You win some, you lose some

I had grand plans for posting about a fabulous Easter Sunday, complete with beaming family picture and delicious food buffet. Unfortunately this is the only picture I got of our Easter dinner. Sad, I know.

(My carrot-esque utensil/napkin bundles for Easter dinner. That didn't even get used...)

Now, I did take my camera with me and I had planned to get some great food buffet photos. But as I walked into my parents' house for Easter dinner, low and behold my family had started eating without us. According to my watch, and my husband's watch, we were not late. But they just "couldn't wait." Because heaven forbid they wait a few extra minutes for the rest of the family to arrive, on a holiday no less, with two of the side dishes, the utensils, and dessert. I was very upset about the whole situation. So my beautiful carrot cake, deviled eggs, jello salad, and the rest of the Easter buffet went un-photographed. I guess holidays with the family can't always be picture perfect.

So instead you get my win/lose food review for two new recipes I tried this past week. Because I think it is important to share the disasters as well as the triumphs.

Round #1 - 2 ingredient Lemon Bars = LOSS

I was intrigued by this idea of a 2 ingredient lemon bar recipe that was recommended HERE. It is always nice to have a few easy, delicious recipes you can fall back on when you are in a pinch. I was not at all pleased with the end result! The bars ended up having a really rubbery consistency, kind of like chewing on a sponge, and I couldn't imagine serving them to anyone. In fact, I threw the whole thing away after sampling them.

Round #2 - Chocolate Drizzled Strawberries and Cream Pie = WIN!

This recipe from my favorite food website, Our Best Bites, was a complete WIN. I absolutely loved it! It was wonderful. I found myself sneaking the last piece for a late night snack - and I don't usually eat late at night! Better yet, it required no oven usage which is great for those hot summer days when you don't feel like heating up your kitchen. You can find the recipe for this delightful dessert HERE.

The moral of this story: You win some, you lose some. And that's ok. How can you grow your collection of well loved recipes if you never take a risk and try something new?

Food for our Easter Egg Coloring Party

For those of you who follow my personal blog, here are the details of the food I made for our Easter egg coloring party. I love an excuse to make good food!

Some of my family and friends got together around 10:00am Thursday morning to let our kids color Easter eggs together. Amazingly, there was not a single spill - I was shocked! But beyond that, brunch food was on my mind. Here is what I served: (Please excuse the horrible lighting! The under cabinet lighting over the bar creates really bad picture lighting.)

Fruit and Veggie Tray with dip, bunny shaped marshmallows, cheese cubes on pretzel sticks.

I have decided that with kids, you cannot go wrong with cheese cubes.

They are a universal kid favorite.

Banana Muffins with streusel topping

In the back there, next to the pitcher of orange juice: Cinnamon Breakfast Casserole

(this doesn't look all that pretty, but tastes AMAZING!)

Pizza Frittatas (on the bottom) with pizza sauce for dipping -
a new recipe I tried and it was a big hit!
I will definitely be making these again.

Stay tuned - I plan on sharing the recipes for the Pizza Frittatas and the Cinnamon Breakfast Casserole with you soon!

Spreading some Easter cheer

Check out these adorable Easter S'mores Jars I made to give friends and family! I have decided that you just can't go wrong with Peeps...they always seem to bring a smile to people's faces. Easter is this weekend but you might have time to whip up a few of these cute jars for loved ones.

You can check out the two different links I used for my inspiration HERE and HERE.

A touch of Easter decorating

Just a little peek at our Easter decor this year. I think I am finally starting to appreciate decorating for Easter after years of snubbing it :). I am also linking to Centsational Girl's Easter Inspiration party.

My favorite moss Easter basket on a Target Dollar Spot tray, kept company by two simple bunnies tied up with bows.

My Dollar Tree hurricane makes an appearance filled with eggs and moss.

Also, my 25 cent green garage sale vase, painted white, gets dressed up for Easter with a moss bunny topiary. Add a small, white, garage sale, ceramic bunny and a few other pretties and you are set!

A little nook in the kitchen that has been touched with some Easter/Spring decor.

And of course my lovely Peeps wreath I showed you HERE.

Ahh, Easter - I am glad I have started to embrace your decorating possibilities!

Happy Easter!

Easter Greetings for your Front Door

I was inspired by Kimberly over at Mommy Savers to make an adorable Easter wreath from Peeps! Isn't it heavenly? It makes me smile everytime I come through the front door :).

This lovely wreath greets visitors who come to our house with some bright Easter cheer and fabulous, chocolate colored, satin ribbon (Doesn't that just sound luscious? You know I love me some satin ribbon...).

*Sigh* ... I do love that satin ribbon bow

Now I must warn you. I have had Peeps lovin' family members threaten to nibble at my wreath. So you may find that one of your bunny Peeps is missing an ear after assembling this wreath. I am not a Peeps lover, so I had no problem using them for my crafting purposes. But, I'm just sayin' . You may want to keep this out of reach of small, marshmallow-loving children :). What you will need to assemble a Peeps wreath:

12" foam wreath (I found one at Dollar Tree but you can find them at Michaels or Hobby Lobby)

brown satin ribbon

2 packs of peeps - about 22 peeps

glue gun

This wreath is very easy to assemble. Just start wrapping your satin ribbon around your wreath form and hot glue it in place. Then hot glue your Peeps around the wreath and finish it off with a big bow. I used 1" brown satin ribbon and it took about 12 yards, but if you used bigger ribbon it would take less. Kimberly at Mommy Savers said it only took her 5 yards of 2" ribbon to cover her wreath form. I hope you enjoy your Peeps wreath as much as we have! Happy crafting!

An Easter Craft

This is a project that I made last spring but never got the chance to blog about. I have never been one for Easter decorating. In fact, until last year I didn't own any Easter/spring decorating items. I am usually not one for pastel colors, cutsey ceramic bunnies, or decorating with eggs. Until last year. I was checking up on some of the blogs I follow and came across an Easter project that immediately grabbed my attention. Kimba from A Soft Place to Land stole my heart with her moss covered basket full of eggs. I am not sure what it was that I loved - maybe the earthy, naturalness of it? The subtle hint of Easter without the in-your-face pastels? I can't quite put my finger on it, but I was in love. In fact, I think I left for Hobby Lobby not long after reading through her tutorial to purchase the materials. You can see Kimba's full tutorial HERE. As for the materials I used: - 99 cent wicker basket from Goodwill - Sheet moss from Hobby Lobby - found in the dried flower section and purchased with a 40% off coupon. - I couldn't find twine that looked like Kimba's, but I purchased the rope on the handle from Hobby Lobby in the craft section. - 2 bags of eggs from Michael's purchased at 50% off. I really liked the muted, natural looking colors of these eggs but you could use any type of faux egg that you like. - Having a plate or platter to place under the basket is essential if you want to avoid having bits of moss flake off onto every surface! I found this plastic platter in the dollar section at Target and spray painted it heirloom white. This was an easy, thrifty craft that you still have plenty of time to recreate before Easter (Easter isn't until April 24!). I love the results! Do you decorate for Easter? I am slowly coming around :).