Happy Easter

My oldest daughter is at the University of Wyoming, and very much wanted her sisters to go back to college with her for a few days at the end of her spring break, which was Easter Sunday. So, they told the little brothers that they were going to write to the Easter Bunny (who I'm told gets his mail c/o Santa at the North Pole), and he magnanimously agreed to deliver Easter a day early. Yeah, my older kids are either (a) very good at carrying on myths for the benefit of little people, or (b) happy to get candy from any source, including invented rabbits. So, Easter Saturday it was, and what an Easter Saturday it was! The bunny hid all of their baskets together in a car trunk, instead of scattered through the house as he (she) usually does, and left a note on the front step telling them to check with "Steve", the car in question (who belongs to one of the girls, of course....mine are usually named "Start you piece of crap" because I start them so rarely).

Naturally, the dog thought the chase around the house was great fun, and whined because he couldn't have candy....ah, well, Milk Bones saved the day.

Lamb for dinner. I usually season it with rosemary and garlic, but decided to try something different. I highly recommend this, compliments of Craig Claiborne:

Roast Lamb

2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup diced carrot
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup diced scallion

Saute for about 5 minutes and scatter in the bottom of the roasting pan

1 leg of lamb
2 tbsp butter, softened
2 garlic cloves, sliced
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup white wine

Loosen the lamb from the bone, and insert the garlic therein. Place the lamb in the pan, atop the vegetables. Pour the wine over the lamb, then rub the softened butter over it, and sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast at 325 for 20 minutes per pound, basting occasionally. About 40 minutes before the lamb's done, remove the lamb from the pan, scoop out the vegetables, and return the lamb to the pan. Pour one more cup wine and 2 cups chicken stock into the pan. Use your favorite method to make gravy, and serve with "Heart Attack Potatoes": Cut unpeeled redskinned potatoes into bite sized chunks, boil until done, and drain. Melt 1 stick butter per 2 pounds potatoes, and add 2 tbsp dried parsley and freshly ground pepper to taste. Stir the potatoes into the butter mix and serve. ( My daughters dreamed up this name for these potatoes, because they are "deadly delicious").

Marjie's changes to the lamb recipe:

Given my husband's recently developed allergy to garlic, I used about 1 tsp garlic powder sprinkled on with the salt and pepper. It still smelled and tasted great! I also used, because it was what I had, white zinfandel instead of white wine.

For the gravy, I used 1 tbsp. cornstarch whisked with 1/4 cup cold water, and stirred into the pan drippings after the fat was skimmed off.

I had 2 small slices of lamb left over from a 9 pound roast; I'd call that a successful recipe. My 4th son, who was also home for spring break, sliced the lamb for me. He's a fine looking guy, if I may say so myself; this is the only picture of the lamb I got, since he immediately hauled it to the table!

I also made the error of letting him and my husband give Thor the lamb bone. Thor is so big that I feared he'd splinter the bone, and he did, within 10 minutes. When he started coughing, I used a child's medicine dropper, and began dripping vegetable oil down his throat. (I thought it would be easier than trying to Heimlich a 265 pound dog.) It worked; Thor coughed up the splinter that was bothering him, and now everyone agrees that Mom may be mean, but it's for their dog's best. Look how happy he was with his bone:
And notice that he dwarfs the bone; those are 15" tiles on my floor.