Ah, Easter dinner.  It’s a tradition, isn’t it?  Everyone dressed in their Sunday best, coming home to a home cooked meal.  When I asked several people, “What does a typical Easter dinner consist of?”, I got a few varied answers, but some were standard.  People mentioned ham, of course, potatoes of some sort, dinner rolls, some kind of green vegetable and a dessert.  There were different opinions on what specific vegetable or dessert to have, but everyone said both were a “MUST” for Easter.   Nice.  For restrictive eaters, this menu can create a problem for them.  In my case, I might be able to eat the vegetable, but even that might be chancy.  For the last seven years, I couldn’t even eat the obligatory Easter chocolate!

Does this bother me?  Not in the least!  How do I get around it?  I cook things I can eat for dinner!  😉  True, I can’t have ham, but I can have other pork products.  How about grilled pork chops, or a pork roast?   One of my favorite things is Green Chile Roasted Pork.  It’s cooked in the crock pot all day, and when shredded, can be used for so many things!   Tacos (I make my own cheese shells), or for my family, Shredded Pork on top of mashed potatoes or rice,  or even on a salad.  If my family desires “dinner rolls”, then I just buy them some good hamburger buns.  Personally, I eat the shredded pork covered with cheese and some slices of avocados.  Just amazing.

So, that takes care of the ham substitute, but what can I do instead of potatoes?  In my case, I go with roasted, mashed cauliflower.  True, they don’t taste like potatoes, but when prepared correctly are a super substitute!  Yummy too!  If I have the time, I’ll roast the cauliflower in the oven to give it a really great taste.  When it’s tender, I throw it in my Vita-Mix, add butter, some yogurt if I have it, and some spices.  Blend it all up, and it even looks like mashed potatoes.  For a more decadent dish, you can put cheese on top and throw it under the broiler.

Veggies don’t really need to be discussed in length, but I could make asparagus with hollandaise sauce for example.  Sauteed spinach or peas are other options.  Easy peasy (pun intended.. hehe)

Mmm… then there’s dessert!  When I was growing up it seemed the classic Easter dessert at my house was a coconut cake.  Now that I can’t have wheat flour, I’ve had to switch to coconut flour.  Here’s a great recipe for a Coconut Cake that is even more than Gluten-Free (even I can eat it!!).

Ingredients

• 12 eggs
• 2 cups coconut milk
• up to 3/4 cup honey
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp coconut extract
• 1/2 tsp orange extract
• 2 cups coconut flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp unrefined sea salt
• coconut oil, for greasing the pan

• 2 cups coconut spread (available here)
• 1/2 cup virgin coconut oil (available here)
• up to 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp coconut extract

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Beat a dozen eggs, two cups coconut milk and up to three-quarters of a cup of honey together with vanilla, coconut and orange extracts until smooth, creamy and uniform in both color and texture.
3. Dump two cups coconut flour, a half-teaspoon baking soda and a quarter teaspoon unrefined sea salt into the mixture of eggs, honey and extracts, and continue to beat until a smooth batter forms.
4. Grease and flour two eight-inch cake tins.
5. Pour, or spoon, the cake batter into the greased and floured tins, shaking them to even out the batter and smoothing it with the back of a spoon or with a rubber spatula.
6. Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about forty minutes, or until the cake separates from the sides of the tin and a toothpick inserted into the cake’s center comes out clean.
7. Allow the cake to cool completely before removing from the tin and frosting with the coconut frosting below.
8. Beat all ingredients for the frosting together until thoroughly combined.
9. Refrigerate the frosting for five to ten minutes so that it stiffens a bit.
10. Remove from the refrigerator, beat for about one minute.
11. Frost your cake.
12. Decorate with colored unsweetened coconut if you’d like

Do you want the recipe for the Green Chile Roasted Pork?  Tune in tomorrow for that particular recipe.  Thanks for joining me.  Happy Easter!