When we were growing up, my two brothers and I loved coloring eggs at Easter. My mother would hard boil three dozen eggs so we each had 12 eggs to dye and then my Dad ate egg salad sandwiches for weeks.

Easter Egg Dye

1/4 tsp. food color

3/4 c. boiling water for each color

1 Tbsp. vinegar for each color

For each color, measure food color, water and vinegar into bowl about size of a cereal bowl. Mix well with spoon, use separate spoon for each color.

To make orange dye: mix equal amounts of red and yellow. To make purple dye, mix blue and red. To make green dye mix blue and yellow.

Pickled Beets

1/2 tsp. dry mustard

1 Tbls. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1 small clove garlic

6 Tbls. vinegar

1/4 c. water

2 c. canned beets, drained

pinch of fennel (optional)

Combine all ingredients and pour over the beets. Refrigerate until chilled. I usually make these a day or two ahead, so the flavors can really blend together.

Crispy Carrot Casserole

4 c. sliced fresh carrots

1/4 c. butter

1 onion, diced

1 c. diced Velveeta cheese, diced

crushed potato chips

Cook carrots in boiling lightly salted water until slightly tender; drain. Spray 1 qt. casserole dish with cooking spray, or grease. In casserole, put carrots, onion and Velveeta cheese, and stir lightly. Dot with butter. Top with crushed potato chips (as many as you want, to make a crispy topping. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.