Easter 2012 in the Ham with the fam!

We had a fabulous Easter weekend in Montgomery and Birmingham with all of our family! The kids and I went to FeFe and Poppy's house in Montgomery for a day and a half before traveling to Birmingham for a full family Easter. FeFe and Poppy joined us on Sunday and we played the day away after a fabulous brunch of ham, homemade green bean casserole!,  squash casserole, pineapple casserole, and rolls. The green bean cass was from my MIL and it was TO DIE FOR. I'll post the recipe at the end of this post. Seriously, everyone raved about it. even my dad, who eats like 1T of food per meal. I will NEVER make the canned beans/French's casserole again. No way. This was amazing! everything was great and we had a blast seeing everyone! Especially since J took Monday off and we were in no rush to return home!

Picture fiesta below:

Emma was honing her egg hunting skills in Montgomery. Hilarious!

Emma and Letta (PS her real name is Scarlet in case 

you've been living under a rock. :) haha just kidding!)

Sweet girl!

Equally sweet little monkey!

Cute brother!

Handsome hubby!

Sissy and Scarlet

My precious boy who just turned TEN months old!

Posing with his momma!

Haha! He looks over it!

Let's play ball!

Doing what he does best-eating!

Sissy with the girls

So begins the paparazzi! We took probably 303040 photos of the three

 of them and got about 2 that looked good. Typical.

Winner! Minus the bink in buddy's mouth.

Loo was serious on the egg hunting. 

Scarlet, not so much!

Playing on the see saw from the neighbor's junk heap!

And brother's birthday was the day after Easter. Sister and I surprised him with steaks and massive amounts of leftover casserole deliciousness. And sister hooked him up with a monster trashcan!! He LOVED it!

We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends! Now counting down to the St. George Island beach trip on Cinco de Mayo!  Yayayayayay!

Here is the green bean casserole recipe.

via Martha Stewart Living, November 2000

Ingredients:

*6 T unsalted butter, plus more for dish

*1 medium onion, 1/4 inch dice

*1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch dice (I know it sounds weird, but just GO with it!)

* 1 Lb button mushrooms, stems trimmed and quartered

*2 tsp coarse salt

*1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

*1 1/2 Lb haricot vert or regular green beans (I used haricot vert-skinny French green beans)

*6 T all purpose flour

*2 C cream

*1 pinch cayenne

*1 C grated Parmesan (I used shaved DiGiorgnio)

*1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg

*1/4 C breadcrumbs (I used Panko)

*1/4 C canola oil for frying

*4 shallots, cut into 1/4 inch rings

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, melt 2 T butter. Add onion, and saute until it begins to soften, about 4 minutes. Add bell pepper and mushrooms, and cook until softened and most of the liquid has evaporated, about 8 minutes. Season with 1 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Set aside to cool.

2. Prepare an ice bath. Fill a large bowl with ice and water; set aside. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add beans and cook until bright green and just tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and plunge into ice bath to stop cooking. When cooled, toss drained beans with mushroom mixture; set aside.

3. Melt the remaining 4 T butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add 1/4 C flour, whisk constantly until mixture begins to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Pour in milk and continue whisking until mixture has thickened, about 3 minutes. Stir in cayenne, nutmeg and the remaining salt and pepper. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Pour over beans and toss to combine.

4. Butter a 9x13 glass or ceramic baking dish. Spread half of the green bean mixture over the bottom. Sprinkle on half the grated Parmesan and spread with the remaining green bean mixture. Combine the remaining Parmesan and breadcrumbs and sprinkle over casserole. Cover with foil, and refrigerate until just before serving.

5. Heat canola oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Toss shallot rings with the remaining 2 T flour. Fry the shallots in batches, turning frequently until golden brown. Transfer to paper towels to drain. Place in an airtight container and set aside until ready to serve.

6. Heat broiler and cook casserole covered until mixture is bubbly and heated through about 10 minutes. Uncover and cook until top is golden brown, about 30 seconds (WATCH THIS, WE ALMOST BURNED IT!). Sprinkle fried shallots over top and serve immediately.

AAAAAHHH-MAYYYYY-ZING!

Hope you all had a hoppy Easter! OK, that was gay. Sorry.

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