Here are some easy and delicious recipes to use all those Easter leftovers like leftover Easter eggs, ham, chocolate bunnies, other Easter candy and more!
Easter Leftovers – Bunnies and Eggs and Ham, Oh, My!
It’s almost that time of year again. You’re standing, dumbfounded, in front of a mound of Easter leftovers – hard boiled eggs, sliced ham and chocolate Easter bunnies.
You wonder, “What am I going to do with 6 dozen eggs, 6 lbs. of ham and 25 chocolate bunnies?” The stress of it is almost enough to send you to bed for a week–or at least tear most of your hair out.
Here are a few ideas and recipes to help you avoid both of those and make something useful and yummy out of those Easter leftovers!
Easter Leftovers – First, the leftover Easter bunnies:
Take a rolling pin and crush the life out of them! Then use the crumbs to:
- sprinkle on ice cream
- use in milk shakes
- stir a few in a mug of hot chocolate
- use in place of chocolate chips for making cookies
- melt for dipping fruit and candy
- If your kids didn’t receive an excess of bunnies this year, buy solid bunnies after Easter on clearance and use in place of chocolate chips for baking. You can usually get them for 1/4 the price of chocolate chips.
Here’s how to use the leftover Easter eggs:
- make deviled eggs
- slice leftover eggs on tossed salad
- Egg Salad
- Golden Morning Sunshine
If you’re wondering how to cook a delicious Easter Ham, here is an easy recipe:
Use the extra leftover ham:
- diced in omelets and chef salads
- added to Golden Morning Sunshine
- sliced thin for sandwiches
- Cubed ham with cubed fruit such as Mandarin oranges, pineapple, bananas, strawberries or kiwi on skewers to make fruit kabobs.
- Top a tortilla with ham, salsa, and cheddar cheese and warm, for a hot ham and cheese sandwich.
- Save bone for bean or split pea soup.
- Sheala’s Ham and Noodles
- Ham and Potatoes
- Ham Casserole
- Ham Salad
Chop leftover Easter ham and freeze to use in:
- potato salad
- green beans
- scrambled eggs
- omelets
- potato soup
- scalloped potatoes
- au gratin potatoes
- pasties or pizza (with pineapple)
- or to top baked potatoes.
Easy Recipes for Using Easter Leftovers:
Deviled Eggs Recipe
6 hard boiled eggs
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. prepared mustard
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp. vinegar (optional)
Paprika
Parsley, chopped
Shell hard boiled eggs and cut in half. Remove yolks and mash; add remaining ingredients and mix until smooth. Heap into whites and sprinkle with paprika or chopped parsley.
Garlic Deviled Eggs
Add 1 clove pressed garlic to deviled eggs.
Egg Salad
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise or salad dressing
1 small stalk celery, chopped
1 small onion, chopped, or 1 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
Mix all ingredients. Best if chilled for 1 or 2 hours. Makes 4 sandwiches.
This golden morning sunshine recipe is a great recipe that you can use to make Easter morning or a few days after Easter. It’s a great way to use up all those colored eggs and have a tasty breakfast or dinner. You can find this recipe in our cookbook on page 63.
Golden Morning Sunshine
(You can use more or less sauce and eggs to taste)
2 cups white sauce
4 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
Make white sauce. Once the white sauce has thickened, add eggs. Serve on toast.
White Sauce
(Recipe makes 1 cup. Double recipe to use in Golden Morning Sunshine)
1 cup milk
2 Tbsp. flour
dash salt
1 Tbsp. butter or margarine
Pour milk and flour in pan. Whisk until flour is incorporated. Turn on heat to medium. Add butter or margarine Stir and cook over low heat until the mixture thickens and starts to bubble. Keep stirring until thickened completely. Makes 1 cup.
Slow Cooked Ham
1 ham
Cover the bottom of a roasting pan with aluminum foil. Bake ham at 250 degrees for 1 hour. Reduce the heat to 175 degrees and roast another 12-15 hours.
This is a great ham recipe because you can put in the oven overnight and it will be ready the next day for the noon meal. The cooking time can go for longer if needed to fit your schedule since it is at such a low temperature.
Spiced Honey Ham
1 ham
1/2 cup mustard
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice
1 tsp. cloves
Mix ingredients. Score the top of 1 Slow Cooked Ham. Pour mixture over ham and begin basting the ham 3 hours before serving. Baste every half hour or so with ham juices.
Ham and Potatoes
6 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 -1 lb. ham, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) cream of mushroom soup
Layer the potatoes, then some cheese, then some ham and then chopped onion. Continue to layer to 3 inches from top of crockpot. Then pour cream of mushroom soup on top. Let simmer for several hours on low until potatoes are cooked through.
Ham Casserole
1 lb. noodles, cooked
1-1 1/2 cups ham, cooked and cubed
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup peas, drained and cooked
2 cups white sauce
1 bouillon cube
Add ham and peas to cooked noodles. Dissolve bouillon into 1/4 cup boiling water. Mix the bouillon and salt in the white sauce. Bake covered at 300 degrees for 20-30 minutes.
*12 oz. of tuna may be used in place of ham.
This easy ham and noodles recipe is a quick and easy recipe that kids and families love! It’s a great way to use leftover ham! Keep some ham in the freezer just to use for easy recipes like this and it’ll be even quicker!
This is an easy recipe we like to use to finish off some of those Easter leftovers. It’s easy to cook, the kids love it, and it is different enough that they don’t realize they’re eating ham again! ;-)
Sheala’s Easy Ham and Noodles Recipe
This easy ham and noodles casserole recipe is quick and easy and kids love it! Just 5 minutes preparation to a tasty meal without a lot of work!
Ingredients
1 (8 oz.) pkg. egg noodles or pasta, cooked
1/2 lb. ham, chopped
1(10 3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Mix the first three ingredients together in a casserole dish.
- Bake for 20 minutes, until warmed.
- Top with cheese.
- Bake an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.
Ham Salad
leftover ham
hard boiled eggs
mayonnaise
mustard
Grind ham and eggs in a meat grinder. Moisten with mayonnaise and small amount of mustard (approximately 1 Tbsp. for an entire ham). Serve on bread or toast.
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My family would select a child’s bunny and my dad chop up at the dinner table and eat it together as dessert for the days it lasted. It was something like communion. My dad had a great sweettooth. After he died I passed around a box of chocolate covered cherries. That was like communion too.
we would make what my family called dutch salad utilizing the large amount of hard boiled eggs we colored and hid, my mother would make a simple salad of lettuce,tomatoes ,onions and hard boiled eggs quartered or chopped. simple dressing of just mayo,salt and peppers with a bit of vinegar to consistency not too thin. when tossed and ready to serve throw in hot fried potatoes,toss and enjoy we looked forward to this after easter and all the hard boiled eggs we had made
Jill and Tawra, Here is a recipe for a lovely looking Easter Bread. It’s called “Quick and Easy Easter Egg Bread Braid”
Thaw out frozen bread dough
Divide into thirds
On a lightly floured surface, roll each piece into a 24 inch rope. Braid. Then place in a lightly greased baking sheet and form into a circle. Pinch ends to seal. Tuck Colored RAW eggs carefully into circle, spacing them. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour or until doubled in size. Make an egg wash and brush top of bread part only. Not eggs. Bake in oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden in color. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool slightly. While the bread is cooling slightly, combine in a bowl, 1/3 cup confectioners sugar and 2 teaspoons milk until blended. Food coloring may be added. Several colors may be used separately to decorate bread in Easter colors. Brush or drizzle icing on bread. Be careful not to drizzle on eggs.
TO COLOR EGGS USE EDIBLE FOOD COLORING BECAUSE THE RAW EGGS WILL COOK WHILE BAKING AND FOOD COLORING MAY STAIN BREAD, SO USE EDIBLE COLORS ONLY.
Oh my gosh you are AWESOME! I seriously would never have thought about crushing those cute bunnies, but what a great idea! I can’t wait to try your recipe for white sauce – I have so many ideas of how to use that. As always, thank you for all you do. You have helped me and my family save $, but more importantly, you have helped us change our thinking on the gifts God has given us and taught us to use them wisely. Have a Blessed and Wonderful Resurrection Sunday! He is Risen!
Thank you Ann Marie. I love to hear when someone has changed their way of thinking. We can give all the tips and ideas in the world but until we learn to think differently and look differently about our money they aren’t near as much use. So glad to hear are saving.
Jill, I heard on the news today that people who eat chocolate regularly tend to have a lower body mass index than those who eat chocolate less often!!! I’m ready for those chocolate bunnies and chocolate eggs at Easter. HA HA!
Thanks for letting me know that Bea now I don’t have to feel guilty about that Hersheys I just finished inhaling. : ) : )
find a dark chocolate 70% or so great as a snack in the evening. a glass of red wine goes well with the chocolate,too! or not depending on the individual!
We have a Spring themed party every year and instead of loading up on chocolates and eggs we find spring things that can be enjoyed from Spring to Fall. We look for spring coloring pages on the internet for free and print them and make a book and recycle our crayons (we peel the broken worn down crayons and put them together in molds or even cupcake papers and put them in the oven for 250 until melted. We make home made bubbles, home made play-dough and home made sidewalk chalk. I also make homemade peanut butter cups and other homemade goodies. It does take work but it really saves a bundle especially if you have started collecting the ingredients for all the home made stuff early!
We have recipes most of those homemade things that LAC mentioned in Dining on a Dime and on the web site Edible Play Dough , regular play dough, sidewalk chalk and bubbles and homemade slime and lots of candies like peanut butter cups and toffee and much more.
I just mention these for those of you who are maybe new and haven’t seen all the different recipes and things we have yet.
I heard the same good news about chocolate eaters! They tend to weigh less!! What a great study!
I LOVE the ideas for the leftover ham! My grandma made a casserole with noodles, ham, cheese, peas and a white sauce. It was delicious. I hadn’t thought about it in years:) Thanks for reminding me!!
Blessings!
I’ve always made egg salad & ham salad after Easter. I never thought about making a ham & egg salad. DUH! I’ve even made 2 half sandwiches so I could enjoy both. Thanks for the idea of doing the obvious to all but me & mixing them. :)
Don’t feel bad Kim. I have had many of those duh moments myself. More then I would care to admit. : )
The “Good Morning Sunshine” recipe sounds so pretty and cheerful, and reading the recipe is making me hungry. I think I’m going to make that real soon.
I made the Good Morning Sunshine recipe yesterday and it’s so good. I peeled some hard cooked eggs, dyed them orange in Kool-Aid, and then made the sauce. It’s really good. A nice Good Friday meatless meal. Also, the Orange Kool-Aid that I used to color the eggs did not taste like eggs after I used it, so I made a pitcher of Kool-Aid too with it.
That’s good to know that you can use the kool aid when you are done dyeing the eggs. Thanks for trying that for us Bea.
You’re welcome. I just hated the thought of throwing that delicious smelling Orange Kool-Aid away. So I’m glad it was usable to drink.
If after paying full price before Easter you have six leftover chocolate bunnies, consider buying smaller ones or fewer next time.
LOVE the idea of purchasing leftover at 1/4 price.
I don’t think I will have any leftovers, because I bought only 2 pack of Easter candy. I will stock up after the holiday. I hope they will go 75% off like they had after Christmas. I still have some candy canes from after christmass clearance. The expiration date on them is July this year. Do you know if they will still be good for christmass. They are hard candy, so I don’t think they spoil fast.
Hard candy like candy canes and suckers, don’t ever go bad. I have had them for 3 years plus before and they were still fine. I was reading a thing the other day on how to stock up on food and sugar was one thing that lasts forever without spoiling and sugar is what most hard candies are made of with a little flavoring. One way to help you know on candy is anything with oils (peanut butter, chocolate, nuts) will go rancid after awhile but even then they can last a year or more past their date. I took a candy class once and was surprised to learn that chocolate lasts a long time.
Hi Jill
Another way to use left over ham is to lay the ham on a opened biscuit add a little cheese and broil until the cheese melts on the ham and the biscuit is toasted.This makes a wonderful meal anytime of the day.Have a blessed Easter!
Susan –
Boy, that sure sounds good!
How my Easter Dinner for 6 plus two stuffed Easter Baskets cost me a little over 18.00! YUP 18.00! I didn’t even skimp! I bought my pre-cooked ham for .89 cents a pound. I decided to make potato salad. I already had ingredients for cole slaw and for dessert we had coconut cream pie and chocolate creme pie! Everything was on sale and I used my store coupons plus other coupons with it. I used my empty milk cartons for the two baskets and instead of buying the $2.00 a bag jelly beans I got away from the “Easter stuff” at the store and went over to where the everyday candy was and bought a bag of jelly beans for .98 cents a bag I then bought a bag of gummy bears for .98 cents. I had a coupon for animal character “eggs” with candy already filled inside and paid just $2.00 for 16 of those egg filled animal characters. I already had the ingredients to make chocolate peanut butter and coconut filled eggs so I was all set for the candy! My guest brought the wine and other sides. I didn’t break the bank and I spent less than 20.00 dollars for the meal!
Don’t you hate how those Marshmallow Peeps get stale after you open the package? (why are they packaged in threes anyways)? Those annoying peeps just stick around getting rock hard, everyone gets sick of them (After all they aren’t chocolate). Yet, it’s not Easter without the annoying things.
My solution to the Petrified Peep Predicament: Float them in your coffee or the kids hot chocolate, (or make Easter rice Crispy treats). I think it’s more entertaining to watch the chick or bunny melt away into a puddle like a Snowman in Spring… this fulfills my morbid tendencies as well.
Had to laugh Katy because I know what you mean. I was so lucky because a couple of my family members like hardened marshmallows and Peeps (talk about your morbid tendencies my family just have weird tendencies – oh where did I go wrong. : ) ).
But just to help keep the world a little safer because it is a much bigger problem than we realize I wrote a whole post on this subject so if anyone needs more ideas on how to save your sanity and get rid of your Peeps here it is: Leftover Marshmallow Peeps
Katy –
Your statement about your “morbid tendencies is SO funny! LOLOL I love your idea of melting the Peeps in hot chocolate or coffee. The Easter Bunny never left Peeps at our house, so, I never developed a taste for them, (fortunately :-D) but my younger sister LOVES them. Thanks for the laugh.
My children needed AIA Document A107 yesterday and encountered a web service with lots of fillable forms . If others need AIA Document A107 too , here’s
https://goo.gl/E0H3GAI make a delicious pasta salad with chopped ham peas chopped up sweet red or yellow peppers and aloutte cream cheese spread with garlic and herbs stir that all in together and put it over pasta it is delicious
These are such great ideas! I’m sure my mother would’ve loved them. Still miss her after all these years…
Hi Jill: I just realized my mother used to make what were called pickled eggs. It was just leftover hard boiled eggs, a few slices of onion, a can of beets with juice and a lot of white vinegar. Put it all in a gallon jar and let it sit for a few days. The color is a gorgeous purple. It doesn’t seem to be a New England thing, but in NJ it was big when I was a kid (a long time ago, LOL). My dad loved them, and they were always served as “bar? food. Just wondering if anyone has heard of them?
We sure have Donna. Tawra loves them. Here is another recipe for pickled beets and/or eggs on the website if someone would like it. Pickled Beets, Eggs and Veggies
Lol we just use pickle juice & red sweet onions. I guess I’m just really cheap
What is a good way to freeze ham? Whole ones, slices, and cubes. Thank you!
It really doesn’t matter too much Shirley. I usually freeze it in packets of how I think I will be using it. For example I will do some in slices for frying or sandwiches, cubes for scrambled eggs, casseroles etc. and if I am using it for Easter or Christmas dinner first I will freeze it whole, cook for the dinner then divide what is left up into packets to freeze.