Cookie Salad

I have made this twice the spring already.  Cookie salad is easy, delicious, and a fun change from other fruit and side salads. Also it doubles as dessert.  We enjoyed this salad today for a family Easter dinner along with Resurrection Potatoes (What we call Mormon Funeral Potatoes during the Easter season), ham, glazed carrots, Cottage Cheese Jello salad, and awesome cupcakes.

6 oz of vanilla instant pudding (2 small boxes)
2 cups buttermilk
16 oz cool whip
2 lbs strawberries
4 bananas
11 oz can of mandarin oranges
1 package of Keebler Fudge Stripe cookies

Stir together vanilla pudding packets and buttermilk.
Add cool whip.
Chop or slice strawberries, slice bananas, and drain mandarin oranges. 
Stir fruit into vanilla pudding and cool whip mixture. 
Crumble up all of the fudge stripe cookies.  Stir in 3 rows worth of cookies, and top with last row of cookie crumbs.

*For a fun tropical version, use Samoa Girl Scout cookies and replace strawberries with 1-2 cans of pineapple tidbits.  Also double mandarin oranges.

Easter Peep crafts...

We already know how much I love Peeps...  I've seen a lot of ideas and when I saw these plastic eggs at Joann's that perfectly matched the rainbow of peeps, I decided to try making a garland.  The cheap plastic eggs have holes in the top and bottom so threading them together is super easy. The peeps are a lot easier to thread if they are stale.

Some other fun Peep ideas I have seen online...

Happy Easter Peeps gift packaging at joy ever after.

Homie Peeps sign from Flamingo Toes

Treat toppers along with LOTS of decorating ideas at Shindig Parties

Easter Pavlova

This was my first time kaing this...delicious!!! It's gooey in the center and the crust melts in your mouth, so very good.

It's simple, IF you follow the instructions.

4 egg whites at room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp corn starch

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Crumple up a piece of parchment, uncrumple and spread on baking sheet. sprinkle with some corn starch. If you don't do this it will stick and break apart when removed. I have heard you can use aluminum foil instead of parchment paper.

Beat egg whites until a stiff peak forms and still shiny. Add sugar 1 Tbsp at a time, beating throughly in between. Fold in vanilla, lemon juice, and cornstarch (don't pre mix). Scoop onto baking sheet and spread in a 9 inch circle, with edges higher than the middle. (I spread mine into 12 and it was more crust than goo and cooled faster, I enjoyed the cooling faster and like the crust so I didn't mind, but it is supposed to be taller and have more goo in the middle, when done).

Bake at 300 degrees for 1 hour then turn off oven, open door a bit and cool in oven for 1 hour. It will crack a little on the outside, and be a pale pinkish brown color.

Before serving top with coolwhip and strawberries and kiwi (the traditional toppings, although any fruit will do).

Enjoy!

Cadbury Cookies

Tis the time of year when Cadbury shows up in America. I love their chocolate and Cadbury mini eggs are no exception. Camille found this recipe and we decided to check it out... Cadbury Mini egg Cookies.

The only change we made is that since we had eaten 1/2 the bag at the movies (Alice in Wonderland) last night we added a handful of white chocolate chips and a handful of butterscotch chips for fun.

enjoy!

Easter basket Cupcakes

I mentioned these cupcakes in an earlier post. Here are the ones I made:

Super fun and Easy for kids to make. I wasn't able to find the licorice to make a handle though.

Easter Dinner

yum Easter dinner...so so good. This is what my roommates and I would usually make for Easter dinner:

Glazed Spiral Cut Ham

1 jar Orange Marmalade

3 Tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 (7-8lb) Spiral Cut Ham

Mix orange marmalade and mustard and use half to glaze ham. Bake in a roasting pan at 325 and re spread glaze half way through cooking time (cooking time indicated by the ham). Use remaining glaze when serving.

Resurrection Potatoes

6 cups diced potatoes*
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) cond. cream chicken soup
1/2 soup can milk
1 cup sour cream
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup grated onion (optional) **
salt and pepper to taste
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup corn flake crumbs

Cook fresh potatoes or thaw frozen potatoes (see *note below). Place potatoes in a 2-3 quart casserole dish or a 9x13 cake pan.
Combine soup, milk, sour cream, cheese, and onion (see **note below) and salt and pepper to taste. If a saucier dish is desired, add 2-3 tablespoons additional milk. Mix well. Spread sauce over potatoes.
Melt butter and combine with corn flake crumbs. Sprinkle crumbs over casserole. Bake uncovered at 350 F for 30-45 minutes or until hot and bubbly throughout.

Notes:
* Use approximately 6-8 peeled, diced, and cooked fresh potatoes; or approximately 2 pounds frozen, southern style, diced hash browns (not shredded). ** Use 1 tablespoon dried onion or saute 1/4 cup fresh chopped onion in 1 tablespoon butter until transparent.

Rolls- Of the Rhodes Rolls variety!

Cottage Cheese Fruit Salad

1 large container cottage cheese

1 small box orange jello, or 1 lg box sugar free orange jello

2 small cans mandarin oranges, drained

1 can pineapple tidbits, drained

1 container cool whip

Sprinkle cottage cheese with jello and let sit for a few minutes. mix thoroughly and add fruit. Stir in Cool whip. Refrigerate for 10+ minutes to set up.

Green Salad of Choice

and for dessert... Hummingbird Cake. There are a lot of different recipes for this cake, some with pecans, some with extra fruit, but Martha Stewarts recipe is the one I like the most and who can resist the beautiful dried pineapple flowers on top! for the Recipe and step by step instructions, go here.

Lots of Easter Sweets Ideas

There are so many great Easter crafts, decoration, celebration ideas. Here are a few I found that I think are extra sweet.

If you are feeling ambitious, Bakerella has concocted some darling Cakepops for this holiday season. Check out the ideas on her site. Thanks for all the imaginitive inspiration Bakerella!

Make and Takes gave us a great cookie recipe for all those extra cadbury creme eggs.

Bakerella also brings us one of the greatest Easter cupcake ideas.

A super easy spring cupcake idea I have seen floating around is to make flowers out of sliced marshmallows and colored sugar crystals, or out of gumdrops. This particular picture and instructions are from Crafting Cousins.

Womans Day Magazine had decorated a cupcake like this:

Oh so cute and adorable.

Easter treats

I stumbled across this somewhere a few months ago...

Resurrection Rolls

Ingredients:
Crescent rolls
Melted butter
Large Marshmallows
Cinnamon
Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Give each child a triangle of crescent rolls.
( This represents the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.)

3. Give each child a marshmallow. Cut in half.
( This represents Jesus)

4. Dip the marshmallow in melted butter.
(This represents the oils of embalming)

5. Dip the marshmallow into cinnamon and sugar.
(which represents the spices used to anoint the body.)

6. Wrap the coated marshmallow tightly in the crescent roll.
(This represents the wrapping of Jesus' body after death.)

7. Place in a 350 degree oven for 10-12 minutes
( The oven represents the tomb.)

Note: Bake in cupcake paper liners and muffin tins.

When the rolls have cooled slightly, the children can open their rolls (cloth) and discover that Jesus is no longer there, He is risen. ( The marshmallow and the crescent roll is puffed up, but empty.)