Easter – Palm Sunday
By Lee Ann Flemming
Easter has always been one of my favorite holidays. After a long cold winter, spring is in the air. Well, sometimes – I remember having snow on the ground one year when I was a child. There we were in our Easter outfits, shivering while we stood in the snow to have our annual holiday photo made.
My husband’s parents always had a big Easter celebration at their home. They had a big egg hunt for the grandkids and then for their children. To say my husband and his siblings are competitive would be putting it mildly. I quickly learned to stand back rather than get mowed down while they searched for eggs. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that the plastic eggs had money in them. As a child, I could never find eggs. I always got the prize for the person who found the fewest eggs. At least I got a prize, even if it was a pity prize.
Being the candy lover that I am, could be another reason I enjoy Easter so much. Easter now surpasses Halloween for the most amount of candy sales. People in the United States spend about $2.6 billion at Easter on candy alone.
*Peeps are the most popular Easter candy. Americans eat about 1.5 million Peeps during the Easter season. The Peeps factory in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, makes 5.5 million Peeps a day.
*More than 1.5 million Cadbury Crème eggs are made every day. A factory in England churns out 500 million a day.
*Americans eat 16 million jelly beans during Easter. William Schrafft introduced the jelly bean in the late 1800’s to send overseas to soldiers. They were introduced as an Easter treat in the 1930’s.
*70% of the Easter candy that is purchased is chocolate. 90 million chocolate bunnies are sold during Easter. Most people usually eat the ears first.
Easter got its name from the Goddess Eostre, the goddess of spring, fertility, and the dawn. The Easter egg is said to symbolize and represent joy, celebration, and new life. The two animals that are most associated with Easter are the baby chick – representing new life, and the lamb – symbolizing Jesus Christ.
I don’t know the answer to the age- old question of what came first, the chicken or the egg. I love a good chicken casserole, especially when rice is also an ingredient. I hope you will give these a try. Thanks for reading.
SOUTHWESTERN CHICKEN and YELLOW RICE CASSSEROLE
2 (5 oz.) pkg. yellow rice
2 (11 oz.) cans Mexicorn, drained
4 cups chopped, cooked chicken
2 (15 oz.) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
2 cans diced Ro-Tel tomatoes
2 cans Cream of Chicken soup
2 Tbsp. southwestern or taco seasoning
2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees; spray a 9 x 13- inch baking dish with cooking spray. Prepare yellow rice according to directions and set aside to cool. Mix together, rice, corn, chicken, black beans, tomatoes, chicken soup, seasoning, and 1 cup of the cheese; season with salt and pepper. Spread into prepared pan and top with remaining cup of cheese. Bake for 30 – 40 minutes until bubbly.
CHICKEN RICE-A-RONI CASSEROLE
1 box chicken Rice-a-Roni
1 cup sour cream
1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 (4.5 oz.) can diced green chilies
1 tsp. cumin
2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
3 cups cooked, chopped chicken
Preheat oven to 350 degrees; lightly spray a 9 x 13- inch baking dish with cooking spray. Prepare Rice-a-Roni according to package directions and cool slightly. In a large bowl, combine rice, sour cream, soup, green chilies, cumin, chicken, and 1 cup of the cheese. Pour into prepared pan and top with remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cheese is melted and casserole is heated.
KING RANCH CHICKEN and RICE BAKE
3 cups chopped, cooked chicken
1 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 can diced Ro-Tel tomatoes
8 oz. Velveeta cheese, cubed
½ cup chicken broth
2 cups instant white rice
2 cups water
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 350 degrees; spray a 9 x 13- inch baking dish with cooking spray. In a medium saucepan, bring 2 cups water to a boil. Add rice, cover and turn off the heat. Allow to stand for 5 minutes or until all water is absorbed. In microwave or on top of stove, mix Velveeta, soup, tomatoes, and chicken broth and heat until cheese is melted. Add rice and chicken to mixture and pour into prepared dish. Top with cheddar cheese and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until cheese has melted and casserole is heated through.
