Easter Meal Tips & Tricks

“This post is sponsored by HoneyBaked Ham, however, all opinions, and ooh’s and aah’s are my own”This year Easter is April 5th, which means it is just around the corner.  For family it also means birthday time, since this year my Son’s birthday falls on Easter.  So, our home will be a busy one on Easter weekend.  It is a perfect time to share a wonderful meal with family and friends, but I don’t want to spend all my time in the kitchen.  Over the years I have discovered a few tips and tricks that help me serve an amazing Easter meal, yet get to spend the day with my family.  

My first tip is to prepare as much as you can the day or night before, and cook a lot of the side dishes in crockpots.  For example, I love to serve butter beans with ham, so I prep them the night before in the crockpot with water, a little sugar and salt, then store the crockpot in the fridge over night to pull out the next morning to start cooking.  I can peel and cut the potatoes to cook in the crockpot the next morning as well.  I also like to set out the table settings the night before, so all that is left to be done is add the food.

I love to have a few decorations to mark the event.  I put together a simple Easter vignette for the middle of the table.  Don’t make your centerpiece too high, or it will hinder conversation.  Plus, I like to use a platter, or tray to place the decorations on.  It pulls it all together and helps it look more elegant.

This year I have discovered a great way to save time on preparing the ham, and that is to buy a HoneyBaked Ham.  I must confess that I have never purchased a HoneyBaked Ham for myself until this year.  I was amazed to discover that they recommend serving the Ham at room temperature, so all you have to do is take it out of the fridge 30 minutes before eating and your ham is ready.  What a time saver! Each HoneyBaked Ham is slow-smoked for over 24 hours and hand-glazed in each store to give it an incredible taste.  Let me just tell you this ham has an rich flavor and the glaze added such a sweet and wonderful crunch.

HoneyBaked Ham stores offer fully-cooked, sliced and glazed turkey breast.  It is 100% breast meat and also has a sweet, crunchy glaze.  I didn’t know what to expect with the Turkey Breast, but it was wonderful as well, it was nice and juicy and not dry.  In fact, it was my Son’s favorite, he kept asking for more.

 To round out your meal HoneyBaked Ham stores offer side dishes and desserts.  The selections vary by store, but at our store I saw mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole to name a few.  The dessert selection was amazing also.  After a lot of consideration, we chose a decadent Red Velvet Cake.

The only prep for this cake is to let it thaw.  It came out of the box beautifully and was such a treat to eat.  It was the perfect end to our meal.

You can save money this year on your HoneyBaked Ham Easter Feast with this coupon.