Easter Dinner Menu: Asparagus & Salmon

This Easter, impress friends and family with delicious recipes that allow you to entertain with ease so you can spend more time with guests and less time in the kitchen. I'm planning a delicious and healthy meal of Oven-roasted Asparagus and Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon. 

Salmon is filled with vitamins and essential oils that are so good for your body.  As an added bonus, it's very easy and quick to cook. Asparagus is a great seasonal side dish and when roasted in the oven it becomes slightly caramelized and crunchy.

You can find these recipe and more in my book, Coming Home. The Calypso serveware can be purchased on our web site.  

For dessert, I like to make Cindy's Bunny Cake. (Click here for this recipe.)  When we were little, every year around Easter, my mother would make the Bunny Cake to celebrate my sister, Cindy's April birthday, and the arrival of Spring.  It makes a great centerpiece! 

R O S A N N A I N C . C O M

Mother's Day Cookies

Mother's Day is this weekend and I always like to celebrate by baking my mother's recipe for sugar cookies in her honor. My mother was well known for her sugar cookies. While she would sometimes ban my sisters and I from the kitchen so she could devote her full attention to baking, she would always let us help with sugar cookies. She allowed us to roll them out, cut them into shapes, and sprinkle them with a wide variety of sparkly sugar confections. They were always delicate and crunch. "The secret to delicious pastry is to not overwork the dough, girls," she would say. I remember her words to this day, and I repeat them to my girls, who I hope will repeat them to their girls, and so on...

Here I am (as a baby!) with my mother and two older sisters.

These are wonderful cookies to be enjoyed while making and eating, as well as a wonderful tradition to start with loved ones. Show your mother you care this Mother's Day with a beautiful display of homemade sugar cookies.

MAKES ABOUT 24 COOKIES.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Colored sugar crystal or candy sprinkles

1. Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt onto a piece of wax paper. Set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time and mix until well combined. Wrap the dough in a clean kitchen towel or parchment paper and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
3. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter baking sheets.
4. Roll out one-third of the dough to about 1/8 inch thick and cut out shapes with cookies cutters. Sprinkle the cookies generously with colored sugar crystal or candy sprinkles and transfer the shapes to the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes, or until firm in the centers but not browned. remove the cookies from the sheets with a wide spatular and cool on wire racks. Repeat with the remaining dough. Store the cookies in a tin. They can be frozen prior to baking for up to 1 month, or stored in a cool, dark place for 1 week.

Enjoy and Happy Mother's Day!

www.rosannainc.com

Cinnamon Crust Out of Extra Pie Dough

The holidays mean lots of gathering of friends and of course lots of delicious food! One holiday favorite is of course pie. Apple pie, pumpkin pie, pecan pie - whatever your personal favorite, you might have some extra pie dough sitting around. Instead of throwing it out, try my recipe for Cinnamon Crust!

This was my favorite treat as a child. When my mother made pies, she'd let me use the scraps of dough to make a delicious cinnamon-sugar pastry. My children and husband love this part of the pie. They gobble it down within minutes after it has cooled.

Cinnamon Crust
Pie dough scraps
Butter
Sugar
Ground cinnamon

• Roll out the dough, in whatever shape; it can be misshapen. Place the dough in a small pie plate.
• Put small pats of butter al over the dough, then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon.
• Fold the edges up to make an envelope.
• Dot with more butter and dust the top with cinnamon and sugar.
• Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the sugar is bubbling.
• Let cool, cut into small wedges, and enjoy!

For a delicious pie dough recipe, try My Mom's Extra-Flaky Pie Crust Dough.

I hope everyone has a lovely holiday!

Warmly,

www.rosannainc.com