Sunday, May 22, 2011

Easter Parade

It's not Easter at our house unless I've made two things always on the table: pickled eggs, and cheese grits casserole. The pickled eggs recipe are from my maternal grandmother's side of the family. We adore them in the Gray family. Excy? Not so much. Invariably friends who see purple hardboiled eggs go 'hummmm...' The beet juice and sugar and tang of the vinegar and the cinnamon stick combine to make them fabulous, however odd a purple egg may look to folks.

Unlike the eggs, everybody loves the cheese grits. Even people who don't like cheese grits. When we lived on the east coast, every Sunday we'd have pot luck with Excy's cousins at Burnside. Sunday afternoon the phone would ring. "What are you making tonight Amy? Cheese grits?" Then another phone call. "Hi, Amy. Are you making strawberry-rhubarb pie tonight?" I was pigeon-holed with those two dishes.

A few years back, Kraft foods stopped making their cheese-garlic cheese rolls. You could hear the dismayed cries of Southern women all over the country -- some cookbooks actually specify the Kraft roll in their recipe. No longer able to rely on it, it took a bit of tweaking and trial-and-error to replicate a recipe that's tasty. I don't use a recipe anymore I've made it so long, so it varies according to taste, ingredients, and what's in the pantry.

The pickled eggs are great alone, in salads, and on the side with cottage cheese. I'm happy to send any of the recipes I mentioned to anybody if they'd like.

5 comments:

Mrs. Tuna said...

I like beets and I like eggs, but can't say I'm a fan of pickeled eggs.

Ms. A said...

Don't think I've ever tried a pickled egg. We have a garlic cheese grits recipe that is a mainstay for our family gatherings. Also, pretzel salad. Holidays aren't complete, without them!

Doris Sturm said...

I love pickled anything, except for the pigs feet - I don't eat those (any more) but eggs, pickles, beets, you name it! I always buy the gallon jar of pickles and when I have some left over raw veggies, instead of wrapping them up, I just toss them in the pickle jar and they end up tasting really good (I keep it in the fridge!) .... I've never had cheese grits casserole, but then I don't care for grits or too many corn products.

Gues I was not raised with it coming from Germany and am more into wheat and cream of wheat...to each our own. I hope you had a nice Easter. Seems like it was so long ago. I can't believe half of the year is almost gone and I should have left up my Christmas tree LOL

I hope you and your husband are doing well and the animals too.

Kind Regards,
Doris and Gizzy

ReformingGeek said...

The Cheese Grits sounds yummy! Purple eggs? Not so much. :)

Strawberry-rhubarb? YES! YES!

Stickhorsecowgirls said...

Oh, the purple, pickled eggs sound GREAT to me! I love pickled eggs and I would love to have the recipe! I also love garlic cheese grits--can't believe Kraft quit making the garlic cheese roll--maybe enough emails might persuade them to start making it again! I would love the recipe if you would send it to:
stickhorsecowgirls@gmail.com Thanks!