I was a little worried this year, but I’m happy to report that you’re never too old for the Easter Bunny…
I swear that I’ll grow up one day, but today is not that day. Today I’m going to let my inner child run wild and free. Today I’m going to enjoy my milky chocolates and fuzzy bunnies. Today… I’m going to tell you all about my Easter weekend. The celebrations started on Saturday morning with some festive Easter egg nail painting…
Essie’s Off The Shoulder
Then it was off to church with the Easter basket in tow.
It’s a Polish tradition to bless a basket of food on Holy Saturday. The foods in the basket most commonly include eggs, meats, cheeses, bread, butter, and salt, but really… anything goes. My family has been doing this for as long as I can remember, and it’s one of the Easter traditions that means the most to me.
After the basket was blessed, I headed on over to my parents’ place to join Mom in the kitchen and help her start prepping food for the next day. There was a lot of chopping…
… wrapping…
… boiling…
… frying…
… baking…
… and beating…
Phew. It was a long day in the kitchen and I may or may not have passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Sunday morning started bright and early with a trip to church. I don’t talk about religion much on Spoons, but my faith is a big part of my life and it’s hard to imagine Easter without all of the accompanying masses and prayers. After mass I headed on over to my parents’ place yet again for a simple Easter brunch, which included all of the foods that we blessed the previous day.
Various meats and cheeses – A variety of breads.
As well as some of the foods that we prepped the day before.
Potato, veggie, and egg salad (similar to this one) – Beetroot broth.
We also partook in another Polish tradition which involves dividing up the eggs we blessed the previous day and exchanging it among ourselves along with a blessing.
The rest of the day was pretty relaxed. There was napping, game playing, and egg hunting…
With the ever essential afternoon break for coffee and cheesecake…
That right there is my contribution to the Easter feasting. It’s an orange ricotta cheesecake recipe that I got from Martha Stewart (I added raisins and almond extract), and even though I’m not really the biggest cheesecake fan, I have to admit that even I enjoyed it (my parents raved about it).
I think it was the fact that it uses ricotta cheese instead of cream cheese – it wasn’t overly cloying the way I find most cheesecakes to be, and I could actually eat more than two bites without having to deal with that strange pasty feeling on my tongue and the back of my throat. No I’m not crazy. Cheesecake is – but this one gets a thumbs up from me.
As for the rest of the day, we had dinner at some point…
Rolladen (bacon, cheese, mushrooms, red peppers, dill pickles, and mustard wrapped up in beef sirloin), kasha with gravy, salad, and roasted brussels.
… before calling it a night and settling down to watch The Hobbit. Overall, it was a marvelous Easter, and because this post has already reached epicness in length, I’ll end it here by wishing you a happy Monday and a happy April Fool’s! Make sure to keep your guard up so you don’t get pranked 😉
. – . – . – .
Cheesecake: yay or nay?
Did you get an Easter basket this weekend? What was in it?
Do you take part in April Fool’s? What was your best prank/pranked moment?
The cheesecake looks really yummy. I am going to have to save that recipe. It is so nice to see so many lovely traditions on Easter. It is usually not an exciting affair at our place but I think I will have to create some new traditions to celebrate next year.
oohhh my i wish I was at your house easter!! everything looks so amazing. I want that potato, veggie, egg casserole. YUM! I got an Easter basket filled with just jellybeans and of coarse some DD giftcards lol. I am never going to outgrow hunting for easter eggs. My mom gets annoyed she still has to hide them for me but oh well! Cheesecake is hit or miss with me too. I am very picky with ricotta ones too but that one sounds amazzinggg with almond extract especially! I am the worst april fool joke player. I did get a few friends and tell them the nursing school we just all got in called me and said they are reevaluating everyone who got in and will let people no if they got in within the week. They were calling the school flipping out, score!
Thanks for this 🙂 it was a particularly blessed Easter for me because it’s the first time in years I was able to eat my chocolate bunny without purging or hiding it or any ED-related craziness. I was able to enjoy the holiday for what it is-a blessed time with family, no stress!
That’s really great, Zoya! Those are the treats that taste the best.
WHEW that is a lot of food prep!! It all looks pretty amazing though – I love reading about your traditions, my family is Sicilian so we also have tons of holiday traditions, and it’s always really cool to hear what others do! I love the idea of dividing an egg with a blessing :-). I also couldn’t imagine Easter (or Christmas for that matter) without church – it just wouldn’t be right!
I really enjoyed reading this post and hearing about all of your Polish traditions and food. I have to admit that I am quite envious of those who have strong ties to their community and ethnic/cultural heritage. I am mixed (father is Batian and mother is Belgian) and I never really felt any sense of tradition/cultural which I don’t necessarily blame my parents for but sometimes I do feel sad that I don’t have the strong foundation. Anyway, thanks so much for sharing your wonderful Easter experience. Looks like it was a good one. 🙂 🙂
What a wonderful Easter weekend!! I love all your traditions. How fun!
What a lovely Easter! I love family traditions as they always make things seem so much more special.
That cheesecake looks divine, but i’m like you, I am not a huge fan of cheesecakes as I find most are too sweet and leave that awful feeling you spoke about.
My parents actually gave me an easter card with money inside that said “This is guaranteed to be gluten free – and not give you a stomach ache” 😛
wow, what interesting and delicious looking easter food traditions!
Those Easter baskets look amazing! I think I need to remember the idea of Easter baskets for next year 🙂 All of that food looks incredible and most definitely yes for cheesecake!
I love reading about other peoples traditions, especially when it ties in to a culture I don’t know much about! I don’t think I have ever known someone from Poland before so I’m intrigued to read about some of the traditions. It looks like you really did have a fantastic Easter! The church part of Easter is a pretty big part for me too 🙂
Glad to see you had such a nice Easter with your family. I too love Easter and all the family traditions of going to church together, dying Easter eggs. I also love the idea of bringing a basket to church – what a great idea!!
I must say the cheesecake looks quite impressive!!
Going to church definitely defines Easter (and Holy Week) for me–I can’t imagine not going to all the special services. I think the Polish tradition of blessing the baskets is really cool! I just love holiday traditions, whether family or religious based.
My mom hid Easter baskets for me and my sister (and my dad, lol 😛 ) and it never gets old for me! She was nice enough to find awesome vegan candies and chocolate from Whole Foods to fill my basket with and I also got some nail polish and lotion that are both perfect for spring. Finally I can enjoy some jelly beans that taste just like my old favorite Jelly Belly brand!
That is a true Polish Easter right there! 🙂 The salatka is exactly like the one we always prepare for the holidays; even your bread looks like ours! But this year, we totally sat this one out because my mom is usually the only person who cooks (I’ll help, but I’m not a big help anyway!) so we went to a buffet at a local casino… haha. It was surprisingly very good though! Lots of fresh seafood and some really tasty dishes, and of course, a lot to choose from 😉
Do you go to a church where there’s a lot of Polish people? It seems like Polaki are the only ones who do the Easter basket tradition — we would always get weird stares from people when I was younger and we did that. Only the priest kind of knew what was going on, but even he sometimes was caught off guard! 😛
P.S. Eating a Cabudry Creme Egg right now and forgot that the whole reason I wanted to comment in the first place was because I *mainly* got excited about seeing those in your Easter basket! 😀
My mom is the one responsible for most of the cooking too, so I have no idea how it would go if she didn’t handle it. One of these days I’m seriously going to have to learn how to cook all the traditional foods because it just doesn’t seem like Easter without them! And yes we go to a full out Polish church where all the masses are in Polish and everything. There’s a really big Polish community here in Edmonton, so we’re really lucky in that.
Same here — I never have any motivation to learn to cook these dishes myself because Mom always makes them (and makes them very well)! And that is way cool about your church! Edmonton must be Canada’s Chicago 😉
Yay, yay, yay for cheesecake…I would love to try one made with ricotta! I love looking at all of your pictures and that is such a neat tradition of bringing the Easter baskets to church. Glad it was such a great weekend!
That spread looks delicious 🙂 Glad you had a great Easter!
Oh my gosh that cheesecake looks amazing! I adore cheesecake. My mom makes this triple chocolate cheesecake with a white chocolate layer, a milk chocolate layer, and a dark chocolate ganache on top, and it’s seriously to die for.
It sounds like you had a wonderful Easter! There’s nothing better than celebrating a holiday with family and good food. 🙂 I didn’t get an Easter basket this year, but I did get some Cadbury mini eggs from my mom and $50 from my grandma. I’m not complaining!
I used to go to my best friend’s (since 1st grade!) house for easter every year and she is Polish.. fun to re-live these things.. her Babcia made the best homemade mushroom peirogies (sp?)! Now I go to my man’s Italian-Catholic Easter every year (I’m Jewish, we do the Passover thing) 🙂 Love celebrating all the holidays!
One Aprils Fools morning when I was around 8 I put salt in the sugar bowl for my Mum and Grandpa’s coffee’s… But when they actually used it I felt so guilty! I think I cried or something and apologized profusely, and of course they found That part hilarious. I’d love to pull fun pranks on my someday future kids… my boyfriend would never fall for one 😉 No fun.
Cheesecake equals big NAY for me. I just can’t stand the stuff. I’d rather eat broccoli. Lol.
Thanks so much for sharing your Easter traditions! I always wonder about bloggers and church, especially because so few mention it (including me), but it’s just cool to see all of the different aspects of everyone’s life and what values drive their decisions.
I wish I could say we had the traditional Easter meal like normal, but with my grandparents getting older, my family has decided to remove the pressure from them to cook and clean and we just go out to eat. Yesterday it was Chinese. Haha. I ate before, but it was fun to watch my cousins pile up plate after plate. 🙂
And yes to Easter baskets! My mom even organized a very small egg hunt this year!
Hi Amanda! I’m a loyal lurker I love your blog and am glad to see what a wonderful easter you enjoyed! I also find cheescake cloying but I might have enjoyed your ricotta version- it looks very elegant and delicious :). I was actually reading your old blog seek and finding it very inspirational and real- but can no longer access it because of its recent private setting? I was wondering of you would consider making it open again as I really found it beautiful to read and realise how far on can come emotionally on a long journey of healing – I understand if this is too much to ask 🙂 Sophia xo
It’s not too much to ask at all! I actually want to keep it private for now, but if you send me an e-mail with your e-mail address, I’ll add you to the list of people who can access it and you’ll be able to read it with no problem.
OMG – can I please join your family for holiday dinners? Everything looks & sounds SO GOOD. Cheesecake is one of those desserts I feel indifferent towards… although, last week I developed a craving for something tart/sweet/salty so I treated myself to a slice of Reeses PB cup cheesecake. It was so good! But, it’ll probably be a good long while until I crave it again. My #1 dessert love is ice cream or anything chocolatey.
My mom still gives me an Easter basket – mine had some jellybeans (I effing hate jellybeans – wth, mom?!) a little chocolate, a pair of hot pink jeans and an ear cuff.
Hate jellybeans?! You can definitely come join my family for holiday dinners if you bring the jellybeans! They’re my second favorite Easter candy after Mini Eggs, especially if they’re the sour kind <3
Cheesecake, yay, most definitely! 🙂 Your Easter basket is absolutely adorable! My mom still hides Easter eggs for me and I love it!!
Wow what a fun and yummy weekend! I always love reading about everyone elses traditions. I love traditions and always look forward to them because they always bring back (and create) great memories.
I’m not really a big fan of cheesecake. Like I never crave it, but I won’t deny it if it’s placed directly in front of me. 😉 I’m usually good with just a bite or two though because they’re so dense. But there have been a few times when they’ve been so good that they warranted more than just a couple bites. This orange ricotta cheesecake certainly seems like one of those times. Yum.
My husband is OBSESSED with cheesecake but I just don’t get it… it’s alright, don’t get me wrong but I’m a froyo girl at heart.
Oh…..could I move in with you next Easter?? That food and that weekend sound absolutely perfect. I am so happy for you to enjoy it all! The fish a la greek is a must try!
I always get an Easter basket filledmwith dyed eggs, mini chocolate bunnies (mostly whit cause I am a white chocolate freak), sugar-gelee-bunnies and choco eggs. Mom and I always travelmat Easter so I get some shop-gifts too 🙂 happy monday love!!
I loved learning about your Polish Easter traditions! The Easter basket blessing is one I’ve never heard of, but I think it’s a really neat idea, and I’m sure it makes the meal on Sunday even more special.
Cheesecake is a big YAY in my book! It’s actually my favorite dessert (not including ice cream, of course), and I’ve never tried one I didn’t like. Your ricotta version looks pretty amazing–I love the addition of orange, raisins and almond extract.
No April Fool’s pranks this year (yet!), but I grew up with lots of tomfoolery–instigated by my mom! Lots of tricks went down in my house each year, and as my brother and I got older, we began pranking back. My favorite memory was the time my mom set our clocks forward a few hours, woke us up in panic, claiming she’d over-slept and that we were late to school, packed up our things, and then drove us to our favorite restaurant for breakfast. We were young enough that we weren’t wearing watches yet, so we totally bought it! It was such a fun morning, and we got to eat pancakes, eggs, bacon on a school day–which was rare!
Happy Monday! <3
Awwwr! That’s seriously the sweetest “prank” ever! I remember how big of a treat it was to be able to enjoy a special breakfast (or even lunch) on a school day, so I can only imagine how happy you and your brother must have been 🙂
Wow! A marvelous Easter, indeed. So glad you had a great time!
Got an Easter basket, but otherwise it was a low-key Sunday (no complaints here 🙂 ).
What a MARVELOUS weekend! That fuzzy little bunny is TOO cute, but seriously…all that food?! Um, can your parents adopt me? Or actually, how would YOU like to adopt me? That cheesecake looks incredible! I’ve never had a ricotta cheesecake…and I’ve NEVER thought to throw raisins in one but now I am so intrigued! I usually say I’m a cheesecake fan, but really, I’m a fan of the “concept” of cheesecake since it always seems to be too sweet for me…I hate only being able to take like one bite and then feeling like I’m spinning! And that pasty feeling? I totally get what you mean!
No Easter basket for me this year, but I AM planning on making a stop by the store later to see if I can scout me out a couple of discounted Reese’s eggs! 😀
That Fish a la Greek (such a funny name) looks BEYOND.
I must try that at some point in life… I had never heard of it.
It IS a goofy name. We call it something else in Polish, but that’s the translation I came across when I looked for the recipe in English. And I’ve unfortunately heard of it far too many times throughout my life. I can’t stand fish, so it’s not a dish I’ve ever had myself.
So much baking and cooking! I seriously was going so hard in the kitchen yesterday I started to sweat everywhere! I got a basket with some cliff bars and a craft! No crazy baskets for me anymore, but if it were up to my mom I would have an entire grocery store in a basket!