Easter Menu Suggestions...and Awards!

Homemade Garlic Rolls

These amazing homemade garlic rolls, filled with fresh herbs and lots of garlic may not be the appropriate type of rolls for Easter, but I assure you everyone will love it as an appetizer to start a fabulous Easter Sunday early dinner...or lunch

I've had the pleasure of being invited to join in the fun, from two of my lovely and talented food blogger friends, from Hungary, to feature 10 different suggestions from appetizers to desserts for Easter. Petra @ Reformkori Konyha. Also, Katalin @ Katalin Konyhája... were so kind and gracious to invite me that I was so thrilled to participate... I appreciate the offer.

 At the same time I will also mention the sweet award I received from two other talented, friends, that I will pay forward!

I am starting with some appetizers, and make my way to the desserts from my blog!

Arancini di Riso-Sicilian Rice Balls

Arancini di Riso-Sicilian Rice Balls

A closeup of the Arancini di Riso-Sicilian Rice Balls, so incredible, filled with ground beef in sauce, cooked rice, and a cube of mozzarella cheese, breaded, and fried to perfection, served with fresh Marinara sauce. Absolute comfort food for any occasion!

Beautiful Braised Lamb Shank, served over basic Risotto Milanese...my son-in-law Fabrizio's contribution, from Easter Sunday, 2011~

Teresa's Zucchini Quiche

Teresa's Zucchini Quiche...also from last year's Easter. According to Italian tradition...you have to have an egg dish, or at least some type of eggs, for Easter!

Gingered Soba Noodles with Spicy Tofu

For Vegan lover's delight...Gingered Soba Noodles with Spicy Tofu. This was awesome...your don't have to be Vegan to enjoy, and really love this dish!

...and for dessert, may I suggest?

Carrot Pineapple Cake

New York Style Cheesecake

Fresh Strawberry Tart

 Angelfood Cake with Fresh Berries

This is the perfect time to mention the awards, that I received...and not passed on. My previous one, from my dear friend Amelia @ Amelia's De-sserts, and another recent one from a new friend,Carmen @ Carmen's Kitchen.

I would like to pass these awards on to Petra, and Katalin, who have invited me to join in the FUN GAME...for the Easter Menu Suggestions. Thank you once again, Amelia, and thank you Carmen!

Thanks to all othes who have presented me with awards, that I have already received in the past. as well!

I would love to link everybody, but again, from Amelia @ Amelia's De-sserts ...presenting these two beautiful awards to Petra, Katalin, and Carmen...incidentally, the roses, I personally "hand picked" from Amelia, and asked her if I could keep it as an award!

Also, the Happy Blogger Award, that I received from Carmen, that is so cute, and I am so honored to have been chosen as a participant to receive this awesome award. Thank you Carmen...again, back to Petra, and Katalin, and Amelia!

Köszönöm szépen Katalin, és Petra, a kedves meghivást, a Husvéti ajánlat játékra...fogadjátok szerettel el, a dijakat tőlem, és adjátok át akinek szeretnétek!

Puszillak!

Canning Tomatoes...and missing Gina!

My friend Gina, from SPCookieQueen had just announced that she will have to take a break from blogging for a while, and may not be coming back! In the meantime, she had just posted her 7 Links that I tagged her with, and it is so beautiful with all her heartfelt posts, and favorite things that she posted, that I was so pleased to see, but not so pleased to hear the news that she may not be returning to her blog...sigh!

You see, Gina was one of the first blogger that befriended me on my blog, when I first started, and I will be forever grateful for that. She is so talented, and has come such a long way with her photo props, as she has explained in the past how she is doing it with the proper lighting...etc. All her recipes are so amazing, from soups...to desserts, and the photos are superb! I will personally miss her blog, and her, mostly. I have mentioned to blog at least once a month, because of her busy work schedule, so hopefully she will do at least that. As for the recipe for the actual Marinara Sauce...canning tomatoes. just link to her site! I only made a few jars of these, and I must say, it was truly a success...so thank you Gina for all your wonderful contributions...you are truly a beautiful friend, and a fantastic blogger...please do not leave permanently, not just yet!

Here's the recipe for How to can Marinara Sauce  from fresh tomatoes!

All I did was to saute some chopped onions, and chopped garlic in olive oil, and added the jar of canned Marinara sauce...heat it up, and I arrived at having the most wonderful Marinara Sauce I had ever tasted in my entire life...seriously!

...and to make it even better, I sauteed some frozen deveined, and cleaned shrimp to add to the sauce! Yumm! ...just can't have any other sauce better, than your own canned sauce!

Arancini di Riso-Sicilian Rice Balls

If you are familiar with the Arancini, which literally means, "little oranges" then you would know what this authentic, Sicilian, or Calabrian delicacy is. It is called Rice Balls. You can make it two ways, the first one which we all are familiar with are with a scoop of ground meat, w/sauce, and a cube of mozzarella cheese, and let's not forget the green peas. You can also make it vegetarian style, with just the mozzarella cheese in the middle, served over plain Marinara sauce. Either way, you've never tasted any Italian comfort food, which is usually served as a snack in the middle of the afternoon, or an appetizer, for a few, or a crowd that will disappear faster than pizza. I had the opportunity to learn about this yummy dish, firsthand when I lived in Sicily, and also visiting family in the recent years. Nowadays, as in the past, it is still a very popular tasty treat, made in every pizza place, or in cafes, and mostly it's a tradition to make on a Sunday afternoon.