Easter Recipes

 We had a great Easter dinner complete with a honey baked ham and turkey at Gina's house Sunday. Here are some yummy recipes that I made and would make again for an Easter celebration. First up is a Carrot Pound Cake from Apples to Zucchini.

Ingredients-
3 c. flour
1/2 c. softened butter
1/2 c. canola oil
2 1/2 c. sugar
3/4 c. undrained crushed pineapple
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c. shredded carrots

1. Mix together sugar, butter, oil and pineapple in mixer
2. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly into the batter between each addition
3. Add flour, baking powder, salt vanilla and carrots until well blended
4. Pour into a greased bundt or tube pan. I used a lamb mold that is a tradition in Davids family. More on this later.
5. bake at 325 for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until brown and a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean
turn over onto a plate after allowing to cool slightly

For our lamb mold, you are suppose to fill the face side and put the back end side on so it can expand. Little did we know how difficult it would be to bake him. We put it on for that first hour and 15 mins and stuck a tooth pick into the tiny hole at the head. It looked done and I opened it up only to find the middle wasn't cooked AT ALL. In case I ask for next year, here is what needs to be done. Either you cook it for 3 hours (yes I cooked this for about 3 hours) on 350 or cook both halves separately and frost them together (would have been smarter).

 Lamby finally came out and was a little malformed so I left the walnuts chunky instead of chopping them to cover some of the imperfections. As you can see, the walnuts fell and we call this the P90X lamb since its shedding all that weight. Still cute and it tasted really god.
Glaze-
1 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. chopped walnuts
3 tbsp milk
-Mix together and Pour over warm cake.

Fruity Pebble Treat Eggs from In Katrina's Kitchen-

Ingredients:
¼ c butter
10 oz bag of marshmallows (I used mini ones)
5 c Fruity Pebble (kroger brand) cereal
6-12 plastic eggs for molding

 Directions:
1. In a large pan melt butter using medium heat.
2. Add marshmallows and stir until melted.

3. Pour in the cereal and mix to incorporate.

4. Spray plastic eggs with cooking spray. I found it was easiest to break open the egg so its not attached.

5. Spoon the cereal mixture into each half of the egg then close egg to form shape. We used a mix between bigger eggs and small ones. We rotated between 6 or so big and small eggs. They don't take long to take shape but we kept them in there for about 30 seconds- a few minutes each. You have to go kind of fast so that the cereal mixture stays warm.

 They came out great and the kids (and adults) loved them!

If you are wondering, I did make a real food item that wasn't dessert. I made a spinach salad, recipe from Pioneer Woman that I altered.
Ingredients
    - 8 slices Turkey Bacon (real bacon would work much better, but more fatty)
    -  ½ Red Onion, chopped
    - 8 ounces, Baby Spinach, Washed Dried And Stems Removed
    - 3 Tablespoons Reserved Bacon Grease or Olive Oil if you used turkey bacon
    - 3 Tablespoons Red Wine Vinegar
    - 2 teaspoons Sugar
    - ½ teaspoons Dijon Mustard
    - 1 dash Salt
Directions-
1. Fry bacon in a pan until crispy/chewy. Remove to a paper towel.
2. Remove 3 tablespoons grease and set aside. I didn't have much grease, so skip that step.
3. Add your diced red onions to your pan you cooked the bacon in, Cook slowly until onions are carmelized. Add a little olive oil if needed.
4. Chop bacon.
5. Add spinach to a large bowl. Arrange onions and bacon on top. 
6. Make hot bacon dressing: Add 3 tablespoons bacon grease (I used olive oil), vinegar, sugar, and Dijon to your skillet on medium-low heat. Whisk mixture together and heat thoroughly.
7. Pour hot dressing over the top; toss to combine.
This would be great warm, but I had a few hours before we ate so I refrigerated and it still tasted really good. You can add mushrooms, eggs or anything else you'd like to it, I'm just not a huge fan of those.

David's Birthday Goodies

I forgot to post this a few weeks ago, but I just looked at how yummy everything was. For David's birthday breakfast a few weeks ago I got up early and made these delicious crepes with a cream cheese filling (frosting from the carrot cake, which I talked about in the Easter post) and a fresh strawberry topping. Here is the recipe I got from allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and the eggs. Gradually add in the milk and water, stirring to combine. Add the salt and butter; beat until smooth.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each crepe. Tilt the pan with a circular motion so that the batter coats the surface evenly.
3. Cook the crepe for about 2 minutes, until the bottom is light brown. Loosen with a spatula, turn and cook the other side. Serve hot.

The strawberry topping comes from Our Best Bites.

I decided to also make the carrot cake from the Pioneer Woman's blog.

Prep Time: 20 Minutes

Cook Time: 50 Minutes

Difficulty: Easy

Servings: 12

Ingredients- FOR CAKE:

• 2 cups Sugar
• 1 cup Vegetable Oil
• 4 whole Eggs
• 2 cups All-purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
• 2 cups Grated Carrots
•  
• For Icing
• 1 stick Regular Butter, Softened
• 1 package (8 Oz) Cream Cheese
• 1 pound Powdered Sugar
• 2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 1 cup Pecans, Chopped Finely

Preparation Instructions

Cake:
Mix together the sugar, oil and eggs in a large bowl. In another bowl sift together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Add to first mixture and combine. Then add carrots and mix well. Pour into a greased and floured (Baker’s Joyed) pan (bundt, sheet cake, 9 x 13 pyrex) and bake until done, 25 to 50 minutes, depending on the pan you use.
Cool completely.
Icing:
In larger bowl, cream butter and cream cheese. Add sugar and vanilla and blend, then mix in the nuts. Spread on cooled carrot cake.

I had never made a carrot cake before and it was very fun! I just love to see the little carrot pieces that I grated. I made some for me without the cream cheese frosting.