Easter is nearly upon us, and although the reason for this holiday is so far removed from 99% of what we are bombarded with from Valentines Day till that Holy Sunday (St. Patrick always gets short shrift), we should remember that He is not just the reason for Easter, but for the existence of all mankind - I'd like to see any of YOU create the world and it's inhabitants out of absolutely nothing. Yeah, yeah, aliens too....that is a shout out to you nutjobs who think there are more beings out there than just us. Area 51 called, they said you left your UFO parked next to a hydrant since 1960something and you owe a bazillion dollars in fines.
Every year it's the same thing - I balk at continuing my tradition of filling Easter baskets for my GROWN CHILDREN (OK, sorry Becky - when you move back to Oregon I owe you 10 Easter baskets) and think they should be mature enough to realize it is not the Easter bunny, or even Jesus in a glowing bubble who's been doing it until now, and that life is hard when you grow up and decide to be cool and not believe in Santa anymore. But when I mention to either of them, I get pouting, and pouting, altho not the most mature thing to do when you're 6 foot huge and have more hair than a yak, is still terribly guilt-inducing to mother's of exceedingly high caliber everywhere. And it matters not that NONE of us need all that crap - I am sure I have been the recipient of many a curse after the holiday madness has died down and the watery Oregon sunshine of May rears it's ugly head and illuminates the dimpled flanks brought forth by the sugar massacree of the holiest of spring holidays. Not to mention for the stigma of having black licorice, a bag of mini marshmallows, and organic chocolate bars with real ground tree bark because I did some "quality control" and ate all the good stuff and had to replenish the night before at 7-11.
I remember each of us getting our own Easter basket, and they always had the same things - whoppers (I think it was before they were egg shaped), those giant brightly colored candy shell eggs with the white fluffy stuff in the middle, circus peanuts (yes, the orange ones...) and cheap-ass jelly beans. No chocolate bunny, no delicious peanut butter cups, peppermint patties, crunch bars, or butterfingers....just crappy Easter candy. And we were happy to have it - swapping whoppers for circus peanuts was lucrative business - everyone knows you get two peanuts for one whopper because I was the only one who liked em, I knew it, and could rule the market. I also liked the giant eggs....I've been on a few sugar highs from those and fondly can't remember a thing.
The egg hunt came after church and our breakfast of refined sugar and high-fructose corn syrup with all the deadly food colorings thrown in, and we played for keeps. First Mom and/or Dad (no idea who because I didn't cheat and watch, CHRIS) would hide them all over the living room, then let us loose to kill each other trying to get to the obvious ones first. I'm sure we got yelled at to let the little kids find the simple ones, but we were cut-throat...if you made it past diapers, you were on your own. (staying in diapers until you were 7, even just around Easter, didn't work either...) After that, someone would hide them again, but made it WAY harder....I think eventually Mom would find them all, if only by smell, then yell at us for hiding them too far inside the couch. This is a bit off topic, but one time I remember her cleaning out the cracks in the couch and coming up with her uber sharp butcher knife....what else are you supposed to use to trim your toenails, I ask? Luckily they were smart enough to never take us to a public Easter egg hunt - I imagine it would be like the footage of the Hindenburg exploding...carnage with little bits of gaily colored eggshells.
Anyway, the purpose of this is to get my juices flowing for Easter Breakfast - we ALWAYS have Polish Dish, which is under the "Soup" label, but I like to include an alternate breakfast dish for the sad few who can't be team players and don't much care for it....altho in MY own little branch of the family, they ALL love it...my DIL-to-be endearingly slurps it down, and I"m 99.9% certain my SIL loves it too - but he cares less about what food tastes like and more about getting it inside him as quickly as possible. Kind of like my Grandson - his recent desire to become a "chef" is no doubt due to the fact that if he makes it himself, he will be way faster about getting it done and in his mouth. So here is a delightful egg dish I willfully stole from my Black Butte Ranch cookbook, and have never had anyone turn down - it's simple too, just a few steps and a fairly short cook time and you're ready to rejoice!
Chiliquilla
12 corn tortillas (not to be food racist, but I prefer white)
3 T. butter, divided
11 eggs, beaten
1/2 C. green taco sauce
Salt & pepper
1 can sliced black olives, drained
3 green onions, sliced (optional - I love em, Handsome Stranger does not)
1 lb. grated cheddar cheese
1.5 Cups sour cream
Cut tortillas into 1" squares, beat eggs thoroughly. Melt 1 T. butter in a 10"-12" skillet over medium high and add tortilla squares; stir until they start to brown a little. Sprinkle with a little salt, push to the sides of the pan and turn heat down to medium. Melt the other 2 T. butter in center, then pour eggs in center - when they start to set, stir in tortillas until well coated. Add green sauce and stir in - it should still be wet, but should be fairly well set up. Sprinkle olives and green onions evenly over the top, then cover with cheese, and drop sour cream by spoonfuls all over the top. Carefully use the back of your spoon to cover everything with the sour cream, then turn down to low and cover (you don't have to but it speeds up the warming process) and let warm through - 10 to 15 minutes or so, or until you can see the hot cheese start to bubble and the center of the sour cream is warm through. Cut in wedges and serve with salsa if desired - really good and no meat!
You can play with this to your own liking - you could add canned green chilies or jalapenos, use red taco sauce or canned chipotle sauce, put chorizo or turkey sausage in - I think it would be good with shredded chicken breast too - the only sin is to cook it too high or too long because it is possible to dry it out...but with that much sour cream and cheese it's highly unlikely. I would, however suggest you not add circus peanuts to it...I will trade you for ALL my whoppers.
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