napkins on a tray or other work surface.

Add dots of food color as desired.

Fill your spray bottle with water and add a few tsp of vinegar.

Spray the napkin till it’s wet and colors have bled together.

Put hardboiled egg in middle of napkin and wrap it so that napkin touches each part of egg and excess is on top.

Put wrapped egg in plastic baggie and tie with rubber band.

Let sit for a few hours – the longer they marinate the brighter the colors!

Oil & Vinegar Marbleized Eggs

For these just add a tsp. or two of oil into your food coloring mixture & then dip your egg into 1 color & remove.

Gently wipe off the excess oil and then dip into another color!

Dip into as many colors as you like for a cool marbled effect.

Cape Cod

2 ounces vodka
4 ounces cranberry juice

Shake vodka and cranberry juice vigorously in a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Strain into a chilled glass.  Add a slice of lemon/lime on the rim of the glass for garnish/decoration.

Cosmo 

1 oz vodka
1/2 oz triple sec
1/2 oz  lime juice
1/2 oz cranberry juice

If desired, serve in sugar frosted glasses by dipping the rim into water/lemon/lime juice and then dipping the rim of the glass into sugar. Shake vodka, triple sec, lime juice and cranberry juice vigorously in a shaker with ice. Strain into a martini glass and serve.

Red Hot Chili Cream Cheese Dip 

1 8 ounce package of cream cheese

½ cup of Franks’s Redhot Sweet Chili Sauce OR melted pepper jelly

Place block of cream cheese in the middle of a serving dish and bring to room temperature.  Pour your sauce of choice – either the chili sauce or melted pepper jelly.  To melt pepper jelly, microwave in a small dish for 30 seconds or until liquid enough to pour over the cream cheese.

Serve the dip with your choice of crackers, chips, cut-up vegetables or a mixture.

Red Velvet Cake 

½ cup unsalted butter – room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

2 eggs – room temperature

1 tsp. Mexican vanilla

3 TBSPS. Cocoa

2 TBSPS. red food coloring

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 ½ cups sifted flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 TBSP. white vinegar

Preheat oven to 350°.  Spray 3, 9” round cake baking pans with baking spray with flour. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.

In a small bowl, mix the cocoa and food coloring to form a paste.  Add this paste to the butter mixture and blend together.

In a separate large bowl, sift together the baking soda, salt and flour. Add the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk to the butter mixture.  Add the vinegar with the last of the buttermilk and blend well.

Pour batter into the prepared pans and bake in preheated oven for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool for 15 – 20 minutes in the pans.  Then, remove from pans to wire racks and let cool completely.  Frost tops and sides with white icing.

White Icing 

1 cup of milk

3 TBSPS. flour

½ tsp. salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 cups powdered sugar

2 tsps. Mexican vanilla

Stir together milk, flour and salt in a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick.  Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, powdered sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer.  Add the cooked milk mixture and beat well.

Instead, what I’ve learned to do over time is to get up each morning with the intention of doing my best in whatever tasks I must accomplish that day.  I view each day as a new beginning so I don’t wait for January 1st to start anew. This seems to work best for me as my entire year is then a journey of hope and optimism no matter what any given day brings.  As Scarlett O’Hara  said, “tomorrow IS another day.” And, keeping that credo in mind has helped me cope through many a difficult day. Why?  Because things – and circumstances -change.  So, I just wait out the trials and tribulations of life.

Now for those who prefer to make yearly resolutions, I do have 5 suggestions – none of which involve that dreaded four-letter word, “diet” – that are basically some of the attitudes/actions I try to dedicate myself to each day.  Admittedly, I’m more successful some days than others.

1. Learn from and honor the past but let go of those memories that are painful and/or toxic.
2. Live in the present , savoring each moment and experience. Be grateful for the good moments and seek to learn from the negative ones.
3. Look forward to the future.  This is especially helpful if the past or present is difficult.
4. Learn something new each day that will improve your mind or sharpen a skill/talent.
5. Look around, listen to and learn from others. The purpose of this is to see if there is anything that you can do to help someone.  That help needn’t be grandiose and it is very often the simple acts of kindness that are most effective, most needed and most appreciated.

Here’s to a healthy, joyful and peaceful 2013 for us all!