Alt Text for Image
Let me just take a minute and give a shout out to Lutheran pastors, especially our own Pastor Jodi Myrvik. I’m only giving a shout out to the Lutherans because I have no idea what other religions do during Lent and Easter, but I know what Lutherans do. Starting with Ash Wednesday, we have Lenten services every Wednesday night until the week of Easter. Every. Single. Wednesday. Pastor Jodi coordinates several youth to serve a meal prior to the service, then a whole set of different youth run the service including doing all the readings and performing a skit for the sermon. The week of Easter there are no Wednesday services but there’s Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and then two Easter morning services on Sunday. Our church also hosted the community Easter egg hunt this year on Saturday. In between writing sermons and service orders, Pastor Jodi is doing all her other normal pastoral duties as well as running her daughter to events and even making a quick trip to Minneapolis to support her brother coaching basketball. The only thing that slowed her down was a case of laryngitis right in time for Easter, however, she managed to pull together several members of the congregation to help her on Saturday and Sunday, and everything went smoothly. Behind the scenes is our secretary, Julie Johnson, who puts together all the bulletins and makes sure all the other details are taken care of. Thank you, Pastor Jodi and Julie!
On a personal note, we managed to get through another major holiday without my mother-in-law, Carol. For some reason, I found Easter to be more challenging than the major holidays already behind us, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because I finally had some time to process everything and really notice the absence of her? I started feeling a little stressed when Easter weekend started looming, agonizing over menu choices, and trying to figure out where to have everyone sleep. I feel like I’m a decent host, but I also feel like my hosting skills are lacking, especially when compared to Carol’s. Over the years, I’ve found myself simplifying as much as possible, wondering if paper plates would suffice when more than 10 people are coming, where Carol was of the generation where the finest china was used for every occasion no matter how long it took to hand wash them afterwards. Carol decorated for every holiday, putting her best and most time-consuming effort into fall and Christmas, but Easter was not without fanfare. There were Easter bunnies and eggs, a spring wreath on the door, lilac candles burning, and delicate pastel cloth napkins laid out. My house was 100% devoid of a single springy or Easterish decoration, and although I didn’t use paper plates, my old chipped and cracked white Crate & Barrel everyday dishes were on display. Thank goodness my sister and her family decided to come up for the weekend, so I had another veteran hostess to help me out.
First up on the hosting agenda was figuring out the menu. This was another area where I tended to struggle a bit as I have always had my mom and Carol to rely on to handle most of the menu and the planning. We decided that even though ham was a traditional Easter meat choice, no one in our families loved it, so we scrapped it right away opting instead for elk roast and corned beef with cabbage. Once we had the meat figured out, it was on to the side dishes. We both agreed that we had to have our Grandma Erna’s yummy potatoes on the menu. If there’s any food that gives me instant nostalgia, it’s yummy potatoes. It’s an easy dish and one that was always present when I was growing up as part of every holiday celebration as well as birthdays and numerous other occasions. Most people have a version of this that they make because they are essentially just cheesy hashbrowns, but I happen to think that this version is the best! Enjoy!
Grandma Erna’s Yummy Potatoes ½ c melted butter 1 tsp salt 2 lbs diced hash browns 2 c grated sharp cheddar cheese 8 oz sour cream ½ c chopped onion Dash pepper 1 – 10 oz can cream of chicken soup 2 c corn flakes Stir together potatoes, butter, salt, pepper, onion, soup, sour cream, and cheese. Put in 9x13 pan. Top with corn flakes. Bake for 1 to 1 ½ hours at 350◦ F or until edges are bubbly and center is cooked through.
Sara Goodman is an avid runner who says her best ideas come to her between 5:30 and 6:30 a.m. She grew up on a cattle ranch in Watford City, N.D. After recently retiring from 15 years of long-term care consulting, she now helps her husband, Greg, run the family farm near Milton and volunteers on many boards and committees in her church and community. The Goodman house has three kids, two cats, and a dog.