Peep Smores

Last Saturday was sunny, warm and brimming with cute little boys running around my backyard.  It was one of the first warm days this year, and all that sun was making us giddy.  I stopped and watched those happy little buddies playing hard together, and I thought, "Those cutie pies deserve a treat."  So in keeping with Easter coming up (which they remind me is coming almost daily), I surprised them with Peep Smores!  I gave the boys the treats topless so they could delight in smooshing the warm, gooey marshmallow with the top graham.  And this is what I got...

Happier boys if that was even possible!  It was totally worth the very sticky little faces and hands that had to get wiped down later.  And the best part?  This treat took about 1 minute to make - almost literally.  Oh, and I felt like a pretty super mommy/aunt, too.

Peep Smores

Author: Mindy

Ingredients

• Peep Marshmallows


• Graham Crackers


• Hershey's Chocolate Bars

Instructions

1. Place three bars of chocolate onto each half graham cracker.


2. Separate the Peeps and place on a plate.


3. Microwave about 10 seconds (you may have to experiment with one as all microwaves are a little different - Peeps should be slightly enlarged and soft, but still firm enough to transfer).


4. Transfer the Peeps on top of the chocolate and graham.


5. Then top with a half graham cracker and smoosh!

3.2.2802

Easter Dinner Menu

Do you have your family Easter Dinner planned yet?

 I think I do.  Here is what I am going to serve...

Honey Baked Ham
are the best in my opinion--but they are pricey and I usually end up with a spiral cut ham from Costco instead, which are fabulous too:)

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Potatoes Dauphinoise
are my all time favorite...but classic Au Gratin are always a big hit too!

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 Buttermilk Roll shaped like little bunnies
using the method from my sister Mindy's Bunny Bun recipe.  I made them last year like this and they were perfect for Easter!  A new tradition was born!  I already have my buttermilk roll dough in the fridge ready for Sunday.  I love that you can make the dough days ahead of time.  What a great recipe!

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Wild Berry Salad
(except that I will leave out the pomegranate seeds this time of year)  Although, there are so many wonderful salads you can choose from here.  I haven't decided for sure yet:)

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Roasted Asparagus Spears
-that just says spring to me:)  I also LOVE the ones with Balsamic Butter Sauce here.

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Strawberry Shortcake with Almond Glaze--
it is the BEST, trust me!! I made it for the first time last year for our Easter dinner and it will be on our menu from now one.  We absolutely LOVED it!  My mouth is watering just thinking about it:)

What are you having?

Do you have any special traditional menu items for Easter?

We hope you all have a very Happy (and delicious) Easter!

Bunny Buns

Bunny Buns are my new favorite Easter tradition!  We are going on year one, but I can just tell that this is something that will be a family favorite for years to come.  Do any of you get The Friend magazine for your kiddos?  This month there was a "Kitchen Crafts" recipe called Bunny Buns.  My two year old was obsessed with the picture, so I decided I'd better try them out.  I made them (swapping shortening for butter), and they turned out pretty good.  The bread is yummy.  It reminds me of an orange roll, but the glaze wasn't my favorite.  I put it on a few of the buns, and it reminded me of the glaze you get on cheap glazed donuts.  So I tried a cream cheese glaze, which was just okay and didn't look very pretty.  So I'm on the lookout for a better recipe.  Do any of you have a good glaze for an orange roll?

These rolls were such a hit with my two year old that I rolled some Rhodes dough (frozen dinner rolls) into the shape of bunnies again last night with dinner (pictured above).  It worked awesome!  I think the idea would probably work with any dough.  I plan to make some dinner rolls again in the shape of Bunny Buns to go with Easter dinner every year, and I'll probably make the orange rolls as a treat leading up to Easter.  Such a fun idea!

PS Don't forget about Easter Morning Rolls (AKA Resurrection Rolls) for breakfast on Sunday!

Bunny Buns (orange roll version - recipe below)

 

Bunny Buns
Submitted by Mindy ~ The Sisters Cafe1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
1 cup milk, warmed not quite to boiling
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening (I used 1/2 butter)
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup orange juice
2 Tablespoons grated orange peel
5 1/2 cups flour

Glaze: 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/4 cup hot water, 1 teaspoon butter (not my fav... anyone have a better one?)

1. Wash hands with soap and water.2. Sprinkle yeast in the warm water and set aside.

3. In another bowl, blend milk, sugar, shortening, and salt. Cool until lukewarm, then add eggs, water with yeast, orange juice, and orange peel.

4. Stir in flour a few cups at a time to make a soft dough. Let stand for 10 minutes.

5. Knead dough 5–10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until dough is smooth and elastic (I used my Bosch for 5 minutes). Place it in a lightly greased bowl, turning once to grease surface. Cover bowl with a clean towel and put it in a warm place. Let dough rise for 2 hours, or until double in size. Punch dough down and let stand for 10 minutes.

6. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Cut dough into strips 1/2 inch wide and 14 inches long. Roll between hands into rounded snake shapes. Cut one strip into pieces 1/2 inch long, and roll into balls.

7. Place one long piece of dough on a greased cookie sheet. Place one end of the strip over the other to make a loop; bring the end that is underneath up and cross it over the other end. Place a ball of dough on top of the bottom loop.

8. Cover bunnies and let rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, until nearly double in size. Bake at 375ºF (190ºC) for 12–15 minutes.

9. For the glaze, stir powdered sugar, water, and butter together. Frost bunnies with the glaze while they are still warm.

Favorite Egg Salad Sandwich

What to do with these?

How about this?

That picture makes me laugh!  Gotta love the blue stained egg peeping out of the sandwich... front and center!  But don't worry, it isn't mold.  I really and truly did use our  Easter eggs (which, by the way, I didn't have a picture of.  So those oh-so-perfect eggs in the photograph above were the result of a quick google search.  Very cute, but I did think ours were pretty endearing if not so cute.)  But I regress! My husband and I really like egg salad sandwiches.  We used to make them a lot when we were dating and first married.  I have all these little notes jotted into the Betty Crocker recipe like, "less or no onions," "maybe some lemon juice?" or "more celery."  I look at the recipe I am using now, and I realize that it doesn't really resemble the Betty Crocker version we started with anymore!  I was going to post something else today, but as I ate my yummy egg salad sandwich for lunch yesterday I just knew I had to share it with you all!  And P.S.  I solved the onion dilemma with a switch to chives, which is perfect. Even more so because I was able to use fresh ones from my yard.  But if you don't have chives on hand, use green onions or chopped onion in place of it.

Favorite Egg Salad Sandwich
Sumitted by Mindy ~ The Sisters Cafe

Printable Recipe

6 large eggs
1/4 c. mayonnaise (less if eggs are fresh and moist, more if they are overcooked/older and dry)
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3/4 tsp. lemon juice
1 1/2 stalks celery, washed and chopped (3/4 c.)
1/2 bunch of chives, chopped (1 bunch = herb bundle a little less than 1 inch in diamter, 3-4 inches long and about 0.5 ounce in weight)
2 small handfuls of green leaf lettuce
8 slices of whole grain bread, lightly toasted (Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat Bread is perfect)

Place the eggs in a pot and cover with at least 1 inch of water.  Cover and heat to boiling.  Remove from heat and let stand covered for ten minutes.  Drain hot water and immediately place eggs in cold water with ice cubes for approximately 3 minutes to stop the cooking.  Crack and peel each egg (hold under cold water while peeling if the shell is hard to peel).

Place eggs in a mixing bowl.  Add salt, pepper, lemon juice and half of the mayonnaise.  Smash with fork or pastry blender (which I use).  Now add remaining mayonnaise a little at a time until the mixture is moist to your liking.  Stir in celery and chives.

Place lettuce on 4 slices of toasted bread and spread with egg salad mixture.  Top with remaining 4 slices of toasted bread, and voila! The perfect egg salad sandwich.

Easter Morning Rolls

This recipe is a wonderful Easter tradition for our family. Erin posted the recipe last year, but I wanted to repost them in time for Easter this weekend.
If you wanted to make homemade roll dough instead of frozen, try one of these great recipes:

Lion House Rolls

Grandma's Dinner Rolls

Amazing Buttermilk Rolls

Hope you enjoy!

These rolls are our traditional Easter morning breakfast. Just like Christ's tomb on Easter Sunday, these rolls will be empty! Consequently, this is a fun and sweet way to explain to children why we celebrate Easter, and teach about Christs' resurrection. They are easy to make the night before, and are very yummy straight out of the oven. In fact, be very very sure to serve them immediately after baking them; they are very good fresh and some of the 'magic' is gone when they have been out of the oven for an hour. I have only ever used homemade roll dough to make these. Use a small amount of dough, and try to seal them the best you can so that the marshmallows don't leak out when baking. This is our mother's recipe - she actually used this recipe when she taught TLC (technological life careers - included sewing and cooking) in Middle School - and Mindy and I were her students when we were each in 7th grade! :)

Easter Breakfast Rolls
submitted by Erin ~ The Sisters Cafe

1 package frozen bread or roll dough, thawed (or homemade roll dough)

6 TB sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 bag large marshmallows
1/4 cup butter, melted

Combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside. Divide the dough into individual roll sized portions. Press each portion into a flat circle. Place
1 large marshmallow in the center of each roll. Pinch roll dough very firmly around the marshmallow. Roll each into a seamless, or nearly seamless, ball with your hands. Brush rolls with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar mixture over rolls. Cover rolls with plastic wrap and put in the fridge overnight. On Sunday morning, preheat oven to 350°. Take rolls out of fridge and bake for 15 minutes until rolls are golden brown. Be careful not to overbake. (These may also be baked without sitting overnight. After wrapping the marshmallow in them, let them rise for about an hour or so and then bake them as usual.)