April Foodie Holidays: Week 4

April 22 - Jelly Bean Day
April 23 - Cherry Cheesecake Day, Picnic Day
April 24 - Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day
April 25 - Zucchini Bread Day, DNA Day
April 26 - Pretzel Day
April 27 - Prime Rib Day
April 28 - Blueberry Pie Day
April 29 - Shrimp Scampi Day
April 30 - Oatmeal Cookie Day

Jelly beans are a fairly recent confection (at least in terms of food history), having been around since the mid-1800s. The Jelly Belly brand of beans came into prominence when Ronald Regan was in the White House, as he favored them specifically.

Depending on where you live, April 23rd may still be too chilly to enjoy a picnic outside, but there's also cherry cheesecake for that day, so you're still covered. 

Having a recipe for zucchini bread comes in handy later in the summer, when that one zucchini plant in your garden is producing way more than you ever considered it might. This one is from my mother's mother: 

 
DNA Day marks the day the Watson, Crick, Wilkins and Franklin published their paper in Nature on the structure of DNA. There has been a fairly recent trend in genealogy to make use of this science to better understand lineage. It's not a cheap test, generally $100 and up depending on how much information you want, but it can be a really interesting one. (When I win the lottery, I'll probably do this, but until then... it's not a priority.)

I love oatmeal raisin cookies, but my husband prefers them with chocolate chips (weird). I'm working on a recipe for oatmeal bacon cookies, that the first trial was a huge success according to a friend of mine. Here's the recipe my mother-in-law gave me when I was compiling our cookbook: 

Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients:
1 C. brown sugar

1 C. sugar

1 C. oil

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 C. flour

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

3 C. oatmeal

chocolate chips or nuts as desired

Directions: Cream the sugars and oil together. Add vanilla. Add the dry ingredients except oatmeal and mix well. Add oatmeal gradually. Stir in chocolate chips or nuts as desired. Drop in spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350ºF for about 10 minutes until golden.

Available at Amazon.