For the past FIVE days, I was in Texas visiting my family and celebrating Easter! If you know my family, then you know that as Christians, that Christmas and Easter are the two most important holidays in my family, So, it was definitely important that I come home to celebrate the resurrection of our savior, Jesus Christ, with my family.
This is the first time in my 26 years that I have not lived within reasonable driving distance of my parents, thus it was my first time traveling on Easter weekend. I would be lying if I didn’t tell you that I was quite frustrated and shocked at not only how many people fly the Friday before Easter, but also at the amount of people at the airport who act live they’ve never flown before. For a 26-year-old, I consider myself to be a pretty seasoned traveler having visited about 20 countries and racking up enough frequent flyer miles to gain elite status with Continental (now United) the last couple years, but this last Friday was unlike anything I’ve ever seen: people trying to walk through the metal detectors with their shoes and jackets on, others literally trying to rush the gate to board the plane before the door was even open, and so on… Needless to say, I was glad when I finally landed in Texas at 7:30pm!
Within the first 24 hours of being home, I did two very important things. I ate a kid’s meal from Chick-fil-a (since we don’t have them in the city, I must have it at least once every time I’m in town) and I got my hair done. It might be hard to understand, but I do not cheat on my hair dresser, so I plan my hair appointments around my trips home. Even in college I would drive home to get my hair done. The one time I did try a new hair dresser, my hair was butchered, so I vowed never again to go elsewhere. Kara, my hair dresser, never gives me a bad hair cut and always gets my highlights right! She always knows what looks best with my face!
After doing these two things, I spent the rest of my weekend getting a tan and spending time with my family and my dog, Sophie, who is staying with my parents in Texas. Sophie is a french bulldog and I love her so much, but it’s better for her to stay in Texas because she would get lonely in NY with me being at work all day. When I am home, Sophie sleeps with me in my bed which she NEVER would do when I actually lived in town. It’s funny how she only cuddles with me now because she doesn’t see me on a regular basis anymore. Regardless, I love her. She’s my little pig…literally she snorts, eats like a pig and snores!
Isn’t she the cutest?
Sophie’s looking for crumbs after Easter dinner…
I spent Saturday afternoon in my parent’s backyard laying out and Monday afternoon my parents and I went to the beach to get some sun. As my family is originally from California, we are avid sun lovers. We LOVE sitting in the sun and getting a tan! Since moving to NY, this is the palest I have ever been, so I was glad to come back with some color because I definitely needed it. I’m just crossing my fingers it will last…
The Beach
Sunday was spent going to church and spending time with my family celebrating Easter and the resurrection of Jesus. Apart from my immediate family, some of my extended family on my dad’s side came to our house to celebrate. My mom prepared quite a feast for us to eat, but I was responsible for the dessert! I made a triple berry cobbler for dessert. I came up with this recipe by combining two recipes that I had for cobbler.
Triple Berry Cobbler
Filling:
- 1 cup sugar
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 cup water
- 2 cup fresh raspberries
- 2 cup fresh blueberries
- 2 cup fresh blackberries
Topping:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1/6 teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup heavy cream, plus additional for brushing
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small heavy saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon and water until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in berries. Transfer to 9 x 13 baking dish coated with cooking spray.
For the topping, in a food processor or large bowl, pulse or whisk together the 1 2/3 cups flour, the sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pulse or cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Slowly add the 2/3 cup cream, mixing until the dough just comes together. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat together. Form the dough into 2-inch balls. Flatten balls gently with the palm of your hand.
Before putting it into the oven
Evenly arrange the dough rounds on top of the filling. Brush a little cream over the rounds. (This step I left out…I sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on the top instead.) Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the biscuits are golden and the filling is bubbling.
After it came out of the oven!
Eat it warm with some ice cream and you’re good to go!
The berries in this dish were so good! I wasn’t a big fan of the crust though. We all decided that the berries would be a good topping for the ice cream during the summer! Or, they would be really good in a pie. If I make a cobbler again, I’ll definitely use these berries, but I’ll switch up the recipe for the topping.
Apart from my cobbler, we had ham, scalloped potatoes, spinach casserole, beans and 3 different types of salads. My mom’s scalloped potatoes are amazing…they use Gruyère cheese and its strong taste meshes well with the potatoes. In college my parents and I went to Europe and we visited the town of Gruyère in Switzerland. We had some of the best cheese fondue and quiches there that we have ever had. It’s definitely worth visiting the town if you’re in the country.
My mom’s scalloped potatoes. It was cooked to perfection with that golden top!
The spinach casserole that she made was really good as well and very simple. It only had a few toppings in it and it was really easy to make.
Spinach Casserole
Unfortunately I don’t have either of these recipes on me, but I will have to ask my mom for them because they are great dishes! Don’t you just want to eat up those pictures?!?! I know I do!
My mom and I on Easter
Three generations: me, my grandma and my mom
I had a lot of fun spending time with my family during my long weekend. It was definitely a great trip and I’m glad I was able to spend so much time with my parents. The only bad thing that happened was that I went to the doctor while home because I had been coughing and found out I had bronchitis! Luckily the doctor gave me a zpack and told me to take mucinex md, so I’m hoping it kicks in soon because I’m supposed to go back to Houston this weekend to run in the Blue Bell Fun Run and that is something I don’t want to miss! Expect a blog about the run next week! On that note, I’ll leave you with a few Easter verses. Regardless of the time of year, it’s always important to remember Christ’s sacrifice for us.
John 3:16-17
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him.
Luke 24:1-12
But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. And it happened that while they were perplexed about this, behold, two men suddenly stood near them in dazzling apparel; and as the women were terrified and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living One among the dead? “He is not here, but He has risen. Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” And they remembered His words, and returned from the tomb and reported all these things to the eleven and to all the rest. Now they were Mary Magdalene and Joanna and Mary the mother of James; also the other women with them were telling these things to the apostles. And these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. But Peter arose and ran to the tomb; stooping and looking in, he saw the linen wrappings only; and he went away to his home, marveling at that which had happened.
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