Mom's Easter Sunday Potluck REVISED - 3 dishes no time!

Easter is just about on us and I am thinking about the Easter Sunday Potluck and believe me, the heat is on. Owning Seasons can be a curse at times and any time there is a potluck is one of them.

My friends expect that whatever I bring will be spectacular, creative, and phenomenally wonderful. So what's the problem? I have no time to plan and virtually no time to cook. Whatever I do, it has to be fast and easy! I've turned my brain on "sideways" and here it is...something wonderful, somewhat traditional, and oh yes, it's EASY! (By the way, did I mention I have TWO potluck's to attend?)

First, the entrees-- traditional Easter Ham. Ham yes. Traditional no. So how am I going to dress it up and wow my friends? I'm going to toss the first ham in a liner in the crockpot with a jar of Perfect Pear's Cinnamon Clove Pear Preserve...and that's one down! For the second ham, same process, second crockpot, slather it in Stonewall Kitchen's Bourbon Molasses Mustard and that one is done too! That's "no-hams-down" two thumbs up and thanks to the crockpot liners, not a pan to wash!

While the hams cook, it is off to the side dishes. I'm thinking carrots--this is Easter after all. I hit Stonewallkitchen.com and found the perfect fast and easy recipe for Candied Baby Carrots using the Orange Cranberry marmalade. Doesn't that one sound incredible? To make it faster and easier, I'm using the Glad Microwave Zip & Steam bags to steam the carrots (did I mention I love these things? The texture and flavors are better than traditional steaming and there is no pan to wash--notice the recurring theme here?)

The second side? Well, if it aint broke, don't fix it. I hit Stonewall Kitchen.com again and found Glazed Green Beans with Crumpled Gorgonzola. This one uses the Roasted Garlic Onion Jam--AND GORGONZOLA. This one is all grown up and yummy!

Finally dessert! Nothing too fussy or formal. First, I'll get some Pillsbury slice & bake sugar cookies, slice them thin, and press them in mini tart pans. Bake 'em up fill them with Stonewall Kitchen Lemon Curd, and top with mint sprig! "BAM" instant mini-lemon tarts!

Dessert two takes me back home to Mom and the coconut cake she always made for Easter. She would dye the coconut green for the top of the cake to make fake grass and dot it with jelly bean Easter eggs. All right, so this is the point where I get nostalgic and a little corny, but isn't that what holidays are for? I'm making Barefoot Contessa Coconut Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. And yes, I'm going to dye the coconut green and add jelly bean Easter eggs--just don't tell my Mom!

Seasons - Going Green

Recently, one of you called it to my attention that you had noticed a change at Seasons that we hadn't mentioned. Coinciding with the move to our new location, we joined the effort to go Green!

We started with our construction in May. We were originally installing a beautiful eco-friendly bamboo floor, but decided to save the resources and re-use the dark hardwood from the previous tenant. Low VOC paint went on the walls, and all of the existing room lighting got updated with energy efficient florescent bulbs. We removed old light fixtures that used 4 halogen bulbs each and replaced them with our commercial track lighting, reducing the gross wattage while improving the overall lighting of the store.

Rather than add our old cooler shell to the landfill, we gave it a face lift with matching sheetrock and trim. We replaced the compressor with a new high efficiency unit to help out with those August electric bills.

Then it came to operations. We started with some of the simple things first...all of our bags, tissue, register tape, printer paper, and even our order tickets are now made (at least partially) from recycled post-consumer waste. We changed some of our computer settings and turned off some auto-print features as well--we were all surprised at how much paper that saved!

Finally, when we stocked the store, we examined our options before purchasing. We chose products that were manufactured as close as possible (reducing shipping fuel and carbon emissions), looked at organic alternatives, and carefully considered our options before ordering.

While we weren't able to go completely green with everything we did, we started down the path toward a greener tomorrow. We are thinking twice about what we do and are watching for new ways to do better everyday!

Fragrant Greenleaf

We've been searching for over 3 years for the perfect compliment to our Tyler Candles! Don't worry they aren't going away, we just needed something great to round them out.

It has been difficult. First we had to find something as fragrent as Tyler--that was hard. Then we had to make sure it had a soy base and burned well -- that brought us down to three finalists. The final criteria? Cost. We wanted it to be reasonable. With two of the three finalists weighing in at over $40 each, the final choice was easy-- a truly fragrant, long burning, soy candle at a reasonable cost-- GREENLEAF!


New fragrances include Banboo & Blossoms, Classic Linen, Eucaclyptus Mint, Orange & Honey, Roses, Sycamore Fig, Tuscan Vineyard & Valencia.


These candles are incredible! Whether you pick them up for you or a gift for a friend, at just $16.95 for a beautifully gift boxed candle we know you will love them!