Easily Excitable

Folks, I normally try to eat pretty healthily. 

Bread and sugar hurt my knees, so I try to eat (approximately, now) 80/20- 80% on the straight and narrow, and 20% footloose and fancy free. 

I like to save my knees for pickleball’s sake, thank you very much. 

But, that being said, if there is ever a meal where I am about to throw down, embarrass my mother, and abandon every word I’ve ever said about a healthy diet, it is 100% Easter Sunday.

This is my favorite meal- on my FAVORITE holiday- of the year. 

I do love Easter for the significance of the holiday. Obviously. 

But I also love all the subsidiary stuff, too: the colors, the family gatherings, the weather (when it does right), the activities, and- yes, Lord- the candy. 

I’ve gone on record saying Easter candy is the best holiday candy there is. 

I stand by that statement. It’s one of my strongest beliefs. 

Some people believe they are defined by their political inclinations. 

I assume ALMOST that same tenacity in my candy leanings. 

I will fight for my right to Robins Eggs.

A little Easter candy aside for you, reader:

I do love it above all other variations of candy. I do. 

However, as I lay in bed last Saturday night, I had the errant thought: I haven’t had one ounce of Easter Candy this year. 

Now, if you’ve ever heard the story of me eating so much Easter candy that I made myself sick (How’s that for will power?), you’ll know that this is not the worst thing that’s ever happened to me. 

How ironic that Easter candy is that which most makes me lose my spiritual fruit of self-control. 

All that being said…

As much as I love the Easter candy, I hold an equal or, dare I say, higher appreciation for the Easter meal. 

There is something absolutely divine about the Easter lunch or (as we say in the more rural, Southern regions) Easter dinner. 

I love a picnic-esque meal, and I have to think Jesus was also a fan, what with the whole “fishes and loaves” experience.

To properly honor this meal and the hands that prepared it…

I decided I wanted to write a little piece about the spread we enjoyed for Easter dinner 2024, one of the most beautiful Easters in recent memory.

So please enjoy this more-than-you-ever-wanted-to-know dive into our Easter meal: it was a special meal on a special day at a special place. 

Fried Chicken

Sugarberry’s is a blessing to Cochran, Georgia in many ways, but they are particularly outstanding when it comes to fried chicken. 

Gran fixed us up with some of Sugarberry’s holy chicken on Easter Sunday. It was fantastic.

And because I know you’re wondering, here is the ranking of the best pieces of chicken: 

1. Wings
2. Thighs
3. Drumsticks
4. Breasts

Daddy taught me to clean every ounce of chicken off its bone (it was unsaid that this would best honor our ancestors). 

Momma, on the other hand, used to tell me that no man would want to take me home to meet his parents if he saw me gnawing on a chicken bone. 

The unfortunate thing for Momma was that I wanted to clean a chicken bone more than I wanted to be married. 

So, now, here in the year of our Lord 2024, I sit beside my husband and gnaw on a wing to my heart’s content. 

Marriage is all about acceptance of another’s flaws, right?

Macaroni and Cheese

Aunt Lori makes legendary mac’n’cheese, and her 2024 Easter batch was to die for, as always. 

I have been on record that I’m not a big fan of mac’n’cheese that’s not out of a box. 

Questioning that last sentence? Friend, you read it right: I would go to bat for just about any boxed macaroni over a potluck Pyrex of cheesy noodles. 

But. But. But.

Aunt Lori’s mac’n’cheese is the best. I trust hers and showed it by sending it straight down my gullet. 

Best recipe, hands down. 

Potato Salad

Gran Hazel, matriarch extraordinaire and esteemed head of the crew, made the potato salad.

I’m not sure where she got the recipe from originally, but I guarantee she could tell me exactly where she learned it through a masterful narrative retelling. 

I would ALSO guarantee that, if you got the Ruth Baptist fundraiser cookbook (circa 1984-ish?), you probably have that recipe in there. 

Gran is one of the best cooks I know (she would deny it: don’t believe her), and her potato salad is a revelation. 

I made some for Easter last year, and it couldn’t hold a candle to Gran’s. 

Broccoli Salad

Aunt Teesee makes a MEAN broccoli salad. I could write a love letter to it. 

Alas, this love story would be a heartbreaking tale, as I can’t actually eat broccoli salad. 

I used to: I would heap up my plate with the stuff. 

That is, I did until about 5 years ago. 

It was then that I ate- no kidding- 3 helpings of broccoli salad.

It went down smooth as could be, but about an hour later, I felt a slight sour feeling in my stomach. 

Thereafter came the WORST heartburn I’ve ever had. Impervious to all manner of healing, this heartburn had me laid out on the floor of Gran’s bedroom. 

Unfortunately, raw broccoli is something I just can’t eat anymore. 

Did I still consider having a taste? Absolutely. 

But what I lost in broccoli-tolerance, I gained in broccoli-wisdom, and I stayed away from the broccoli salad. 

Do you find it as ironic as I do that the only healthy thing in the salad is what gives me digestive struggles?

Here’s what I can tell you, though: Teesee’s broccoli salad is excellent, and it may be worth the later heartache just to have a little bit. 

Broccoli couched in a sweet mayo dressing, bacon, red onions, and cheese? Nothing better. 

Teesee, I thank you for your service. 

Strawberry Pretzel Salad

This came from the kitchen of Wendy Meadows, and she KILLED IT. 

This is one of the very best parts of the whole meal (though, I’m sure I probably said that about all of these foods at some point during the day or during this writing). 

The best part about this salad is that it’s just about the farthest thing there is from a traditional salad.

You mean to tell me there is a salad that has strawberries in jello on top, cream cheese and whipped cream filling in the middle, and a pretzel/ butter/ sugar combo on the bottom? 

There’s not a leaf of lettuce in sight?

Sign me up. 

The only way you could really add anything else ‘unhealthy’ to this salad would be to throw in some mayo in some form or fashion.

Now does that make a whole lot of sense? Absolutely not. 

But as someone who used to have to eat mayonnaise-and-cheese-stuffed pears as a child, I can tell you that you should NEVER underestimate the inescapable nature of mayo. 

Deviled Eggs

This was my contribution. 

I did a few of them the normal (read: boring) way, dressed up with a little paprika.

But, if there has ever been anything that’s rung true, it’s that I struggle to stick to a status quo. 

“Does not play well with instructions.” Put it on my tombstone, folks. 

On the other set of deviled eggs, I added a little razzle dazzle. 

I put some cowboy candy on  some, smoked ham on others, and then married the two on a precious few.

Y’all, I want to come before the assembly and say that these were (possibly) the ugliest deviled eggs I’ve ever seen.

They looked like college kids who’d partied all night but still had to get dressed up to make it to church the next morning. 

Not pretty. 

I will say this, though: what they lacked in presentation, they made up for in taste.

Chocolate Cake and Lady Fingers

Now, by the time the sweets rolled around, I was stuffed to the gills. There was zero room left in me for the 14 layer chocolate cake Aunt Teesee brought. 

But I can tell you that it looked delish, and I love chocolate in any form or fashion, so I hated to miss this.

Shot out, also, to Shanna (I won’t use her last name here to protect her privacy, but you probably know her) who came to hang out (along with her crew- I won’t use their names here to protect their privacy, but you probably know them), armed with some ladyfinger cookies that I DID find room for. 

And they were phenomenal. 

She told me the recipe made 140 cookies, and I believe I could have made room for at least half of them. 

Everything is best at Easter: 

The weather, the flowers, the gatherings, the color schemes, the clothing patterns. 

And the meal…especially the meal.

I love it. I love it all. 

You can’t beat Easter with a stick, and I like to think that our risen Savior, Jesus Christ, would agree with that statement. 

I hope everyone had a happy Easter. 

Thanks for following my re-telling of an Easter menu. 

To be honest, if you read all of that, you are committed to me in a way I don’t deserve, but all the more appreciate. 

Until next year, Easter feast! 

Maybe next year, I’ll approach that meal with the decorum and self-control that a Holy Day deserves. 

I haven’t up until now, so not likely. Especially if strawberry salad makes the menu again. 

Have a great weekend!