Weekend Cooking- St. Patrick's Day & Easter

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Last weekend, my family had back-to-back celebrations- St. Patrick's Day on Saturday and Easter on Sunday. We always have the same meal for St. Patrick's Day- corned beef and cabbage, champs potatoes, carrots, pistachio bread, and a family favorite, Irish bread pudding for dessert.

This year I had to work on Saturday at the Book Cellar where I volunteer, so I got up early to peel the potatoes and put the corned beef in the slow cooker, a method I had not used before to make corned beef. I ran home during my shift to put the cabbage in the slow cooker at 2pm so that dinner would be ready by 6pm.

The meal was delicious, and even though I made the bread pudding the day before, it tasted fabulous on day two. The recipe for Irish Bread Pudding is here.

Sunday was Easter, and I spent the day in the kitchen. I made Ina Garten's Herbed-Roasted Lamb, which I made last year, and it turned out perfectly. My husband made a tasty gravy from the drippings.

I tried a few new recipes this year, including a scalloped potatoes recipes I found on Pinterest. I used a mandolin to slice the potatoes thin and then cooked them in a skillet on the stove for a few minutes before putting them in the oven.

Simple Scalloped Potatoes

These were the best scalloped potatoes I ever made! I'm not a big fan of scalloped potatoes, but these were fantastic and my husband will be happy to know that I will make them more often now. The recipe is here.

While on a plane a few weeks ago, I watched Giada at Home on the Food Network and she made
Peas, Bacon and Prosecco that I thought would pair well with Easter dinner. It was a big hit with the smoky, crispy bacon complementing the sweet peas, and everyone had seconds. The recipe is here.

Peas, Bacon and Prosecco

We started with a pear salad because someone sent my husband pears from Harry & David, and we ended with three little cakes from Two Little Red Hens- Brooklyn Blackout, Red Velvet and the surprise favorite, Raspberry Filled Vanilla Cake. We also had deviled eggs and strawberry jello salad.

Three Cakes from Two Little Red Hens

There were seven of us for Easter this year, and we had a wonderful time. The conversation was engaging (there was a suggestion that two of our dining companions should start a podcast because their banter is hilarious), and the meal turned out to be the one of the best I have ever made from start to finish. Everything turned out perfectly and that almost never happens.

Our Perfect Easter Dinner

It was a memorable weekend indeed. Have you ever made a meal that you thought was perfect from beginning to end? Tell me about it in comments.