Easter Monday

Aside from acknowledging it as the day that follows Easter, little attention is given to Easter Monday in the United States. That’s not quite the case in Europe where it is an official holiday. Stores are closed and festivities are held in different towns. Italians often celebrate with picnics, the Dutch build large bonfires called Paasvuur (Easter fires).

In Poland, Easter Monday is known as Wet Easter Monday, or Lany Poniedzialek. This may have been the origin of the wet t-shirt contest! Here boys try to drench girls with buckets of water, squirt guns or whatever  is available. The tradition is if a girl receives a drenching she will marry within the year. The soaking tradition is also alive and well in Buffalo, NY. But typically America, it’s not just girls only getting wet. It’s everyone.

I like the idea of a low key holiday following the big lead up to Easter, if for no other reason than to recuperate from preparing and indulging in the Easter brunch and Easter dinner feast. Hope you had a wonderful Easter. I'm thinking about the left over cheese blintz casserole for lunch. This is a totally awesome dish if you are a fan of cheese blintz! I discovered this recipe about 20 years ago and it has been an Easter morning staple since then.  As my son pointed out, I only make this once a year. Enjoy.

Cheese Blintz Casserole

From Bon Appetite -- traditional

12 servings

Cheese filling

1 ½  lb. ricotta cheese

2 (8-oz each) pkgs cream cheese, room temperature

2 eggs

¼ cup sugar

3 ½ TBSP fresh lemon juice

1 tsp grated lemon peel

1 tsp grated orange peel

1/8 tsp salt

Batter

1 cup all purpose Flour, sifted

1 TBSP baking powder

1/8 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, melted

½ cup sugar

3 eggs

¼ cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract or ½ tsp almond extract

sour cream

strawberry jam

For filling: Using electric mixer, beat all filling ingredients until blended (can be prepared one day in advance)

For batter: Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Butter (I use PAM) 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Mix in butter, sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla extract.

Pour half of batter into prepared dish. Spoon filling over, gently spreading without mixing into batter. Pour remaining batter over filling. Bake until set - about 1 ½ hours.

To serve: cut into squares. Serve warm, passing sour cream and jam separately.