Easter approaches

So Easter is quickly upon us. I thought I'd share some ideas for Easter. My kids have always enjoyed an egg hunt. Afterall, next to the baskets what else is there for the kids?? I have collected plastic eggs for years and last year I decided to color coordinate their eggs to better fill and track any missed eggs. Each child got 2 colors and 2 dozen eggs to find. They really liked the concept. The older child had to work a bit harder to find his share and the younger one was able to find his easily cos big brother didn't take them all. LOL. I have tried to find alternatives to filling them with candy (cos they don't need it anyway) or money (cos that's what grandparents do, not the parents. LOL). So for several years I've filled their eggs with puzzle pieces. Beings that we have so many eggs I buy a 750-1000 piece puzzle and put a few pieces in each egg, (can begin to see the dilemma when we miss an egg). The kids enjoyed it for a few years. Then I let them pick the puzzle cos well, they knew I was gonna put one in anyway. That puzzle was a bit harder than they thought but was really cool down. It was like a bunch of fairy tale stories represented in this one puzzle. So I got to finish it. I of course, didn't mind. I happen to LOVE puzzles. Last year since I color coordinated the eggs, I did an easier puzzle like 100 piece for the 8 year old, a 250 for the 9 year old and a 500 for the 14 year old. They liked that much better. It was better suited for their levels. This year I was looking for something a bit different yet. So I decided, I have some bigger items that won't fit into the eggs but don't want to really fill their baskets with either. So I've decided I do have a puzzle but, this puzzle is 2 in 1. So they will get mixed up pieces for the 2 puzzles. Gives them something to do while waiting on dinner to separate the pieces by puzzle. But I'm also going to put slips of paper inside the eggs with prize numbers and they get to redeem the paper for that prize. I was also thinkin since we do attend Church and know the Easter story pretty well, and they will hear it that morning before their egg hunt that I may put questions related to the story in the egg and when they answer correctly they get that number prize. Win Win!! They get a prize but also learning, remembering and revisiting that important story over and over. As a kid I think we had a basket ful of candy and chocolate. I still LOVE robin eggs, but highly dislike Jelly beans. But as an adult, I don't want to give this stuff to my kids when they don't get it on a regular basis anyway. Then it's like gorging on a diet and deal with a sugar high and upset tummies for one day. No thanks!! Don't get me wrong, they will have some. They each get the traditional Choco bunny, but I went for the smaller ones this year and they each get their favorite candy bar and a few choco kisses. I may even splurge and get a bag of robin eggs and be sure to give the 3 of them 1/2 the bag so I don't eat them all!

Aside of the kids goodies, we have the dinner. OH THE DINNER!! We usually have my hubbies brothers over. His parents both have passed and my Mom lives in Alabama. So I cook for his brothers and our small family. We will be having Ham as we have turkey for Thanksgiving and both turkey and ham for Christmas. The Uncles both love my pretzel fluff which I found on line I think. So simple, not at all nutritious and so easy to make. It's a brick of cream cheese mixed with 1/2 cup sugar. Then add 12 oz tub of cool whip, can of crushed pineapple, drained and mix. Melt one stick of butter in a baking dish and then add 1/2 c sugar and I don't measure but enough pretzels, coarsely chopped to soak up the butter. Bake the pretzels at 400 for 7 min and let cool. Once cooled scrape out of the baking dish breaking them into small pieces. The online recipe layered fluff, pretzel, fluff, pretzel. I don't like that cos the pretzel gets mushy. So I add pretzel to top when ready to serve and dump rest pretzels into a bowl with a spoon for extra serving on the side. that way, left overs too go to the fridge and pretzels to the cupboard to have fresh crunchy pretzels to finish up left overs. I did make my mom's Pretzel Salad a few years ago. I'm not big on jello and my kids didn't like it to well, but my older sister loves it and it so happened I was going to be in her neighborhood a few days after Easter so I took the left overs to her. She enjoyed them. I also love to get creative with my food. I call it playing with my food. I did a bunny cake a couple years ago and baked a cake shaped it into a bunny and decorated it with flavored frosting. This year I saw a carrot patch I love. Bake brownies and then frost with choco frosting, sprinkle crushed oreos on top. Skewer large strawberries and dip in orange colored chocolate. I would use almond bark cos that is what I always have around. Let them set and then remove from skewer and place on a brownie. Add a few robbin eggs or Egg shaped candies to each brownie. I would set this up with Easter grass under the brownies and put a choco bunny or stuffed bunny near by with a wheelbarrow or something like working in the garden and maybe put a brownie inside the wheel barrow. I made some rabbit cars several years ago where I got bunny peeps and put them in twinkies and frosted on wheels and steering wheel was from licorice string that I shaped and put in twinkie. they were cute. Littles one took them to school. So today I am working on this years menu and finding fun ways to present or display my hard work of cooking for the vultures in my family to say cute and then devour it all with in seconds. But no frets here!! I love being creative in all ways. That is MY fun and then to see my loved ones enjoying it is even better. My first playing with my food item was a veggie tree I made for Christmas. Of course someone else brought a regular veggie tray and everyone ate it instead They said the tree was to cool to eat. A few years ago I made cheeseball into a standing snowman and no one would eat him either. That takes my fun away. So I dug in first and then thankfully a few others did too. So whats on your Easter Menu??