Here’s my favorite recipe for grilled rock fish although a secret sauce of Southern Pecan Pepper Jelly makes it great. You can substitute any pepper jelly you like for an easy sauce.

Tommy Cooper, owner of Fire & Spice Gourmet on Nutt Street in Wilmington, North Carolina, located in the Cotton Exchange, gives this recommendation for fish. “I use Rose & Ivy Brand Southern Pecan Pepper Jelly with speckled trout we catch locally.” The jelly’s ingredients are sugar, sweet peppers, vinegar, pecans, pectin and the famous Scotch Bonnet Pepper. It is homemade by Bell Buckle Country Store.

May is a great time to eat on the porch or deck, grill something light, sit back and enjoy the moderate weather. Do it for mom.

Rockfish with Southern Pecan Pepper Jelly

• 1 pound rockfish or other white fish fillets, boned and skinned
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2-3 tablespoons butter
• 1 jar of Southern Pecan Pepper Jelly

Spray baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Season fish filets with salt and pepper and place in baking dish. Dot top of fish with butter. Turn on the oven broiler to preheat. Set fish aside.

Pour the Southern Pecan Pepper Jelly into a saucepan and heat on low until warm but not boiling. (You don’t want it to thin down too much.)

Broil the fish for about 7-9 minutes or until flaky. Fish should not be overcooked. Remove from broiler and put on plates.

Drizzle the warm Pecan Pepper Jelly over the fish and serve. Keep the warm jelly on the side for anyone who wants more.

Yield: 4 servings

This recipe was originally printed in the spring 2013 issue of Celebrate Home Magazine. Download the magazine for free at http://www.celebratehomemagazine.com.

Jane McLaughlin’s pickled eggs

Pickled eggs can be traced back to a time when there was no refrigeration and eggs were preserved in vinegar brine. Although I didn’t live in the no-fridge era my mom made them and they were always a mainstay of dad’s 1950s-style smorgasbord restaurants.

Have you seen them lately? Probably not because they’ve fallen off the culinary map. Even the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, the red-and-white plaid standard for home cooks, has dropped the recipes for pickled beets and pickled eggs from its pages. I found this out when I went searching for the recipe in my newer copy.

There are some of us who not only like to preserve the eggs, but also the past. My sister Jane is one of those so she made some for Easter. Knowing they are loaded with nostalgia and taste, she said, “Look Barb, I made pickled eggs!”

My husband Bill said, “Oh yeah, good old bar food.”

“Huh?” my sister and I replied.

“Yes,” Hank Deitle’s Tavern on Rockville Pike [Maryland] had jars of them. That’s all they served — pickled eggs, bags of chips and beer. Then he added some advice, “Jane, you should have them in your restaurants at the bar.”

She dismissed the idea but she might reconsider when she hears this. It turns out Bill’s advice has merit. In England, pickled eggs, onions and beets were considered a working man’s food and gained popularity in pubs where the eggs tasted good with a pint of ale.  In the United States, just like Hank Deitle’s, a jar of pickled eggs were a permanent fixture on the bar.

It seems my sister and I haven’t been in enough bars to know about this but maybe she will bring the old times back in Bonefish Mac’s – a chain of restaurants in south Florida she owns with her husband Chuck. At least the old coots will appreciate them and maybe the egg jar fixture will breed a new generation of pickled egg lovers.

And by the way, Hank Deitle’s, since 1916, is still there. It’s not much to look at stuck in between luxury condos and new office buildings, but it remains a no-frills beer bar, cash only. Bill remembers his dad stopping off for a quick one while he left the 11 kids in the big station wagon to hoop and holler and make their own good times.

Jane’s recipe comes from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book that she got for a wedding present when she and Chuck married in 1973. She says about the grease-stained, dog-eared book, “I still love it! The new one can’t compare!”

Rosy Pickled Eggs

From Better Homes and Garden’s New Cook Book, 1972, Fifth Printing

• 1 cup juice from jar of pickled beets
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 4 cups water
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 medium bay leaf
• 2 teaspoons pickling spices
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (sometimes I use garlic salt and omit the garlic clove)
• 12 hard-cooked eggs, cooled and shelled
• 1 small onion, sliced and separated into rings

Combine beet juice, vinegar, four cups water, garlic, bay leaf, pickling spices, and salt. Mix well. Put into a covered container and add eggs and onions. Cover tightly and refrigerate for several days. The longer they sit, the rosier and better they get.

A spring time hike is like none other. The trees and bushes are starting to bud – enough to show new greens, pinks and yellows, yet you can still see through the trees to the meadow, the old road beds, and the river. Last Saturday we hiked along the Potomac Heritage Trail in Northern Virginia along the paths where George Washington traveled.

Nature welcomed us with open arms and spread a feast before us. The ground, softened from winter, was fresh with wildflower shoots and Virginia Bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta). There was a buffet of bluebells all along our path—luscious, as-far-as-the-eye-can-see bluebells.

I was captivated. Nature set its table for us. Now, that’s hospitality.

Keep the ingredients on hand for a quick and easy appetizer. You can substitute another soft cheese like goat cheese or cream cheese, depending on your taste and what you have on hand. In winter, use pecans. These morsels of good will get big YUMS and an A+ in Hospitality.

Jam and Cheese Appetizers

• Filo dough shells (These are mini shells about 2 inches in diameter and can be found in your grocer’s freezer, usually one dozen to a pack.)
• 1/2 pound Brie cheese (do not remove the rind)
• 1/2 cup apricot jam
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds, lightly toasted

Thaw filo cups for about ten minutes, and place on baking sheet.

Toast almonds by spreading them in an ungreased pan. Bake in a preheated 350⁰ oven for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally until brown. Set aside.

Cut Brie into one-inch chunks and place one chunk into each filo shell. Do not remove the rind from the Brie as it gives the warm cheese a pungent flavor.

Top the cheese with a teaspoon of apricot jam, then top with slivered, toasted, almonds.

Bake for 10 minutes at 350⁰ or until bubbly. Serve immediately.

My recipe just appeared in the spring 2012 Celebrate Home Magazine. Download the magazine for free here:

Single pages version:Celebrate Home Spring 2013

Reader spreads version (my favorite!): Celebrate Home Spring 2013 Spreads

Order a print copy (at cost, plus shipping) or “Buy Digital: Free” for free download http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/540569

You can also view it on issuu.com here. 

You can also substitute dark or white chocolate chips for the Milky Way®, but you won’t have that chewy caramel.

DIRECTIONS

• Pop open the crescent rolls and separate according to the package directions. Spread each triangle of dough out on an ungreased cookie sheet.
• Spread each triangle with a teaspoon or so of raspberry preserves. Coarsely chop the Milky Way® bar and put about a teaspoon on top of preserves.
• Roll the triangles into a crescent roll according to package directions.
  
• Brush each croissant with lightly beaten egg white to give it a nice glazed and browned look.
• Bake for 20 minutes in a 375⁰oven. Serve hot.

Yield: 8 croissants.

FOR MORE EASY RECIPES USING JAM…AND EVEN A HOW-TO FOR MAKING JAM…

Download Celebrate Home Magazine free here:

Single pages version:Celebrate Home Spring 2013

Reader spreads version (my favorite!): Celebrate Home Spring 2013 Spreads

Order a print copy (at cost, plus shipping) or “Buy Digital: Free” for free download http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/540569

You can also view it on issuu.com here. 

Check out the spring issue of Celebrate Home Magazine with easy recipes for:

• Milky Way Croissants
• Jam n’ Cheese Appetizers
• Mornin’ Jam Muffins
• Queen of Hearts Blueberry Tart
• Rockfish with Southern Pecan Pepper Jelly

Download Celebrate Home Magazine free here:

Single pages version:Celebrate Home Spring 2013

Reader spreads version (my favorite!): Celebrate Home Spring 2013 Spreads

Order a print copy (at cost, plus shipping) or “Buy Digital: Free” for free download http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/540569

You can also view it on issuu.com here. 

Coming soon: Excerpts of feature article for purchase on magcloud.com. (Smaller, less expensive excerpts of your favorite articles.

This issue is jam-packed (and there’s even a jam-making feature!), so download today and get started reading.

Single pages version:Celebrate Home Spring 2013

Reader spreads version (my favorite!): Celebrate Home Spring 2013 Spreads

Order a print copy (at cost, plus shipping) or “Buy Digital: Free” for free download http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/540569

You can also view it on issuu.com here. 

Coming soon: Excerpts of feature article for purchase on magcloud.com. (Smaller, less expensive excerpts of your favorite articles.

On the cover: What says “spring” more than colorful tulips? Cindy Dyer, art director, was photographing this bed of flowers and was standing on the edge of the wall when this little girl, clad in a princess skirt with sparkly shoes, came running around the corner. Cindy snapped this one shot and the little princess was gone. Serendipity!

We parked our seats in the seats at Space Coast Stadium in sunny Viera, Florida, where our Washington Nationals train. The training facility is intimate – so much so that you can hang out and chat with General Manager Mike Rizzo (yes, Bill did!) and ask players for autographs as they come out of the training facility (yes, Patrick did!).

While my husband and son were having their own fun I was studying the ballpark concession menus. There were the usual hot dogs, brats, hamburgers, pizza, etc. But, only in Florida would a grilled blackened grouper sandwich be on the menu. How could I resist? For only $9 I got a fresh piece of grilled grouper on a bun with hot fries.

Take me out to the ballgame…anytime and anywhere! Go Nats!

My sister Jane made deviled eggs for Easter dinner. But she didn’t stop there. She had pickled eggs, colored eggs, decorative eggs, and plastic eggs filled with money! I guess she is partial to eggs and I’m glad she is because we were the beneficiaries of her eggstra special hospitality!

Jane McLaughlin’s Deviled Eggs

• 18 eggs, hard boiled, peeled, cooled and cut in half lengthwise
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• 1 heaping tablespoon Guldens® mustard
• 1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1/4 onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon celery salt
• 1/8 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 pound bacon, fried, cooled, and crumbled
• Paprika

Remove yolks from the eggs and mash them with a fork or potato masher. Add mayonnaise, mustard, celery, onion and spices. Fill the egg white halves with the yolk filling. Top with paprika and crumbled bacon.

Ben spins his egg.

Ben was the first to color his egg. He used a new-fangled thingy that spun the egg around in the dye and the result was an olive-colored Easter egg. But Ben said he was sticking by it. The rest decided to skip the spinner and do them the old-fashioned way by dipping the egg in dye and waiting for it to become its Easter-pastel color.

Tonight, across the world, people everywhere are preparing for Easter — some fulfilling age-old traditions and some making new ones. I hope you enjoy the photos I’ve collected from those getting ready to proclaim Alleluia!

Kiera and Riley  make chick cupcakes.

The traditional bunny cake made by Ben, Kayley, Patrick and BilliJo.

Kayley with Ben and the olive egg.

Patrick and Kayley

Blessing of Easter food, Polish custom

The brown egg was dyed with onion skin.

Butter lamb

Homemade chocolate-covered pretzels with Easter candy.

Tim, Bunny and Bridget