Easter "Lunch"

Easter tradition in our family used to be driving out to my Aunt and Uncle's house and eatingsmoked turkey that my uncle started smoking at midnight, casseroles, ham... anything you could possibly imagine. Not to mention it was off the beaten path so we could yell, scream, make loud noises... and not affect anybody. Face it, kids will be kids and cause ruckus... it makes it better when theres nobody there to complain! Oh, and we did an Easter egg hunt. =)

Since its kind of a far drive, we started having Easter at my mom's house. Well since this was our first year in an actual house, we decided to take on Easter Sunday. =) Here are a few pictures of what we did, what we cooked and the fun we had. =)

Our menu was Honey Glazed Ham, Turkey, Hashbrown Casserole, Greenbean Casserole, Mashed Potatoes & Gravy, Creamed Corn Casserole, a Veggie Tray and a sausage and cheese dip. My father-in-law sent us a few of the Cheesecake samplers from a restaurant in Chicago for dessert... yum!

The turkey....

So I found a "recipe" on a website when I Googled how to cook a turkey. Never done this before and thought it would be a hell of a lot harder than this! Basically, instead of putting stuffing in it, we chopped celery into about 1.5" pieces, halved 2 lemons and then quartered it, then quartered a large white onion. We then stuffed that, plus rosemary inside the turkey, tucked what wouldn't fit on the outside... and then turned it upside down and cooked it inside a roaster. We cooked it upside down because the breast is normally the driest part. When you cook it breast up, the juices all flow to the dark meat. This was THE moistest turkey I've ever had! Not to mention we got great reviews about it! Oh, we also GENTLY peeled back the skin and rubbed softened button underneath the skin for a bit more flavor!

Click here for the HashBrown Casserole recipe!

Heres the recipe for the Greenbean Casserole! Please keep in mind that this recipe makes 12 servings!! I doubled this recipe and still have an entire tray left. =/ Lol.

The sausage cheese dip is easy! And I have to credit my cousin Lindsy for this one! We went to Ohio, I fell in love with this and although I've asked her several times how to make it, I once again deleted the recipe and forgot, so I winged it! Lol.

Sausage Cheese Dip!

1- (8 ounce) block of cream cheese.

1 SMALL thing of Velveeta.

1 can of Rotel.

1 roll of Italian sausage... you can choose the hot, too if thats what you prefer!

Cook the sausage. Cube the Velveeta. Drain the sausage. Dump all ingredients into a crockpot and let melt together. Serve with tortilla chips!!

Here are a few pictures of the kids doing their Easter egg hunt!