Easter Dinner Menu – Keep It Simple
Easter Sunday is more than a revered Christian holiday. It is a time when we gladly shake off the winter doldrums and welcome spring. Retailers try to maximize sales with advertising for food, clothing, gifts, candy, decorations, flowers, greeting cards and more. In 2014, online shoppers were expected to spend $225 on Easter-related items. We all know how easy it is to splurge on such items, including Easter dinner. But, we can prioritize and decide where to best spend our hard-earned dollars to reduce waste. Do we really need big baskets of candy? Much of it gets tossed after a few weeks, anyway.
A Simple Inexpensive Easter Dinner
You can save time, money and stress by preparing a simple Easter dinner. Need some ideas? Check out the recipes and websites listed below.
Ham is the traditional Easter favorite, but often, baked ham can be dry. Commercially prepared spiral hams are delicious, but very expensive. Have you tried cooking a ham in a slow cooker? It should give you a moist, delicious ham with no fuss.
If you search on the Internet for cooking ham in a slow cooker, you will find lots of recipes. Many of them call for adding lots of sugar in the forms of brown sugar, maple syrup, honey, fruit, fruit juice or soda. You can keep costs, sugar content and calories down by just reducing the amounts of those sugary ingredients. Do you have $16 in SNAP/FNS benefits? You can make this meal for four for under $16. See the total meal costs at the end of the page. Whether using cash or SNAP, try these great recipes for a wonderful Easter ham dinner!
Bare Bones (no pun intended)
Instructions for Ham in a Slow Cooker
1 fully cooked ham (make sure it fits in your slow cooker*)
- Barely cover the bottom of the slow cooker with water.
- Place ham flat side down into slow cooker.
- Optional: combine ¼ cup honey or maple syrup, ¼ cup apple (or other) juice and desired ground seasonings (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, others). Drizzle over ham.
- Cover and cook on low 6 to 8 hours (or more, depending on size of ham).
- Turn slow cooker to warm setting, if needed, to hold until mealtime.
- Remove ham from slow cooker and let rest for 10-15 minutes before carving.
- For a noon meal, start the slow cooker before going to bed.
- A 6-pound ham will serve about 8.
- When you are done with your meal, don’t discard that ham bone. You can simmer it in a pot of split peas or beans for a flavorful soup.
* A 7-pound ham fits in a 6-quart pot. If ham is too large, you can cut off some.
Variations:
If you’d like to add more flavor, try one or more of the suggestions below:
- Place ham in slow cooker (don’t add water).
- Rub ½ cup brown sugar over ham.
- Drain the juice off a can of pineapple tidbits.
- Pour tidbits over ham.
- Mix juice with desired amount of a sweetener (maple syrup, brown sugar, honey – suggestion: ½ cup total).
- Add desired seasonings – cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, etc.
- Mix and pour over the ham.
- Use 2 cups pineapple juice, apple juice, orange juice, cranberry juice or a combination of any of those. Experiment by adding a little lemon or lime juice to one of the other juices listed.
- Dried cranberries instead of/in addition to pineapple.
- If desired, about an hour before ham is done, baste with the juices at the bottom of crock.
- When done, remove ham and let rest 10-15 minutes before carving.
- If you like, you can serve the juices like gravy.
* Ham Costs:
6 pounds @ $2.19/pound = $13.14 for 8 servings; $1.65 per serving
Pineapple, brown sugar and seasonings: $1.60
Total Cost: $14.74
Serving Cost: $1.84
That was easy! Now you will need some side dishes. Fortunately, your oven is free. What could be easier than Roasted Root Vegetables?
Roasted Root Vegetables
Makes: 4 servings
Total Cost: $5.30
Serving Cost: $1.33
Ingredients
- 4 root vegetables (choose a variety from potatoes, rutabagas, turnips, parsnips, beets, sweet potatoes, etc.) (medium)
- 2 carrots (chopped)
- 1 onion (medium, chopped)
- 1/4 cup vegetable/olive oil
- Desired seasonings
- Suggestions: salt and pepper, Italian seasoning, dill, parsley flakes, garlic and/or onion powder
- 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese (optional, included in cost)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cut vegetables into large chunks.
- Place in a medium bowl and pour oil over top. Add seasonings and/or Parmesan and mix well.
- Spread an even single layer on a baking sheet. Use two sheets, if needed, to avoid crowding.
- Bake for about 1 hour or until tender. Check a few vegetables before one hour to see if they are tender.
Source: Montana State University Extension Service on
Delicious Greens
Makes: 4 servings
Total Cost: $1.96
Serving Cost: $0.49
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound mustard or collard greens (rinsed, stems removed and coarsely shredded)
- 2 cups cabbage (shredded)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons garlic (minced)
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
Directions
- Rinse greens, remove stems, and tear in small pieces.
- In a large saucepan, boil 3 quarts of water.
- Add greens, return to a boil and cook 3 minutes. Add cabbage and cook 1 more minute. Drain in colander.
- Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Add oil and sauté garlic and onion until light brown, about 3 minutes.
- Add greens and vinegar and cook briefly, about 3 minutes. Serve hot.
Source: https://www.myplate.gov/recipes/myplate-cnpp/elaines-green-mash-potatoes
If you just gotta have your mashed potatoes, the recipe below is a fun and tasty alternative to the Roasted Vegetables.
Elaine’s Green-Mash Potatoes
Makes: 8 Servings
Total Cost: $2.44
Serving Cost: $ .31
Cook time: 25 minutes
“Since my family has an Irish ancestry, we first made this Green-Mash Potatoes Recipe for St. Patrick’s Day. However, everyone loved it so much that it’s now part of our Thanksgiving Feast. Green peas add a mild, sweet flavor while garlic adds some zip. And, kids think the chartreuse-green color is fun!” ~ Elaine, MyPlate Nutritionist
Ingredients
- 7 potatoes (medium size, about 1 cup each)
- 1 cup skim milk (divided)
- 2 garlic cloves (peeled)
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 tablespoons soft (tub) margarine or butter
- 1/8 teaspoon white pepper (optional-can use black pepper)
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt (optional)
Directions
- Simmer peeled, diced potatoes for about 10 minutes until soft when pierced with a fork.
- Cook 1 cup peas in microwave for about 3 minutes; drain and reserve.
- Heat milk until hot. Add garlic cloves to milk and let stand for 5 minutes.
- Puree peas, ¼ cup milk, and garlic cloves using a blender.
- Drain potatoes and begin to mash.
- Slowly add ¾ cup milk while mashing.
- Blend in the pureed peas and garlic, margarine, and white pepper (optional) to the mashed potatoes.
- Place mashed potatoes in a serving dish and keep warm.
- Just before serving, lightly sprinkle Kosher salt on top of potatoes.
Source: http://www.whatscooking.fns.usda.gov/recipes/myplate-cnpp/elaine-s-green-mash-potatoes
Total cost of ham, roasted vegetables and greens: $20.40
Total cost of 4 servings of ham, roasted vegetables and greens: $13.83
Cost per serving: $3.47
Four servings of all of the above recipes can be prepared for your Easter dinner for $15.05, less than the minimum SNAP benefit of $16 per month. It’s amazing how far $16 can stretch!
* Costs are based on Raleigh store prices, 3/15.
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