Easy and Fun Easter Recipes

I’m always looking for new recipes to try,

and when it’s easy and fun?

Awesome.

Bird’s nest cookies from Delish.com

Ingredients

1 1/4 cup(s) sweetened flaked coconut

2 cup(s) flour

1/2 teaspoon(s) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon(s) salt

1 cup(s) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup(s) sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon(s) coconut extract (optional)

60 candy-coated milk-chocolate eggs

Directions
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spread out coconut on a baking sheet and toast until pale golden, stirring once or twice, 8 to 10 minutes. Cool completely.

2.Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Mix flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

3.Cream butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg, vanilla extract and coconut extract, if using, and beat until smooth. Stir in flour mixture just until incorporated.

4.Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls; roll in toasted coconut. Arrange 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. With your thumb, make an indentation in center of each ball. Pinch sides of cookies so they stand up and form nests.

5.Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely on baking sheets. Just before serving, place 2 or 3 chocolate eggs in each cookie.

Rachelle’s Easter Cake
credit Rachelleb.com

This is so easy to put together

and kids will love how it’s decorated

Prepare according to directions, 1 white cake mix. Bake in a 13×9 as directed. Cool.

Beat 8 oz. pkg. cream cheese at room temperature with 2 c. milk until lumps are gone. Add 1 pkg. instant pudding (vanilla or cheesecake flavor). Spread over cooled cake. Spread a 20 oz. can of well drained crushed pineaple over the top. Spread a 10 oz. container of Cool Whip over pineapple. Chill for 3 hours.

For decoration, mix a couple cups of coconut with a few drops of green food coloring and sprinkle on the Cool Whip like grass. Add Peeps and candy eggs to make your own Easter diorama.

Isn’t this a pretty little cupcake?
courtesy allthingscupcake.com

All you need is a white cake mix..
some buttercreme frosting and blue/green food dye..
and white candy coated almonds.

Peeps Nest Cake

Courtesy Joni of Red Couch Recipes..

http://redcouchrecipes.blogspot.com/2012/03/peeps-nest-cake-for-easter.html

Every year around this time I get the itch…

We’ve had rabbits in the past

and I’d like to have one again out with the chickens but

Mike keeps me grounded when it comes to the animals.

If it were up to me I’d have many more..

but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Still.. the thought of a bunny out in the yard again

always grabs me.

LOVE this hutch…very humane- roomy.

A girl can dream…..

And sow we grow again

Forget the politics…this is just funny.

Click on link…

http://youtu.be/9QFwso2gTTM

Girlz & Boyz

For those of you who have ever traveled in horsey circles

or have been horse crazy yourself…

You may have heard this before..

How to keep girls from getting in to trouble with boys?

… let them ride horses!

Well I’m here to tell you today..

that’s just crap.

However the following saying is absolutely true…

and I am so glad my daughter and my sister’s daughter

have the love for and the ability to really know a horse.

“There’s nothing so good for the inside of a woman

as the outside of a horse”.

It’s been said several different ways and credit has been given to

several different famous figures over the years…

but whatever the origin, it’s just the plain truth.

Home

My cousin left for Afg*anist*n last night…

“back to the Sandbox” as he would say.

Three children and a woman who loves him
will anxiously await his safe return..

six months from now.

A friend’s daughter is there already..

occasional messages on Facebook

let her know she’s OK

after the most recent bombing of their compound.

I can’t image the anquish.

Things appear to be escalating…

and I’m still in disbelief…

ALL this..can be avoided.

it’s ALL created by human anger, greed, ignorance, self rightousness.

I could go on and on, but I won’t.

Instead I’ll pray for all the troops safe return,

for an end to the madness that some of the people of this world

are churning out…

and I’ll appreciate every minute I spend in the comforts of

HOME. Because we don’t all have the luxury

and many are standing tall over there so that we do.

Beauty in the details…

Recently I came across an Oregon jewelry artist who’s style is so unique and beautiful. I’m not a big jewelry girl, but unique pieces like these always catch my interest. Brook Stone’s website says the following:

“Using the ancient method of lost wax casting, Brooke Stone and Jim Clement make unique and finely-crafted wildlife art and animal totem jewelry from silver, gold, bronze and copper.

Their jewelry is completely hand-crafted, their designs are all limited-edition originals, the many animal designs being inspired by the unique environment which surrounds their home and studio in Oregon, with its abundant wildlife and varied habitats. Their lifelong study of natural history, mythology and anthropology also informs their art.”

http://www.brookstonejewelry.com/

Lightening up a room

I’m one of those who change up the decor just a little with each season. With the unseasonably warm temps of recent weeks I’ve starting bringing out the Spring Things… and the dining room table area got a little facelift.

I took a big old painting I had done when I was a teenager off the wall and put a mirror I found at Homegoods in it’s place. Immediately there was more light. Then I finally found a simple not quite sheer curtain to put up over that window. It’s a linen that looks like sheer burlap and I love the simple rustic look.

I know it needs to be ironed. Just hush.

I also found a metal chippy basket to put some of my shell collection and seaglass in instead of having it just sit on the side table looking sort of cluttered.

The center of the table has a more spring-like theme…

The top of the curio cabinet with my paperweight collection

has a few old pieces – a platter and a metal horse I found at an antique store.

The silver (tarnished!) creamer was my grandmothers.

With just a few changes, this area of the house looks lighter and more welcoming. It doesn’t take much to perk up any space and simple changes like this can really lift your spirits. We’re in the middle of some glorious weather and I’ve been spending it outdoors, soaking up every bit. I hope you’ve gotten the chance to do the same in your neck o’the woods.

Normal, uneventful, ordinary

I had a conversation with another mom today that brought powerful emotions bubbling to the surface. There was a time when those emotions were strong enough to bring me to my knees and make me beg for Mercy… from anywhere I could get it. This mom and her family are in the middle of a long road to recovery for their son, who suffered a serious brain injury. It’s a road I’ve traveled, and so we commiserated and fretted together, spoke of the horrors and the baby steps toward sanity once “the chances of survival” improved. Weeks of this. Months. Uncertainty throughout. Two steps forward, one step back. Time will tell, is all they can give you.

There are many of you who know this agony either through illness, accident, loss of a loved one, mental illness, addiction, abuse, whatever the formula…. you know what I mean when I say there is a time when you LONG for a normal day. An uneventful, ordinary, nothing special kind of day. There is a time when you think that this will never be possible again.

But life marches on. Things resolve, or they don’t. There becomes a new normal… and if you’re really lucky, time eventually heals most wounds. That’s what I had to say to this scared mom today. Because it’s true, although SO hard to see when you’re adrift in the middle of that shit storm.

I hung up the phone…

took a deep breath and remembered……

and then I let it go….

and stuck my hands in the dirt.

How I am loving

this awesome, wonderful,

normal, uneventful, ordinary day.

Green

My birthday is the 18th…
Dad is italian, mom is proud of her Irish heritage.
A frequent remark by my father… “we missed having a leprechaun by minutes!”

Personally, I’m proud of my mixed heritage.
There is much flavor in both 🙂

My favorite Irish quote…

“May those who love us, love us;

and those who don’t love us, may God turn their hearts;

and if He doesn’t turn their hearts,

may He turn their ankles so we’ll know them by their limping.”

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract

6 to 8 drops green food color

1 egg

1 cup creme de menthe baking chips

1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

**You can also use the original Nestle’s Tollhouse recipe instead of the sugar cookie mix, which I do,

add the food coloring and creme de menthe baking chips.

Directions

1.Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, extract, food color and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks.

2.Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

3.Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature.

Pic/recipe courtesy Party Cafe

Colcannon Potato Recipe

Ingredients 3 pounds potatoes, scrubbed

2 sticks butter

1 1/4 cups hot milk

Freshly ground black pepper

1 head cabbage, cored and finely shredded

1 (1-pound) piece ham or Irish bacon, cooked the day before

4 scallions, finely chopped

Chopped parsley leaves, for garnish

Steam the potatoes in their skins for 30 minutes. Peel them using a knife and fork. Chop with a knife before mashing. Mash thoroughly to remove all the lumps. Add 1 stick of butter in pieces. Gradually add hot milk, stirring all the time. Season with a few grinds of black pepper.

Boil the cabbage in unsalted water until it turns a darker color. Add 2 tablespoons butter to tenderize it. Cover with lid for 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly before returning it to the pan. Chop into small pieces.

Put the ham in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 45 minutes until tender. Drain. Remove any fat and chop into small pieces.

Add cabbage, scallions, and ham to mashed potatoes, stirring them in gently.

Serve in individual soup plates. Make an indentation on the top by swirling a wooden spoon. Put 1 tablespoon of butter into each indentation. Sprinkle with parsley.