Easter Dinner Ideas

The easiest Easter dinner to host is a potluck, where everyone brings a favorite dish. You can divide the responsibility among your guests, asking some to bring a main course, some to bring sides and some to provide desserts. When everyone contributes, dinner is served quickly and easily. Best of all, your guests take their dishes home, leaving you with a minimum of cleaning to do after dinner.

If you prefer to do the work yourself and host a fancy get-together, a traditional Easter dinner consists of a meat dish for the main course, often roast beef or ham. Traditional sides include deviled eggs, macaroni and cheese, salad and cooked vegetables. For dessert, offer carrot cake or a sheet cake cut into the shape of an Easter bunny and decorated with white frosting and shredded coconut.

Vegetarians wishing to put together a feast can make a mock roast out of tofu or seitan. If you serve tofu, be sure to drain it overnight to give it the best texture. Lay the block of tofu on a plate lined with five or six napkins, cover it with more paper towels and set another plate on top of it to help press the water out. Seitan is easily made from wheat gluten flour and can be cooked in a crock pot or dutch oven just like a pot roast. Add carrots, potatoes and vegetable broth and allow the seitan to simmer for eight hours. Round out your dinner with sides like steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes or vegan macaroni and cheese made with ground cashews, soy milk and nutritional yeast.

And remember, no matter what you choose for dinner, fruit-based desserts such as cobbler and pie end the meal deliciously.