Spring is my favorite season. There’s warm weather, flowers blooming, outdoor sports, end of school activities, and best of all, Easter! I love everything Easter represents, especially life and new beginnings, which seems especially appropriate after such a long, hard year we’ve had. I really want to celebrate big this year, with stuffed Easter baskets for my kids and a big, delicious Easter dinner with our family.
This year, along with Peeps and chocolate bunnies {staples in our house}, our Easter dinner will include three delicious recipes from Pioneer. Pioneer gravy mixes are a staple at our house. I love them because they are perfectly portioned, convenient and easy to prepare. I can find them basically everywhere, including my beloved H-E-B, and they are an affordable way for me to cook delicious, gourmet meals from scratch.
After pouring over the many recipes available, for our Easter dinner, I settled on chicken with creamy mushroom sauce, brussels sprouts with cider gravy, and biscuits made from Pioneer’s Original Baking Mix.
Easter Dinner Main Dish: Chicken with Creamy Mushroom Sauce
This will be a new recipe for our family, and it looks absolutely delicious, as well as really simple to prepare.
Ingredients
2 cups Pioneer Roasted Chicken Gravy, prepared
¼ cup Vegetable oil, divided
8 oz. Mushrooms, thinly sliced
¼ cup Onion, minced
1 tbsp. Garlic, minced
¾ cup Dry white wine
2 tbsp. Butter
1 tbsp. Thyme leaves, fresh ( 1 tsp. if using dried thyme)
¼ cup Heavy cream
Instructions
Preheat conventional oven to 375°F.
Prepare Pioneer Roasted Chicken Gravy, per package instructions, set aside.
Add 2 tbsp. of vegetable oil the chicken thighs in a bowl. Season with salt and black pepper as desired.
Place seasoned chicken thighs on a parchment-lined sheet pan and bake in the oven for 20–25 minutes, until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F.
Pour the remaining vegetable oil (2 tbsp.) in a large sauté pan and cook the mushrooms over high heat until golden brown.
Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat. Then, add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add white wine and reduce the liquid by half.
Place butter and thyme leaves in the pan and simmer for 5 minutes. Then add the reserved 2 cups of gravy and stir to combine. Remove from heat.
Add the heavy cream to the mushroom sauce and stir to combine. Serve the sauce over the cooked chicken and serve any extra sauce on the side.
Easter Dinner Side Dish: Brussel Sprouts with Cider Gravy
Brussel sprouts are one of the few vegetables my kids will eat willingly, without protest. Usually I just roast them in the oven with a little olive oil and salt, but this recipe takes it up a notch. I can’t wait for us to taste the flavor of these!
Ingredients:
2 cups Pioneer Roast Pork Gravy, prepared
¼ cup Olive oil
1 lb. Brussels sprouts, cut in half lengthwise
1 tsp. Salt
1 cup Apple cider
½ tsp. Thyme, dried (1 tbsp. if using fresh, picked, thyme)
Instructions:
PREPARE Pioneer Roast Pork Gravy, per package instructions, set aside.
Add olive oil to large sauté pan and then fill the bottom of the pans with as many cut side-down Brussels sprouts as will fit. Add the remaining Brussels sprouts on top. Season with salt.
Set flame to medium-high and sear the Brussels sprouts, stir to sear as many Brussels sprouts as you can, continuing to sear until most are a deep brown.
Add apple cider and prepared gravy to pan with Brussels sprouts, carefully as it will boil quickly, then reduce heat to medium-low and cover pan with lid.
Cook for about 5 minutes, until half of the liquid has evaporated. Then remove lid and continue to cook until gravy is thick, and Brussels sprouts are soft (3-5 minutes).
Garnish with thyme and serve.
This year, I am determined to make Easter a big celebration, and our Easter dinner will be at the center of the day. I am giddy with excitement about the recipes I’ve chosen, and let’s be honest, I’m also really looking forward to raiding the kids’s baskets for Peeps and chocolate bunnies when they aren’t looking too.
What are you preparing for Easter dinner this year?
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