Sauteed Kale with Balsamic and Bacon

AKA, "My New Favorite Way to Eat Kale."

Well, hello there!  Things have kind of reached a fever-pitch at home, and I'm currently a chaotic mix of crazed cleaning frenzy and trying to find my inner piece.  I'll let you guess which is winning?

Really, tho, I'm getting surgery this Friday to remove a fibroid, and it's got me in a bit of a tailspin.  I've never had surgery before - other than getting my wisdom teeth removed - so I'm trying to prepare myself, but really, I'm very nervous about the whole thing.  So, I'm feeling more than a little spastic and unsettled and of course, I most likely won't be able to blog recipes for a few weeks.  (But you can bet that I'll have worn holes in the pages of my Food Network magazine while I'm forced to be way less mobile than I'm used to.)

Easter Dinner Ideas Roundup

Just wanted to drop in to give you a few ideas for your Easter dinner this weekend.  I'd completely forgotten about the Glazed Carrots and Charred Green Beans recipes below, so now I'm all excited to make them!!

Happy Easter*!



* Please, please, please eat a huge pile of candy for me this weekend!  I put myself on a diet without even thinking about all the Easter candy and desserts I'll be drooling over for the next few days.  Sunday will be a cheat day for me and we're not even going to talk about all of the Peeps I'll consume that day.

         

Apricot Glazed Carrots

Charred Green Beans

Roasted Asparagus with Balsamic Browned Butter Sauce

Apple Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

Bourbon Gingersnap Ham

Creamy Lemony Blueberry Pie

Bourbon Gingersnap Ham (Alton Brown's City Ham)

Easter Ham!  They're plastered all over the grocery ads and commercials right now, but you weren't quite sure what you'd do with one this year.  Right?  How about something a little different, but a lot delicious?  And easy, to boot?

Enter Alton Brown's "City Ham."  This recipe has been floating around in my head for - I kid you not - at least 7 years.  And I finally just got around to making it!  I'm not sure why on earth I stalled in making it; it's awesome stuff.  Bo even declared it the best ham he's ever had.  And I have to say, I loved that it was easy to make and didn't involve any guesswork.  But that's what's wonderful about Alton Brown's recipes; they are science-y and detailed and easy to follow.

Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Hey, look.  Yet another salad dressing recipe.  (Here's one and another and another and another and another and three more.)  But the thing is, I eat a lot of salad.  For a while there, I was packing some kind of huge salad in my lunch every day.  So you can bet that I quickly grow tired of the same ingredients and the same dressings.  Add to that the fact that bought salad dressing is so iffy on flavor, and buying a whole bottle of something new is an expensive taste-test.