grace grits and gardening

ramblings from an arkansas farm girl

Easter Cigarettes

By

One Easter morning while the Tate girls were at church, our house was robbed. Gone was the television. Gone was the eight-track player. Gone was our sense of security.
Daddy, who never stepped foot in church, not even the obligatory Easter and Christmas church services, had driven down to the corner grocery store for Sunday morning cigarettes. 
I was only gone ten minutes, he alleged.
In ten minutes our house was cleaned out.
Easter and cigarettes don’t mix.

Happy Easter!

talya

Musical Pairing:

Gone, Montgomery Gentry

Heavenly Coconut Cake

By

I made this cake a few days ago inspired by a Pinterest recipe. I tweaked it a bit (because I was at my mother’s house and didn’t have all the ingredients…) Had the cake been any more delicious, I’d have eaten the plate.

Heavenly Coconut Cake

So simple and perfect for holiday entertaining!

Ingredients

1 white cake mix (I used Pillsbury)
3 eggs
1 cup water
1/4 cup coconut oil (the cake mix called for 1/4 cup vegetable oil. I substituted coconut oil which provides health benefits and adds a coconut flavor to the cake.)
1 14 oz. can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1 8 oz. package sweetened coconut
1 container of Cool Whip, thawed

Method

Bake the cake according to the directions using mix, eggs, water and oil.

While cake is baking, toast coconut in a skillet.

Immediately upon removing the cake from the oven, poke holes in it.

Typically, I would make neater, rounder holes with the end of a wooden spoon, but since I was at my mother’s house and she has very few utensils, I made ugly slices with a knife. (FYI – Momma stopped cooking after Daddy died, and her kitchen is suffering…)

Pour the milk over the top of the cake and let cool completely.

Once cooled, ice with Cool Whip. Sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Yum.

Easy.

talya

Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.

 

Naturally Dyed Easter Eggs

By

Although my nest is empty, I still love to dye Easter eggs. This year I decided to dye eggs using food and spices on hand.

I started with red onion skins, blackberries, cinnamon (ground & sticks), green onion tops and cilantro, beet juice and turmeric.

After boiling water, steep each ingredient for ten minutes while grinding and stirring the various ingredients to release the juices. Add 1 Tablespoon of white vinegar to each glass.

To enhance a few of the colors, I added a bit of ground cayenne pepper to the cinnamon, spinach leaves to the green and a splash of red wine to the blackberry. (Next time, I would not use green onions—spinach worked better.)

The beet juice produced a beautiful rose color. The turmeric was vibrant. Soak in the refrigerator overnight for best results.

naturally dyed easter eggs
(left to right) purple onion, spinach/cilantro, blackberry/wine, cinnamon/cayenne, beet, turmeric
A word about boiling eggs: The eggs we buy today are very fresh (i.e. free range, etc.) The fresher the egg, the harder to peel—the white membrane is not mature and sticks to the shell. A teaspoon of baking soda in the boiling water will make the egg easier to peel.
And don’t forget to use the eggshells in your garden. Crushed and sprinkled around flowerbeds, they will fend off slugs. Or mix with your soil as compost.
Happy Easter!
Grace Grits and Gardening

Food. Farm. Garden. Life.

THANKS FOR READING!