Easter 2012

Happy Easter!

We had a spectacular Easter so I thought I would share a few of our traditions (both old and new) with everyone.

One of the new items for this Easter were these cute chocolate bowls filled with Easter candy.  I used these for each place setting at the table.  And also sent a larger basket to our neighbors.  They turned out SO cute, but one small warning...they melt very easily.  Next time I will use a quality chocolate rather than the chocolate bark. 

Here is one of the place settings.  I folded the bunny napkins which turned out so cute.  (Another Pinterest find.)

And the whole table.

Even our pets seem to get involved with the holiday preparations.  Claire loves to "help" decorate eggs.  She also loves to roll them off of the dining room table where they are displayed.

The dogs love to chase and bite open the plastic eggs.  I will be finding plastic eggs around the house for quite some time I think.

Each year at Easter I make a Carrot Cake.  I love decorating the top with the colorful carrots.  

For our Easter Egg Hunt this year we changed our tradition a bit.  In the past we have hidden eggs with coupons inside.  The coupons would be for things like "have Mom make your bed" or "rent a movie".  With only Taylor at home now the coupons don't work so well any longer.  So this year we hid eggs with letters inside of them.  The kids hunted for their egg color until they found all 5.  Then they brought their eggs inside and began to unscramble the letters to spell out a word associated with Easter.  

Here is Taylor beginning her unscrambling. 

hmmm....nope...Stop Hiliry isn't the secret code word.  

There ya go!

Our niece Michaela joined us for Easter and enjoyed the egg hunt. 

Nope...wrong again.  Michaela's word was Almighty.

Our daughter Jordan had lots of letters.  Her word was Resurrection.

Our oldest daughter Meghann and her boyfriend Zach seemed to enjoy the hunt.  Zach solved the unscramble with something like 4 letters. 

Once everyone had their secret words they got an envelope with some money.  

It was a really, really amazing day!

I hope you enjoyed a few of our Easter traditions.  I know that many lasting memories were made during this special day.

Should I share my Carrot Cake Recipe? 

Carrot Cake

• Ingredients 

  • 4 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 2 1/2 cups shredded carrots

• Instructions 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine eggs, oil, and sugar in large bowl; mix well. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix just until moist. Fold in carrots. Spread in greased and floured round cake pans. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes (less for smaller pans) or until cake tests done. Let cool completely. Frost with Cream Cheese icing.

  2. Notes 

     1 recipe = 2 8 inch cakes 
     2 recipes = 2 10 inch cakes
      2 recipes = 2 9 inch cakes and 12 cupcakes

Cream Cheese Icing

• Ingredients 

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 2 packages (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
  • 8 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (about 2 lbs.)
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • About 5 1/2 cups of icing.

• Instructions

  1. Step 1 In medium mixer bowl, cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar one cup at a time and milk. Mix well. Beat on high until smooth (only 30 seconds to 1 minute). Thin to ice cake smooth; use full strength for piping borders. 
  2. Step 2 NOTE: Do not use light cream cheese or butter substitute. If margarine is used, icing will be softer.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I am busy cooking for our Valentine's Day supper, but I wanted to stop in really quick to wish everyone a wonderful Valentine's Day.  

Preparing holiday meals is one of the "Works of Heart" that I enjoy the most.  I love to cook.  And I especially love to bake.  So I thought I would share the recipe for this special Cherry Heart Cheesecake.  It is actually a sour cream cheesecake, which I think is soooo delicious.  And really very easy.

Here is the recipe...

*Crust:

33 graham cracker squares, crumbled (2 cups or a little less)

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus additional, for brushing the pan

1 tablespoon sugar

*Filling:

20 ounces cream cheese

1 1/4 cups sour cream

1 cup sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

3 yolks

1/3 cup heavy cream

*Topping:

8 ounces sour cream

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 can cherry pie filling

Directions
*Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Brush some of the melted butter around a 9 inch spring form pan.

*In a small bowl, combine crumbled graham crackers, the remaining melted butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan. Bake for 10 minutes and allow to cool.

*In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat sour cream for 10 seconds. Add the cream cheese and sugar and mix on low for 30 seconds and then turn up to medium. Scrape the bowl.

*In a separate container, combine vanilla, eggs, yolks, and heavy cream. With the mixer on medium, slowly pour the liquid mixture in. When half of it is incorporated, stop and scrape. Continue adding the mixture until the rest of the ingredients are incorporated. Once completely combined, pour into the cooled crust.

*Lower oven temperature to 250 degrees F. Place a large casserole dish of water onto the lower rack of the oven to act as your "water bath".  Place the cheesecake onto the upper shelf after the oven has had time to preheat and the water bath has gotten hot.  Bake in the oven for 1 1/2 hours.  Turn the oven off and open the door for one minute. Close the door for another half hour. Remove the cheesecake from the oven and place in the refrigerator for 6 hours to completely cool before serving.

*When ready to serve remove the springform sides of the pan.  Serve either on the flat part of the pan or run a knife along the bottom of the cheesecake to loosen.

*For topping, in a small bowl stir together sour cream, 2 tablespoons sugar and vanilla.
Spread evenly over the top of the cheesecake.  (stay 1/2 inch or so away from edge of cheesecake)  Drop teaspoonfuls of pie filling (without cherries) onto sour cream in a circular shape around edges of the topping.  Pull a knife or spatula through the sauce to form hearts.  Refrigerate.
To slice, place your knife into a hot water bath and wipe dry each time you make a pass through the cake.
Serve with the extra cherry pie filling if desired.

Ok....I better get back to the kitchen to finish dinner.  :)