Mojo In The Morning

Easter Food

16 min
Apr 1, 202618 days ago
Listen to Episode
Summary

The hosts of Mojo In The Morning discuss Easter food traditions and what families typically eat for the holiday. Through caller interviews, they explore regional variations in Easter meals, from traditional ham and lamb to Polish pierogis and Cornish hens, while debating the merits of various side dishes and holiday food customs.

Insights
  • Easter meals vary significantly by cultural background, with Italian families favoring lasagna, Polish families preparing pierogis and kielbasa, and Southern traditions including collard greens and catfish
  • Side dishes often matter more than the main protein in Easter celebrations, with cheesy potatoes, party potatoes, and casseroles being consistent favorites across multiple families
  • Many families are moving away from traditional ham-centric Easter dinners because younger family members don't enjoy the meat, leading to alternative approaches like grilling or restaurant celebrations
  • Religious tradition influences Easter food choices, with some families emphasizing meat consumption after Lenten fasting periods on Fridays
  • Multi-generational family gatherings create logistical challenges, with hosts managing large groups in small spaces and coordinating complex menus with multiple dishes
Trends
Shift from formal sit-down Easter dinners to casual grilling and outdoor cooking approachesIncreasing adoption of restaurant-based Easter celebrations to eliminate meal preparation and cleanupGrowing preference for brunch-style Easter meals combining breakfast and lunch elementsRegional and ethnic food traditions becoming more prominent as families preserve cultural heritage through holiday mealsYounger generations rejecting traditional Easter proteins (ham, lamb) in favor of familiar foodsSmoker and grilling culture expanding into holiday meal preparation beyond summer barbecue seasonMulti-generational family gatherings driving demand for larger-scale meal planning and execution
Companies
Kellogg's
Mentioned as manufacturer of corn flakes cereal used as topping for cheesy potato casseroles
Kroger
Referenced as grocery store where callers prefer to purchase meat from the counter
Honey Baked Ham
Mentioned as a specific brand of spiral ham recommended for Easter meals
Buffalo Trace
Referenced in context of bourbon used for glazing ham in Kentucky
People
Pat
Called into show to discuss family Easter traditions and meal preparation
Chelsea
Mentioned as having Italian family background with lasagna Easter traditions
Wes
Suggested grilling and smoking meats for Easter dinner preparation
Shannon
Planning Easter dinner and seeking advice on traditional Easter foods
Ampat
Called in as former family cook to discuss traditional Easter meal components
Grandma Kathy
Shared Polish Easter traditions including beef, pierogis, and kielbasa for 14 family members
Tony
Hosting Easter brunch gathering for show staff and family
Colleen
Mentioned as being out of town in Paraguay during Easter week
Quotes
"I feel like he was the only one that ever ate the ham. Nobody else really ever ate it."
ShannonEarly in episode
"Lasagna doesn't scream Easter Sunday spring to me. Lasagna screams like winter, cozy, like warm."
ShannonEarly discussion
"It's always more about the sides, I feel like. Like the cheesy potato."
HostMid-episode
"I ain't eating anything that they don't have at the Kroger meat counter. No way I'm getting a rabbit."
HostCaller discussion
"You got to have a spiral. Spiral hams are a deal."
CallerLate episode
Full Transcript
What a week, huh? What a week. It's only Wednesday. We got a lot of stuff this week. So we have Easter, April Fools, Opening Day. And then we got Secret Sound with Money. We're doing the $10,000 Mojo Pays Your Grocery Bills giveaway with a five at $6.55. I know it's nuts. And then we have that opening day tickets, Tiger's opening day tickets. We're going to give those away on Friday. Be listening to the show. Opening day will be broadcasting from Co-Marica Park. So that will be a fun little deal. God, there's a lot of stuff going on. I love this. Is there anything you're most excited about? Yes. I'm most excited that Colleen and Tony are out of town. Wait, I know where Tony is. Where's Colleen? She just on vacation? I think Colleen, if I'm not mistaken, is in Paraguay. Skinny dipping. Skinny dipping off of Honestly, I don't know. No, okay. I don't keep track. I was like, good for her. You know how I knew she was out of town? I sent an email and it said she's out of town. Easter Sunday is coming up. Easter is this weekend. And Shannon wants to know what is the Easter food? Is there an Easter food? Okay. So I am having my family over for Easter dinner on Sunday and I have no clue what to make. And I'm like, okay, growing up, we always had ham. But that's because we had a family member who ate ham. I feel like he was the only one that ever ate the ham. Nobody else really ever ate it. And so Wes is like, you need to order a ham. I know I'm just this thing's going to go to waste. So I'm like, okay, I need to make like actual dishes that people are going to eat. And so we were talking about this last night and he said, we should make lasagna. And I looked at him, I'm like, lasagna doesn't scream Easter Sunday spring to me. Lasagna screams like winter, cozy, like warm. And in the family, our family, the Chelsea's family, we always had lasagna. We would have it at Christmas. We would have it at Easter. Chelsea's mom. Well, she's Italian. Yeah. So Italian families eat lasagna. Yeah. And my family's Italian. Like I feel like my mom made musta toli for everything. I don't know what to make. I'm not good at this. Anyway, you know this. So you don't like ham? Ham's lit. It's okay. It's okay. You get the brown sugar on your tits? Love that. Yeah, gotta do that. It's just, I'm like, I feel like I need something. I love this. It's always more about the sides, I feel like. Like the cheesy potato. I told my mom to make her cheesy potatoes. I always felt like, by the way, there's a difference between cheesy potatoes. There's, are they the cheesy potatoes with the corn flakes on top of it? No, she does like the cubed potatoes with tons of cheese. She doesn't have corn flakes on top. Does she do scallops? Because I always feel like it's, I always feel like scallop potatoes are the, are the. I like scallop potatoes. I don't think anybody else does. Your mom will put corn flakes on her potatoes. No, you would put it on top to, you would put, you would make a casserole. Actually it was my neighbors that did this. So my neighbors, the Dollums would do that. They don't put that on your mom. She would make cheesy potatoes. She would put them in there with like the cheese like Shannon's doing in there with the cube things. And then they would put corn flakes on top and it would turn into a casserole. It was delicious. Like the cereal with the green person on the front? Yes. Yeah. The cereal that's made by Kellogg's, right? Isn't it made by Kellogg's? Yeah, I'll be trying, thanks. Why do you got, I don't make fun of Chitlins and collard greens. Listen, collard greens for sure. All you Chitlins, all you dead crumbers, big intestines, hell no. And it's stank when they make collard greens basically. Collard greens flat with the ham on the scenario. It's horrible. You're lying. I'm sorry, but that is, that is horrible. You know like collard greens? No, that's bad. You don't got a good taste bud. That's like, what is that? I'll say this though, I think Easter, it's interesting because I feel like they're all the same, Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving. They're all like an offshoot of each other. Because I feel like that's how my Easter has been. It's not as much food I'd say, but it's kind of the same stuff. I think no, I think that for Christmas, What is that? Uh, it's what I was going to say. I think for Christmas that you got to eat like something, like I'm a big believer that you got to have turkey, ham, like kind of Thanksgiving-y type food. That's potatoes with gravy. And you got to have like prime rib maybe or something like that. Prime rib! A big, heavy pot. We eat good in our family. And then for Easter, you got to have ham and lamb. You got to have lamb with a little mint jelly. My kids are not going to eat lamb. Don't tell them what it is. They're not going to eat that. Just have it out. I like lamb chops. Yeah. I haven't had them for a long time. You got to have the lamb. Oh my God. Smith would probably cry. You walk across the street and get one. No. Oh my God, no. This is what I mean. Mommy saw that coming into work on Friday morning. And he was alive and looking at me. So sad. Please come save me. Yeah, I'm good. Please. I'm eating. Yeah! It's what they say in lamb. Um, I think you got to have good food like that. Hold on a second here. Uh, oh God, Kim, what is it that you eat for Easter? I don't eat it, but I want to recommend rabbit soup. Oh my God. Absolutely not. That's, that's crazy stuff. I follow a homesteader and she raises me rabbit. So it just pops into my head. I could never eat anything. I ain't eating anything that they don't have at the Kroger meat counter. No way I'm getting a rabbit. Get some rabbit in there, Kim. That's crazy. I would try it. Would you try it? No. Kelly, what is it that you guys eat for Easter? We used to do ham dinner all the time and then I found out the kids hated it. And I'm like, well, why have you told me that? So now we, we cook out on the grill. You know, that's actually an interesting barbecue. Wes said that too. Cause he's like, what's the weather going to be like? I said, I think it's going to be warm. It may rain. And he's like, why don't I just throw a bunch of stuff on the grill? I said, but then like, I like having everything done when people show up. Cause then you don't have to worry about it. Although that to me screams fourth of July. Same. And so like that, I guess. Nobody wants a hamburger on Easter. Let me google this. I don't know. I think you got to have some meat because you're coming off of the fact that you haven't eaten meat on Fridays. And I think you got to have like a big old thing of meat. What did Jesus eat? What did they eat at the last supper? That's what you got to eat, right? You got to have whatever it was eating at the last supper. Lots of wine and women in song. I don't know what he got. I don't know. What Bible kids Bible did you read? I don't know. What's up? What's up, Lena? Hey, you guys. Good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Morning. So I'm doing something a little different. I typically do like the ham and dressing and all that, but I'm going to do corn beef, macaroni and cheese, cabbage and ham and some corn bread, mustard. Wow. Okay, that's all good. What do you think of collard greens? Watch. All right. So you got to make them right for one, but they're good if you make them right. Would the turkey meat in there? Collard greens. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Have you ever had them? Yeah. I have. I've tried them before. You got to have catfish. You got to have collard greens. We got to get you. We got to get you. We got the dry fish on the cat. I can't do catfish either. Because you can't. Anything with whiskers I'm not doing. They don't cook them with the whiskers on it. It's so good. Hold on a second. Guess who's on the phone? This is the person that used to do all our cooking in our family. Ampat is on the phone. Ampat. Hi, Ampat. Hi, Pat. How are you? Hi. Pat, what did we? I'm good. How are you? Good. What do we eat in our family for Easter? What was our normal Easter meal? Well, we had the party potatoes that you're talking about. Yeah. Party potatoes. Party potatoes. Yes. Those are good. We had ham. We had scrambled egg casseroles. So like a little brunchy? Fruit. I'll make fun of my hand. Yeah, it was. Sausage, bacon. Oh, yeah. So we'd have like a breakfast each time. And then wouldn't we always do scala potatoes? Was it always a big deal, right? Then we have those. No. Mom made party potatoes. Other party potatoes. Potatoes with the corn flakes sometimes. Yeah. And would you make your Hawaiian salad all the time too? Yeah. We had Hawaiian salad. And we had the pink salad, the cottage cheese. And what are you cooking this Easter in, Pat? I'm doing nothing. We're going over to my brother Tony's house. Jacob's going to be there. That's right. Jacob will be there. Can't wait to see him. He's going to be there. And we're going to a big brunch. We're going to get in a big buffet, Pat, me and Luke and Chelsea and Zach here from the show. We're going to go. So Pat's called me yesterday and Pat and Pat's son. She goes, I think it's so cute that you're having Zach there. I said, Pat, you would fall in love with the kid. Isn't Zach like the greatest? Hold on. Stay right there, Pat. Hold on. Morgan, what do you, what do you guys do for Easter? Okay. Well, first time long time. Hey, Morgan. Oh, where's my, oh, where's my, Morgan? We got Morgan. Listen to what she eats. What do you got, Morgan? So it's more my grandpa's side. So it's they cooked turtle, whether it's like turtle soup or like I've never ate it. I will, I refuse to eat it, but they eat it. Where are you guys from? Um, that part of the family's from like Mary'sville, Ohio. She's like that. I would say I've never had like turtle or turtle soup, but if I were to have turtle soup, I got to eat it out the shell. The bowl. That was fire. Barbaric. I can't do turtle or frog legs or any of that stuff. Try it. Yeah. Hold on. Mike, what do you guys eat? Cornish hand. Oh, what is that? I haven't had that. Pat, we used to have cornish hands in our family, didn't we? Little, little, little baby hands. Yeah, mom made those. Yeah. Cornish hands are great. Stuff them? Yeah. Yeah. Do we? Yeah, that's good. I figure that's as close to Easter as part of the dinner. Yeah. What else do you eat? His mean you probably great. What else you got? What else you got at the table? Well, that's that and uh, leguini noodles. Oh, that's kind of wild. That's random. He eats noodles. That's random. Like the Lipton ones? No. Remember those? Oh, yeah, yeah. Hey, hey, uh, uh, Pat, didn't we used to have, uh, I know we had cornish hands. Didn't we have chicken kiavs too? What's that? Yeah, chicken kiavs. Yeah. Those were so good. Chicken kiavs. Yeah, those were chicken kiavs. They still make those. Do they really? Hold on. Hold on. Jason, what do you think Wes should do? Yeah. Hey, I was wondering if Wes had a smoker. If so, he couldn't brisk it. That doesn't scratch Easter. That screams like Halloween to me. Like a fall. A brisk. We do have a smoke. I do, I do a, um, honey bourbon glazed ham that is fan- That's not, now we talking. Where are you from? I live in Kentucky now. I'm outside Louisville. Oh, I bet yours is legit. So you, do you go out to the, uh, you know, this like, yeah, go to Buffalo Trace and get yourself a big old thing? Yep. I like it. Yeah. Yeah. No, I've, I got a smoker in my family. I, I now get to cook all the meats. They're pretty upset that we, I'm not going to be around for Easter this year. We're going to Panama city beach or a baseball tournament for my son's high school team. Congratulations to you. That's fun. I actually like when families are our way on vacation and they have to celebrate their Easter or Christmas at a restaurant. You know what I mean? Like you go to a restaurant and you got no cleanup page. Are you there page page? It brings up something interesting because Shannon doesn't like the ham, but there's a specific cam you have to have for Easter. Right page. Page page page. That's just gone. What's she say? Page said a spiral ham. You got to have a spiral. What's for this? Spiral hams are a deal. Uh, honey baked. A honey baked. Yes. Okay. Kathy, what do you guys eat? Uh, this is grandma Kathy mojo. Hi, Kathy. How are you? I'm fine. We have a big Polish beef. We have three kinds of pierogi. We have cut two kinds of kebasa ham, a pineapple spread you put on the ham, cheesy potatoes. Oh God. This is so good. Vegetables. Yeah. Sheesh. Perogies. I'm going to tell my family to go to your house. Yeah. Grandma Kathy's inviting everybody over. How many people will you have at the table, Kathy? Um, well, we just eat wherever we can because my house. It's a big, but we have about 14 people. I love, I love when you have like 80 people at your house in your house is like literally, you know, uh, uh, I don't know, 600 square feet. Like anything is the greatest. And then you have to have part of the people sitting outside. I love it. Yeah. That's the, I'm sorry guys, you're standing up eating. You know, those are the bad. Yeah. You kind of find a corner, you know, exactly. Plus we have five little kids running around. Pat, we, it's my favorites are my favorite holidays are Pat's, uh, condo and being able to be a Pat's condo where there's so many people in there, the fire department comes and says there's a, a limit to how many people, right? Pat, you can't have that many people in the house. Yeah. And we have a lot of people. It's fun because you're all in one room. You're, uh, and then you got to do an Easter egg hunt. I have to do an Easter egg hunt for the kids, which I love. Do you remember Pat when I would wake up in the morning and find the eggs and then re-hide them? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You and Billy and mom would be a nervous wreck because she was, wouldn't know where the eggs were and she was afraid she'd just melt them. Yeah. There'd be ones left over. Re-hide them all. That's where you actually knew, because we use real eggs. Do you guys do like real eggs in your house? Yeah. Like did you guys? Plastic boys. Yeah. I hide the plastic ones. What's that thing called? Paz or? What's that? Yeah. Paz. Paz. I love decorating eggs. I think die eggs. I was always a pun. It's like you put the tabs in the vinegar and then. No. I don't know if I did that. By the way, Pat, who was, uh, who was mom's favorite? We just talked about favorites a couple minutes ago. Okay. Well, Mary Jo was, because she was Mary Jo and you were because unfortunately, being the youngest, you were the youngest, but unfortunately she was sick most of your life. So she felt guilty about that. Well, the baby's always. You were her favorite. You got to surprise every single day. For real? Every day. My mom. Like what kind of surprises? My mom would go to the grocery store every day. Okay. Well, one time. Yeah. One time. This is the story I tell everybody. So we came home from school. You know, Tommy was there playing with his little matchbox cars in his underwear. And he goes, I got a surprise today. And it was good humor bars that he hit him in the, he hit him in the cabinet. So nobody could eat them. I didn't realize they were going to melt. I was a Mary Jo. She bought you something every day. Every day. My mom, I would go to the grocery store with my mom every single day for dinner. She would make dinner every single night and every day she would go, you can go pick something out and I would pick it out. And the weirdest thing was the time that I came back with eight pounds of prime rib. And I said, mom, this is my surprise today. I'm just kidding. All right. We'll talk to you later, Pat. I love you. Bye, Pat. Bye, Pat. Love you.