Peeps, the marshmallow ones!

My husband and friends spoil me with chocolate on a very regular basis; one of my closest friends bought me 6 high quality bars as part of my birthday present! In some ways, I think I might actually eat more (and better) chocolate now that I am completely dairy free than I did before. Having said that, I am really not too fussed when Easter rolls around. Sure, there are piles of different shaped chocolates to be had, but now-a-days, it doesn't really matter the holiday; there are piles of chocolates around! Whether it's chocolate hearts for Valentines, chocolate bunnies for Easter, chocolates of all description for Halloween and Christmas, we are completely surrounded by more chocolate than any of us need. Provided you need to Need chocolate, of course, but that is another story. Enter: Peeps! My squishy little friends.

Peeps, in case you haven't ever been confronted by one of these fluorescent little fellows, are chick and/or bunny shaped marshmallows (though they do have special, seasonal peeps for all of the above mentioned holidays) covered in various coloured sugars. Some will have additional flavours to them; we managed to find "Party Cake" Peeps today, and they had different coloured speckles on them. My not-sister in Texas called me a hag because she can't get those ones. Still, I can find only green and yellow chicks and pink bunnies, while she can find an array of colours. I'd say that makes us even = )

I am hardly the only person, let alone adult, to be enamoured of these little treats; the Washington Post does an annual contest, Peeps Show, where the contestants use peeps to create dioramas of various settings and this was year 7! The number of images pertaining to Peeps that come up on a Google search is impressive, too. I didn't realize that you could (or that you'd want to) make a dress out of them and I'm not really sure why you would want to microwave a whole box of them, but apparently they explode (and for anyone tempted to do so, the mess it leaves behind is spectacular, so have fun cleaning it up!).

Needless to say, I have already eaten enough Peeps today to have a pretty good sugar buzz going on, but I think I'm going to go have another one, just because I can!

Scalloped Potatoes

In my house growing up, if there was a special occasion or holiday and a dinner was to be cooked, we had turkey. Regardless of which holiday it was, we had a turkey. Skip ahead a few years, and I am now married to a fellow whose holidays were far more traditionally observed in terms of what was had for dinner. So, what with it being the Easter long weekend, we get to have baked ham, asparagus and scalloped potatoes. The problem here, if this can be said to be a problem, is that my husband and I differ on what we think of as being scalloped potatoes. What could I do? I cheated and made my version on a day when I got home first!

There are probably as many variations for scalloped potatoes as there are cooks, and recipes for said are, like the Pirate's Code, more like guidelines anyways. They can be made with a variety of potatoes or even other roots (think sweet potatoes, rutabagas and even celeriac, if you want to get creative), a cream or a stock sauce, with or without onions, spices, herbs and (this is where my husband and I see things differently) cheese. It is my firm belief that there needs to be cheese on scallope potatoes. Lots of it. Strongly flavoured by preference.

I will admit that this recipe can be a bit of a pain in the backside to make if you have to cut all the potatoes by hand; it takes time and concentration to get the slices thin and uniform. I've only had a mandolin for a couple of months, but it has fast become one of my most favourite kitchen toys! You don't need to spend a small fortune on a mandolin as there are some fairly reasonable ones in the $40 to $60 range, but if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen chopping and slicing, this is a very worthwhile investement. Still, the prep without a mandolin will likely be about 25+ minutes easily, so put on a good CD and have fun with it!

This is my most basic recipe, and is supposed to be a side; sometimes if I have left over ham from another meal, I'll make the potatoes and put the ham in it so that it's more of a casserole or a one dish meal. I also use sliced raw onions here, but sauteeing them first brings this to a whole new level.

Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes
serves 4

• 2 large Yukon gold potatoes, washed and sliced about 1/4 inch thick  
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup Earth Balance, or other dairy free butter substitute
• 2 tablespoons gluten free flour
• 1 cup Almond, Soy or Rice milk or Stock of your choice
• 1 cup MimicCream or other dairy free cream substitute
• 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg, ground
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 to 1 cup grated strong dairy free Cheese (I use Daiya Jack)
• chopped chives as garnish (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter or grease an 8"X8" baking pan.

Thinly slice the washed potatoes about 1/4 inch thick or so; thinly slice the onion. Place about half of the sliced potatoes in overlapping columns in the bottom of the pan, cover with the sliced onions and then top with the remaining potatoes in the same way.

In a sauce pan over medium heat, melt the Earth Balance or butter substitute and then whisk in the 2 tablespoons of flour. Add the dairy free milk or stock, whisking all the while to make sure you don't end up with lumps. Once the liquid has been absorbed, add the MimicCream or other dairy free cream substitutes, still whisking. Once blended, remove from heat and  add in the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Pour sauce over potatoes, cover with grated cheese and chopped chives (if using), cover in aluminum foil and bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.

Enjoy!!