Ideas for Easter brunch
An excellent way to preserve sanity and avoid a hectic Easter morning is to prepare breakfast the night before.
My sister, Donalda, makes a delicious holiday morning life-saver and serves it with Easter braid bread, fresh fruit and yogurt dip.
Holiday morning life-saver
16 slices whole 16
wheat bread, crusts
removed
16 slices low-fat ham 16
2 cups sliced 500mL
or shredded medium
cheddar cheese
6 eggs 6
1Ú4 teaspoon salt 1mL
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and pepper
1Ú2 teaspoon dry 2mL
mustard
1Ú4 cup chopped 50mL
onion
1Ú4 cup green pepper 50mL
2 teaspoons 10mL
Worcestershire sauce
3 cups milk 750mL
1Ú2 teaspoon 1mL
tabasco sauce
1Ú2 cup butter or 125mL
margarine
1 cup crushed 250mL
corn flakes
Place eight slices of bread on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch (22 x 33 centimetre) greased pan.
Layer with meat, then cheese, and top with remaining bread. In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add dry mustard, salt and pepper, onion, green pepper, Worcestershire sauce and tabasco sauce. Pour this mixture over the ingredients in the pan. Let stand overnight in the fridge.
In the morning, melt the butter and pour over top (for a lower-fat content, reduce the amount of butter.) Spread crushed corn flakes over entire mixture. Bake uncovered at 350 F (180 C) for one hour. Set for 10 minutes before serving.
This recipe was originally adapted from the Christmas Morning Wifesaver, The Best of Bridge.
To serve a sweet bread with the above meal, a cousin’s recipe for monkey rolls, also known as pull-aparts, also goes well.
Monkey rolls
Decorate the bottom of one or two bundt pans with red and green cherries and pecans.
2loaves frozen2
bread dough, cut into
16-32 pieces
Mix the next three ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar 250mL
1 small package 85g
caramel pudding
1 teaspoon 5mL
cinnamon
1Ú2 cup raisins 125mL
cherries and pecans
1Ú2 cup butter or 125mL
margarine, melted
Toss or roll the pieces of bread in the above mixture, and layer the bread, raisins and pecans, as desired, in the bottom of the bundt pan. Drizzle the 1Ú2 cup (125 mL) butter or margarine over the bread rolls. Cover with a damp cloth and allow to rise overnight in a warm place.
In the morning, bake the rolls for a half hour in a 350 F (180 C) oven, cool for a few minutes, and invert on a serving dish for a decorative appeal.
Healthy cooking
The Heart and Stroke Foundation has a list of ingredients to keep in your pantry for heart-healthy cooking:
- Brown rice, whole wheat pasta, bulgar and couscous.
- Frozen fruit and vegetables; use frozen fruit juice concentrate for dressings and glazes.
- Canned fruit (in light syrup or juice) and canned vegetables to make purees.
- Evaporated skim milk for a cream substitute.
- Canned beans, chickpeas and lentils.
- Lower-fat mayonnaise-type dressing.
- Vegetable oil and vegetable oil spray.
- Soft, non-hydrogenated margarine that is low in saturated fat.
Essential tools for heart-healthy cooks:
- Non-stick cookware and bakeware lets you cook without adding fat.
- Ridged grill pan for stovetop grilling. The ridges drain fat away.
- Pastry brush to help control the amount of oil you apply to foods and cooking surfaces.
- Food processor or a blender for pureeing fruits and vegetables.
- Parchment paper for fat-free lining of baking and roasting pans.
- Roasting rack for meats and poultry to allow fat to run off.
- Sharp kitchen knives for trimming fat and skin from meats, poultry and fish.
- Wok or large heavy skillet for stir-frying with little added fat.
- Cheesecloth or a fine sieve to thicken low-fat or fat-free yogurt. Place yogurt in a double thickness of cheesecloth or sieve over a bowl and refrigerate, allowing the whey to drain off. Three hours of straining gives a consistency like sour cream; eight hours results in a spreadable yogurt cheese.
- Egg separator to easily separate the white from the yolk. Egg whites are fat free.
- Steamer or microwave to cook vegetables and fruits in a small amount of water.
- Cookbooks that feature heart-healthy recipes and techniques.
