Greek Pascha Bread

 

 

I have been using the Food Network's Greek Easter Bread recipe for years and we love it! I think that this year's bread turned out the best it ever has! 

2021 Pascha Basket

 

Greek Pascha Bread, Cheese, Sausage, Bacon, Eggs, Chocolate, and Cheese Pascha! 

I can't believe that I forgot the sparkling cider! 

Summer Haircut!

Trifle

 

 

Our traditional Pascha dessert is always trifle! I make Paula Deen's pound cake recipe, mix up some vanilla pudding, make a fruit salad (this was strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries), and make lashings of homemade whipped cream. Layered all together in a Trifle bowl, it is a quite a sight! 

Luminaries

 

 

This was the first year that we had Luminaries lighting the church property. They were suggested and carried out by one of our parishioners and I am so thankful that she made this happen! They really brought a sense of festivity to our celebrations! 

Kulich

 

 

I tried the kulich (Russian Easter bread that resembles a church dome with it's height and rounded top) recipe from Holiday and Celebration Bread in Five Minutes a Day this year. It appealed to me because of its ease, the fact that it only provides you with one large kulich (though I'm making three small ones), and relatively simple ingredient list (I could not find potato flour on short notice, so I substituted corn starch as @kingarthurbaking suggested). These little kulichi really turned out well this year! I will definitely be using this recipe from now on, and plan to use some of the other celebration bread from this book in the future!

Christ is Risen!

Red Eggs!

 

 

Red Eggs! I dyed with onion skins and used @asceticlifeofmotherhood's tutorial. I put all of the dried, papery skin of about fifteen onions in a pot and covered them with water. I brought the pot of water and onion skins to a boil, pushing the onion skins under the water every so often (eventually they all stayed submerged). Once the water was boiling, I turned the burner down and let everything simmer for 30 minutes. While this was going on,, I left my eggs out to come to room temperature. Next, I strained the onion skins out of the pot by pouring everything through a strainer into a large bowl. I returned the dye to the pot and brought it back up to a boil. I added 1 tablespoon of white vinegar to the dye and put in twelve eggs, cooking them for 15 minutes. Once the eggs were done, I removed them from the dye and let them dry and cool on a cooling rack. Once the eggs were completely cool, I rubbed them with olive oil. This will make them glow like rubies, but most importantly, it will seal the color and prevent the eggs from forming condensation when you put them in your Pascha basket from the fridge! Aren't they gorgeous? Thanks for the tutorial, @asceticlifeofmotherhood! 

Pascha in the Kitchen

 

 

Cheese Pascha joins the 'finished column' along with three kulichi, red eggs, and potato salad for tomorrow's meal. 

Great and Holy Friday