Do those words strike terror in your heart?  Bringing the vegetable is one of the toughest things a hostess can ask a guest to do (it’s a tie with ‘bring the wine, but I don’t know what we’re having’).  Chances are there won’t be any room in the kitchen to prepare something fresh, and bringing a vegetable platter instead is lame (sorry, yes, it is). 

I’m supposed to bring a vegetable dish for Easter Brunch.  It can’t be “weird.”    I will concede that jalapeno lime green beans might fall into that category; sometimes I scare my family. 

If my brother were asking me what to bring – I’d automatically suggest Jalapeno Creamed Corn.  It’s almost stupidly easy – corn (shoepeg preferred), cream cheese, and canned chopped green chiles.   Heat and eat.  But I have a reputation (and a problem with dairy).

Roasted vegetables show up on my meal plan quite frequently, but a) there will be about 20 of us and b) that doesn’t feel like spring.  Asparagus is too expensive to risk, and I think I’m the only person in the whole family who likes peas.  I did ginger ale glazed carrots for the last gathering.

We have lots and lots of green bean recipes, which is a pretty safe bet.  I’m toying with almond green beans – they’ll stay hot in the crockpot (what, you thought it was just for cooking?  It’s an emergency chafing dish!), and are a nice alternative to the fear inducing canned green bean-soup-french-fried onion casserole, which, IMHO, is hate on a plate.

So, that’s the vegetable settled.  Did I forget to mention that I’m supposed to bring punch, too?  Yeah.  Weird combination.  Here’s my favorite punch recipe:

1 bottle cranberry/cherry juice
1 can dole pineapple juice
16-20 oz ginger ale 

Mix these to taste.   Add scoops of sherbet if the spirit moves you.

Happy Spring Break!

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What I’m really in the mood for is bell peppers with kalamata olives, but that falls WAY into the weird category, so, while I’m thinking about it, it’s going on our meal plan!