Epic Easter Feast

I had fifteen people over for brunch on Easter and made a feast. I love cooking big meals for my friends, but I think I’m going to be resting for a while after this one. It sent me on an unhealthy food jelly-bean bender from which I’m recovering.

Not much to say other than I will be making the french toast casserole again. Definitely a winner. I’ll let the menu to the rest of the talking.

French Toast Casserole — via Foodnetwork.com from Paula Dean. Butter, butter, butter.

Vegetable Frittata with Asparagus Salad — The frittata was loosely based on a couple recipes, but basically, zucchini, asparagus, shallots and grated asiago cheese. Got the recipe for the asparagus salad on foodnetwork.com.

Bacon and Cheddar Frittata with Rosemary — The boyfriend manned this one and from what I hear, it was delicious.

Sweet and Spicy Potatoes — Had this dish for the first time at a friend’s brunch a couple years ago and had to make it myself. Tons of seasoning with sweet potatoes, roasted at over 400 for at least 45 minutes. YUM!

Breakfast Herb Potatoes — Regular potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, fresh parsley and rosemary. Classic perfection.

Banana Crunch Muffins —An Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa) recipe from www.foodnetwork.com. I will be making these again and I have two bananas that are ready for it!

Amish Friendship Bread — Got my starter from Katie and the bread turned out delicious! More like a pound cake than a fluffy, airy loaf, and went perfectly with the next item.

Strawberry Butter — I made this to go with the croissants that Andrew brought along with the Amish Bread and Banana Crunch muffins. It was a big hit, but thankfully I made enough for leftovers. Got the recipe from my Heidi Swanson book, but basically just use room temperature butter (or maybe a little bit warmer) and combine with strawberry preserves. After the two were combined, I put the butter in red ramekins and refrigerated overnight.

Carrot Cake & Lemon Cake Cupcakes — Refer to my last post to see recipes and close-up photos of these.

In addition to my creations, my roommates made tasty looking bacon and sausage, others brought, cheesy grits, colored eggs, croissants, fruit salad, key lime pie, cinnamon rolls, ham/pineapple/cherry skewers, Bloody Mary mix and of course champagne and fresh squeezed orange juice for mimosas.