Primal/Paleo Easter Dinner

We love Easter at our house! I have many childhood memories of egg hunts, jelly beans, ham and chocolate bunnies, and I want my kids to have those happy memories of Easter as well. Since we live in the Pacific Northwest, it's usually rainy on Easter Sunday, like every Sunday in all but about 3 months of the year. So we have our egg hunts inside. We only use plastic eggs; if some don't get found, I'd rather find some stale jelly beans in a plastic egg a few months later rather than a really smelly real one. Hubby and I hide the first round of eggs and the kids hunt them throughout the house. Then the kids hide them and the big people hunt. This goes on for quite a while until the food is ready, and we may even do more egg hunts after we eat...the kids like them that much!

The menu for Easter dinner is not really set in stone carved by years of tradition. We mix it up a bit from year to year depending on what really good meat we happen to find. This year we're going with a Nitrate/Nitrite-free ham from Trader Joe's. In years past we've had leg of lamb, which is also a big hit. A few years ago I discovered that cooking the ham in the crock pot made it not only an easy meal to cook, but made the ham and everything in the pot with it really yummy. So I'll probably go that route this year as well.

Since we have so many eggs, we'll definitely boil up a dozen or 2, but we may or may not dye or color them. Our eggs are already various colors and don't dye well, since they aren't all white. I could save a dozen or so white ones, or we may just go with the natural colors of our eggs. We'll see what the kids want to do. In years past we've gotten out the markers to decorate eggs, so that's always an option as well. And we're not ones to leave those decorated eggs sitting in a bowl until they go bad. We eat those bad boys right away after taking a few pictures to prove we actually decorated them. I like Deviled eggs, but the kids prefer theirs simply boiled.

Below is the menu we'll probably be eating on Sunday with maybe a few extra carbs thrown in for the kids' enjoyment.  :)

Crock pot ham with carrots
Nitrate/Nitrite free ham
about 1 lb baby carrots

Place ham into crock pot then place baby carrots on top and on sides of ham. Add about 2 C of warm water. Cook on High for about 4 hours or low for about 6 adding water if needed.


Ham-y beans (not primal or paleo, but so yummy)
All liquid remaining in Crock pot after cooking ham and carrots above
1 lb of dried beans (pick your favorite, I use pinto beans)

After removing ham and carrots from liquid, pour beans into crock pot then add enough extra water to cover beans by an inch or 2 if needed. Cook on high for about an hour or until beans are cooked through. This took a surprisingly short amount of time to cook the last time I did it, so keep an eye on your beans and check for doneness after about an hour.

Roasted Asparagus
1 bunch of asparagus
1 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Wash asparagus then by holding the bottom tip of the stalk and the top of the stalk bend the asparagus until the bottom inch or so breaks off. Throw that inch away. Some stalks will break closer to the bottom than others. The part that breaks off is the woody part that is not as yummy. Rub stalks with olive oil then place on a cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes. Asparagus should be bright green when cooked. Don't over cook!

Deviled eggs
1 dozen organic or backyard chicken eggs
1/4 - 1/3 C Primal Mayo or other mayo of choice
1 Tbs Dijon or other mustard
1-2 Tbs dill pickle relish

Boil and peel eggs, then slice in half length-wise. Remove yolk and place in a quart zip lock bag. Prepare Paleo May (or use regular Mayo) then add it to the bag with yolks; add mustard and relish to bag as well. Mash bag to mix all ingredients well. Cut corner off of the bag then pipe yolk mixture into egg whites. Sprinkle with paprika if desired.

Chocolate Torte
This chocolate cake with frosting was very yummy, full of protein and my kids loved it. We'll be having it again for Easter.

Primal Hot Cross Buns from Girl Gone Primal.
These look so amazing I have to try them, and Easter is the perfect excuse.