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.