How long does it take to cook Easter Dinner? With this easy sheet pan dinner, you’ll be done with kitchen duty and enjoying Easter Sunday with your family in no time. Read on to learn how to prepare a quick Easter Dinner and the traditions that led to the special food choices we serve every year.
Easter Ham the Easy Way
An Easter ham has been a staple on many dinner tables for years. But the traditional meat eaten for Easter was originally lamb. Ham became the meat of choice in America simply because it was more readily available to common people. The timing of Easter celebrations also encouraged families to eat ham. Historically, people served ham that came from the meat they slaughtered during fall and cured for the winter. Since Easter is near the middle of spring, most families used the Easter feast to eat the last of their cured meat. Thus, the tradition of eating ham for Easter was born. Instead of purchasing a full ham to glaze and bake, our easy Easter recipe utilizes eight-ounce, ham steaks. They’re sliced in half and glazed with brown sugar and pineapple syrup. Yum.
Simple Easter Bread
Bread has a very strong connection to a lot of different belief systems. Similar to ham, bread’s inclusion in Easter dinner and other spring feasts is partially due to its abundance. Wheat for making bread is easy to grow in many places. Plus, when times are lean, bread helps alleviate hunger with its extremely filling nature. So, some type of bread was included in almost all meals when Easter feasting first became a tradition. The bread in this meal is a simple parmesan biscuit recipe that won’t take long to mix and bake.
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These Veggies Aren’t Just Rabbit Food
You can easily guess why carrots might be included in an Easter meal. But, aside from the Easter Bunny’s association with carrots, a lot of the vegetable side dishes are served on Easter because they are in season during the spring. The veggies and roots in this Easter meal — carrots, potatoes, and asparagus — are all in season during the spring and make for great side dishes.
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