Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipes. Show all posts

Friday, December 17, 2010

Easter Brunch - Recipes and Ideas on How to Host the Perfect Easter Brunch


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Great Easter brunch recipes or menu is the one that provides people with both appetizing and sweet foods. So, if you are going to host the perfect brunch for this coming Easter, you should be able to offer variety of choices of foods that everyone will enjoy.

A dish like creamy scrambled eggs is a very special egg recipe made with cream cheese, butter, and milk. This will have a very creamy and tasty texture that is entirely different from your traditional scrambled eggs. You can also make quiche or egg-based casseroles for your brunch menu.

Another is French toast stuffed with sweetened mixture of ricotta cheese and strawberry jam and topped with deliciously fresh berries. This recipe is very easy and simple to do. You can make it as quick as 30 minutes and serve plain or with maple syrup. Either way, this recipe is very delightful.

You can also prepare a Wisconsin-brunch casserole to go with your egg dishes and French toast. This brunch casserole is made with cheddar cheese, mushrooms, and ham covered with a mouth-watering, creamy sauce. It is a good idea to prepare this recipe the night before and just bake it the next morning.

Next great menu for your Easter brunch is butter potatoes boiled in the broth of a beef and then coated with parsley and brown butter. This will give the potatoes a very unique flavor that everyone will love. You can also make Au Gratin potatoes for your side dish. It is very easy and quick to make recipe from hash brown potatoes, cheddar soup, chicken soup cream, and sour cream.

Then there are also your ham steaks or smoked ham serve with a mouth watering ham glaze made from pineapple juice, raisins, and cherries and then flavored with luscious spices such as ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and many more. A delicious crumb coffeecake menu will also make your brunch perfect. Topped with sweetened fruits, this recipe is very delicious in its own way.

For your beverages you can offer your guests tea, or coffee, or orange juice, or punch juice. This will complete your brunch. There are other Easter brunch recipes that require less preparation yet offers excellent taste of foods for your guests to enjoy. You just need to be creative with your menu or turn it to a potluck brunch for less prep yet delicious foods this coming Easter.

My Links : Easter Product Store

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Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Recipes and Fun Activities For Easter


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It's that time of year again when daffodils will soon be in bloom, trees will be budding, and a lot of folks will be anxious to get out and work in their flower beds. It's called spring! And with spring comes the Easter bunny. An exciting and fun time for both kids and parents.

My all-time favorite Easter candy were those marshmallow peeps. Every spring (to this day), I indulge in a package or two. I love them so.

There are lots of fun activities for kids on this special spring holiday. Go beyond egg decorating and help your little ones decorate cute things for the house. Maybe some homemade crayola pictures to display in the windows or perhaps create an Easter tree. Egg relays are a lot of fun as well. You know the game with the egg and the spoon where teams are paired up and the winners are the ones who carries the eggs from point A to point B? This game can be mixed with children and parents for even more fun!

Cookie decorating can be a fun activity too. Bake the cookies ahead of time and make them in all shapes. Egg shaped, bunny shaped, or anything you wish. Make sure you have plenty of pastel food coloring for the frosting along with lots of sprinkles. Another cool idea...have your kids help you prepare the Easter meal. Put a special, homemade apron on them and they will feel like a real chef. It's pretty much tradition to prepare a ham for the meal. But what can you make as side dishes and desserts?

Let's explore a couple of ideas...

Easter Cupcakes

Ingredients

(for basic cake recipe-about 12 cupcakes)

1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup self rising flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs milk
2 large eggs
12 Easter-themed cupcake liners
frosting
food coloring
sprinkles
cupcake or muffin pan
small chocolate bunnies

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. With a wooden spoon, mix the butter and sugar together until smooth, ( about 2 min). Add the eggs and milk and stir thoroughly.

Gently fold in the flour and mix until completely blended. Divide the batter evenly into the cupcake liners. Place the pan of cupcakes on a shelf just above the center for 15 minutes.

After cooled, frost the cupcakes in the color of your choice. The kids will have fun decorating the cupcakes with the sprinkles and the chocolate bunnies.

Family's Favorite Potato Salad

Ingredients

2 lb small red potatoes, unpeeled
6 eggs
3 celery stalks
1/4 cup finely diced red onion

For Dressing:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon mustard seeds
1 green onion, including the tender green tops, finely chopped
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dry mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Boil the potatoes and eggs. I always put them in the fridge overnight to prevent the potato salad from turning out mushy. Peel the potatoes and the eggs and cut into small chunks and toss them into a large bowl. Add the celery and red onion and toss briefly to mix. Set aside.

For Dressing: In a small bowl and using a fork, stir together the mayonnaise, mustard seeds, green onion, parsley, dry mustard, salt and pepper, mixing well. Pour the dressing over the potato and egg mixture and mix well.

For best flavor, cover and chill for up to 2 hours before serving. Sprinkle the parsley over the top and serve.

Extra Family Activity

With today's global economic conditions...there are many children and families in need. Why not make up some special baskets that you can donate? This is something that kids can help with as well. You will be putting smiles on many faces. Share the joy of giving this Easter.

My Links : Easter Product Store

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Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Bunny Bites and Egg Delights - Kids No Bake Easter Recipes


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Kids love Easter and decorating eggs but they also love to get in on the fun of making all the yummy treats. These kids Easter recipes are the perfect way to let them participate in the fun and make some delicious bunny bites and egg delights. The instructions for each of these are no-bake methods. You can bake your own items if you wish or just buy them store bought and then add the decorations to turn them into fun treats for this coming holiday.

Kids Easter Recipe #1

Easter Bonnet Cookies

These bonnets are made for eating and not for wearing even though they look so pretty.

Ingredients

Sugar Cookies
Vanilla Wafers
Frosting
Decorating Gel
Fruit Roll Ups
Directions

Take a vanilla wafer and spread frosting on the bottom of the wafer.
Place it in the center of a larger sugar cookie frosting side down.
Now frost the entire thing (both cookies).
Wrap some fruit roll-ups around the center (where the wafer is) and gently tie it into a bow.
Finish it off with some fun designs using the decorating gel.
If you want different colors for your bonnets simply add some food coloring to the frosting before you cover the cookies.

Kids Easter Recipes #2

Easter Egg Spinach Dip

This traditional bread and dip recipe is perfect for your party this coming holiday.

Ingredients

Large Oval Shaped Loaf of Bread (Rye or Pumpernickel)
Spinach Dip (store bought or make your own)
Yellow Food Coloring
Directions

Cut the loaf in half lengthwise.
Hollow out the middle of both halves.
Take half the spinach dip and place in a bowl.
Add yellow food coloring and blend in until you have the desired color.
Place the yellow colored spinach dip directly in the middle of the bread bowl.
Place the remaining spinach dip all around the center.
With the bread pieces taken from the middle, tear into small pieces and place all around the bread and serve.
Tip: Add some cheese amongst the bread by using a small scoop and block cheese. These will look like jelly beans placed in with the bread pieces. If you want you can decorate the outside of the bread (egg) using a spray cheese.

Kids Easter Recipe #3

Easter Bunny Cupcakes

These adorable bunnies won't last long once the kids see them. With their floppy ears and whisker noses, they look so cute and cuddly.

Ingredients

Cupcakes (store bought or make your own)
White Frosting
Black and Red Licorice strings
Nutter Butter Cookies
Brown and Red M & Ms
Directions

Frost the cupcakes (if not already bought that way) with white frosting.
Place 2 Nutter Butters on each side of the cupcake at the back (these are the ears). You can add some pink frosting to highlight the bunny ears.
Place 2 brown M & Ms in the cupcake for eyes and a red one for the nose.
Add some whiskers using the black licorice.
Finish this yummy bunny of with a smile using the red licorice.
Kids Easter Recipe # 4

Rice Krispie Easter Baskets

Rice Krispie treats make the perfect ingredient for shaping into fun designs. These Easter baskets are so fun to make and decorate.

Ingredients

Rice Krispies
Marshmallows
White Frosting
Green Food Coloring
Jelly beans or Oval Shaped candies
Directions

Make the Rice Krispie treats as directed on the box.
Use a small bowl and place up side down.
Spray with cooking spray.
Press the Rice Krispies treat onto the bowl to shape it into a basket. Let it cool before removing.
On a sheet of waxed paper press some Rice Krispie treats into the shape of a handle. You may need to measure the bowl to make sure you make this long enough.
Turn it right side up and place on waxed paper.
In a mixing bowl combine the frosting and green food coloring.
Spread the frosting on the inside of the bowl to make it look like Easter grass. You can use other colors if you want.
Press the candies into the frosting to fill the basket with eggs.
Take your Rice Krispie handle and place frosting on both ends. Press on each side of the basket to hold in place.
To brighten up this kids Easter recipe you can use fruit roll-ups and wrap it around the handle for some added decorations.

See Also : Easter Product Store

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Thursday, September 9, 2010

Cake Recipes - Scrumptious Easy Layer Cake


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The best thing about this cake, other than it being so easy, is that you can make it to please your taste buds! You really can choose any ingredients that you would like, but these are the ones that I have used in the past:

Cake

Pudding

Fruit

Cool Whip

Here are some other ideas of things that you may wish to choose from:

Cake: yellow, angel food, chocolate, strawberry, white

Pudding: vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, lemon, pistachio

Fruit: pineapple, cherry pie filling, bananas, peaches, pears (you can use as many fruits as you would like)

Chocolate chips, cinnamon candy, coconut, walnuts (or any other kind of nuts), are also great options.

Now to "build" your new layer cake, all you need to do is, layer the ingredients into a clear glass bowl. The presentation is so beautiful because you can see all the colors & ingredients through the glass! You may want to choose ingredients & colors to match whatever holiday that you are preparing the cake for.

Start with the cake as the first layer - (break into pieces or cut into squares), add fruit, then some pudding, then cool whip. Cake - fruit - pudding - cool whip, etc - until the bowl is almost filled.
You can then top with items like: coconut, nuts, or cherries if you wish.

If you'd like to have colored coconut, just place coconut in a ziplock bag with a few drops of food coloring, and mix until desired color is reached.

An example of a nice holiday display; a large platter with the glass bowl in the center. Add green coconut "grass" around the platter. Then, add a few nicely placed Easter eggs (candy, or the real ones =) around the green grass.

My Links : Easter Product Store

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Saturday, September 4, 2010

Fun Jello Recipes For Holidays


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Whether you are planning your Christmas, thanksgiving or Easter recipes, there are all kinds of fun things you can do with jello. You might already have made jello poke cake recipes, jello cheesecake or even jello mousse recipes for special occasions but there are many more recipes you can try as well.

One of the great things about jello is its versatility. It can be used to color, flavor and add texture to dessert recipes and there are lots of different flavors you can choose from. You can also choose from jello gelatin and jello pudding.

A Few Jello Ideas

For Christmas, you might like to use a jello mold, perhaps a Santa or a Christmas tree. You can use red and green jello for a festive look to your jello mold recipe. Jello cookies are also very nice at thanksgiving and Christmas and they are also great for birthdays.

A jello poke cake is a very easy recipe to make. You can bake a cake using a cake mix and simply poke holes in it with a fork and pour jello over the top. The jello soaks into the cake, coloring it and adding flavor and you just need to let it set for a couple of hours. This is a great method of making a homemade cake recipe the easy way.

How to Make Easter Jello Eggs

This recipe makes twelve jello eggs and it is a fun recipe for kids. In fact, you can let the kids choose which flavors of jello to use for making this jello eggs recipe. You do not have to stick to the flavors suggested in the recipe. To blow out eggs, you need to make a hole in one end, poke a needle through the egg to pierce the yolk and use a thin drinking straw to blow the egg out. The hole must be big enough for this to be possible.

Afterwards you should run water into the eggshell to remove any egg traces. Finally, microwave the eggshells for fifteen seconds to dry them and strengthen them.

What you will need:


12 eggs
4 packages Knox gelatin
1 package strawberry jello
1 package blueberry jello
1 package orange jello
1 cup cold water
3 cups boiling water
2 tablespoons lemon juice

How to make them:

Add a cup of boiling water to each jello flavor and stir well until the jello powder dissolves. Dissolve the gelatin in the cold water and stir in the lemon juice. Mix a third of this mixture into each jello and boiling water mixture. Blow out the eggs by making a hole in the base and letting the raw egg run out.

Pour the liquid jello into the eggshells and store them hole side up in the egg box in the refrigerator until the jello sets. This will take a couple of hours. Take the jello eggs out of the refrigerator half an hour before serving them and peel them like hard boiled eggs.

Serve them on some green colored coconut flakes. You can make these by stirring a few drops of green food coloring into a dish of coconut flakes.

See Also : Easter Product Store

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