Fun Easter Recipe

Chocolate Marshmallow Eggs
I remember my mom making these when I was little.  They were pretty and yummy.  I wanted to teach the activity day girls how to make them and have some for family too.  We made them at the girls retreat with my sisters-in-law and mother-in-law this past Saturday too.  They turned out pretty good.  You can add flavored oils to the marshmallow mixture.  I have not tried that yet, but plan to next time I make these sweet treats. 
1 package Knox gelatine
½ cup water
Mix together in a deep bowl.  Set the bowl aside.

Then in a nonstick pan, bring 2/3 cup water and 2/3 cup sugar to a boil and boil to a soft ball stage.
Pour this over the gelatine in the bowl and beat with an electric mixer until elastic.

 Add :
½ tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp cornstarch
2 Tbsp powder sugar
Dash of salt

Pour into flour mold. ( Put Flour in a bowl. Make an egg shape with a spoon, egg, or plastic egg in flour)
Chill.   Take the eggs out with a fork, then dip in melted milk chocolate or almond bark.  Chill, then decorate with decorator icing.

Last Days of March

Here are a few pictures of Juliana's Birthday celebration, and some pictures of deviled eggs made by the activity day girls.  We also made chocolate covered marshmallow eggs, but I didn't get a picture of those before they were eaten. 

Pink Poodle cake.  The pattern is from familyfun.com.  I used gumdrops for the collar and for the nose.  Pretty easy and fun to make.  I used a strawberry cake mix.  The frosting was a homemade buttercream frosting with a little almond extract.  It was yummy.

Pinkalicious lunch with 3 friends

Family Birthday  Party

She loves the Fur Real cat from Grandma and Grandpa.  She kissed it over and over again.  It was funny to watch her!

Blowing out the candles

Deviled egg "chicks"-  I got this idea from Family Fun Magazine.  The eyes are capers and the beak is a wedge of carrot.  The feet are made from a carrot coin cut to look like feet.

Girls Retreat

This weekend was great. The retreat with my aunts, cousins, mom, and sister was so much fun. We met at my house for breakfast and had cinnamon rolls made from grandma's recipe. (Yummy) We made cute spring blocks. It was fun to see all the different blocks that everyone made. We had lunch at Karen's house with sandwiches and some great salads that my mom and Karen made. I am putting the recipes here for everyone who asked for them. Josie brought a funny Ellen Degeneres DVD for us to watch. It was sooo funny. We enjoyed visiting and laughing. We went to a few stores then went out for dinner. I love my family! They are

all so awesome. Thanks everyone for coming and making it so much fun.

Karen's Green Salad

Spinach

Romaine lettuce

Thin sliced Red onion (to taste)

Sugared almonds (put about 1/3 cup sugar in a skillet and add almonds.  Heat until sugar melts and coats the almonds.  Turn off heat and allow almonds to cool.  break into pieces.)

Dressing:

½ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup sugar

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds

Pinch of dry mustard

Blend in blender or whisk together. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss just before serving.

Bow Tie Pasta Salad
Cooked Bow tie pasta
Broccoli pieces
Crumbled bacon
Sunflower seeds
Minced red onion
Sliced fresh mushrooms
(I think you could add grilled chicken pieces or rotisserie chicken pieces to this for a hearty salad)

Dressing:

1 cup mayo

½ cup sugar

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar or rice vinegar

Basketball

Jarom had his last basketball game recently.  He is not sure he wants to play next year.  He is pretty tall for his age, but needs a basketball camp to get the skills and confidence he needs to play well.  He has potential if he will give it a try.  How do you motivate kids?

Coconut Shrimp

I love coconut shrimp. I don't make this very often because I am not fond of deep frying, and because of my anxiety in going to the store to buy a can of beer. I have used Oduls nonalcoholic beer before. It worked okay. We like to dip these in a variety of sauces. This time I used honey and Dijon mustard mixed together with a little fresh squeezed orange juice. We also had raspberry jam with a little almond extract in it. I liked to dip mine in pina colada yogurt mixed with some coconut and pineapple tidbits. In the past I have used orange marmalade with mustard.

Recipe
1 egg                      ¼ cup flour
½ cup flour            2 cups flaked coconut
2/3 cup beer            24 shrimp (Use the jumbo shrimp or the grill ready shrimp)
1-1/2 tsp baking powder    3 cups oil for frying

In a medium bowl combine egg, ½ cup flour, beer and baking powder.
Place ¼ cup flour and coconut in two separate bowls.
Hold shrimp by tail and dredge in flour, shaking off the excess flour. Dip in egg/beer batter; allow excess to drip off. Roll shrimp in coconut, and place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oil to 350 degrees in a deep fryer.
Fry shrimp in batches. Cook, turning once, for 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. Using tongs, remove shrimp to paper towels to drain. Serve warm with dipping sauces.