An Eggscellent Easter Spread for Your Sunday Meal!

Cheesiest caption ever—but seriously. As you all know, my husband is the Chef in our family, and he did NOT disappoint with our recent [early] Easter spread. This year we decided we wanted to host some friends and get together, so that’s what we did! My number one request for basically every formal (or informal, who am I kidding) meal my husband makes, is that he makes his amazing Deviled Eggs. I posted a story on Instagram about it and asked if anyone else was as obsessed with them as I am, and did you know that in Australia, no one really eats them!? This sweet gal said, “No, but I’ve also never really had a deviled egg before, they aren’t popular here.” I told her that she desperately needed to change that, OR she should fly to Kentucky so my husband can prepare some for her the right way. Easy, right? ;)

My mother-in-law actually took the kids to a movie for some of the afternoon, and so it was REALLY nice to have a meal in our formal dining room fellowshipping with some of our favorite people, without them interrupting. I love them to death, but let’s face it, sometimes you can’t get much catching up when you have a busy five and six year old present. (They did show up towards the end though, and they were equally as happy to see our friends and eat their Dad’s delicious food.)

While we tend to have too much food no matter the holiday (no complaints there!) we like to keep things pretty simple. For our Friends Easter, we enjoyed a delicious ham, honey glazed carrots, green beans, baguettes, deviled eggs, and another favorite of mine…mashed potatoes! We also indulged in the desserts, and went with a yummy Kroger Carrot Cake, and cute Easter themed sugar cookies. YUM!

If you’re looking for some Easter inspiration, I hope this helps! If you need to pick my husband’s brain for recipe ideas, or any further details, don’t hesitate to e-mail me. He really is an amazing cook and I am SO thankful for him!!

Here are a couple of the items Asa (my husband) whipped up. You’ll have to tell me if you re-created any of these ideas or how this post inspired YOUR Easter planning! Happy Holiday, sweet friends!

Everything found in this blog post was purchased at our local Kroger, but it was not sponsored by them. I just wanted to show you what we did for this meal and thought it may be helpful to know where we got everything, decorations included!

Gather: A Sunday Dinner with Friends

I've missed Sunday dinners for a long time. They weren't ever a huge or elaborate affair in my household growing up, however there was still something sweet and wonderful about them. I have a lot of nostalgia remembering the things Mom would cook; I'm pretty sure mashed potatoes were my obsession? But I tell Asa often that I miss Michigan (okay, ALL the time...) and one of the reasons I wish we could be closer than the six hours that we are, is because I wish we could pop in on Sundays after church to eat a meal with my family...

Sigh. Who knows where the Lord will take us in the years to come, but as you can see, meals and fellowship are important to me--to us. We've been blessed by the church we joined last September and with it, some truly amazing friends. Tim and Steph are ones that it's been so evident, God is just using immensely to be a part of our village. Y'all know the familiar saying, 'it takes a village,' in regards to raising kids--as cliche as it may sound, it is TRUE! So these two had the brilliant idea of getting together on Sundays to come around a meal; to eat food, hang out, and to just spend time together. Of course we said YES! Our kids love them, they love our kids, and both Tim and Asa love to cook. So duh. 

Not only am I obsessed with mashed potatoes (pictured above!!), I LOVE Asa's deviled eggs. He adds a piece of bacon on top and they are creamy AND tangy. I could have literally devoured the entire plate but go figure, Tim and Steph loved them too. Tim made the fried chicken (omg!!) and the greens. The whole thing was a giant Southern dream. 

It does my heart good to be able to just carefree sit around the table with friends AND our kids. Let's be real...eating with children is not exactly stress free. They whip their utensils around, spill 90% of what's on their plate, and talk/bicker LOUDLY. Oh wait, I have some proof of a big table spill below! Ha!

Reese had been playing with the salt shaker on the dining room table prior to dinner, but obviously we weren't aware. When one of us went to USE said salt shaker......well, you see what happened. It dumped ALL, OVER, THE, TABLE!!!!!!!!!!! So the second photo was everyone scrambling (minus me, oops) trying to clean it up. Oh my word, I love these people.

And last but not least, I *finally* made a homemade blueberry pie for the first time in a VERY long time. (Remember when I made a new pie a month for 12 months, a tribute to my Grandma?)

Tonight we just had our second dinner together, that I'm sure I'll get around to blogging here soon as well. On my list of must reads is Shauna Niequist's book 'Bread and Wine,' but from this book there is this magical quote that speaks to my soul: 

“The heart of hospitality is about creating space for someone to feel seen and heard and loved. It's about declaring your table a safe zone, a place of warmth and nourishment.”

Now that you've seen OUR Sunday dinner, what do you love about Sundays? Or maybe what is a nostalgic meal you remember from your childhood? Leave a comment below and I hope you have the greatest week! 

xox