Thursday, March 31, 2016

Carrots in my Garden - Chocolate Covered Strawberry "Carrots"


One new addition to our Easter Feast
this year was 
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Carrots,
fresh from the "dirt" in the garden.

Although we used these for Easter Dinner,
they would be great for a spring or a garden party!
Everyone loves chocolate covered strawberries,
and these were even more intriguing than normal.


These were so easy and fun to make.
I just melted half white chocolate discs and half
orange chocolate discs (although you could use
white and add orange gel food coloring), then
dipped them and topped them with a drizzle
of additional chocolate in a piping bag.
After they cooled, I placed them in my
adorable purple and green polka dotted
egg holder filled with crushed Oreo dirt
 (purchased years ago from my favorite - 
Home Goods). 

Chocolate Covered Strawberry "Carrots"

1 1/2 C. orange candy coating discs,
or half white and half orange for a softer orange
1 quart fresh strawberries, wiped clean with a damp
paper towel
1/2 pkg. Oreos, crushed finely

Melt the candy coating in a microwave safe bowl
for 30 seconds, then stir, even if they don't look
like they need it.  Melt again for 30 seconds, and
stir.  Stop when there are a few lumps left, and let
the heat of the candy in the bowl melt the small lumps.

Holding the strawberries by the tops, dip all around
the strawberry.  Shake off excess, or lightly scrape
the excess on the bottom on the side of the bowl.

Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment
paper.  Do the above with all of the strawberries,
then put a small amount of the remaining coating
in a piping bag.  Heat for a few seconds and stir if
needed.  Cut the tip off, or use a number 2 tip and
pipe a few lines on each one.  Pop in fridge for
a few minutes to harden and set the candy coating.

Place the crushed Oreo crumbs in your desired 
serving dish (an empty egg carton could be cute),
then place the strawberries in, digging them in a
little, like they are peeking out of the garden dirt.
Sprinkle a little dirt on some.

Make and eat the same day for the best results.



Chocolate Covered Strawberries are always one of the
favorites with the little ones, and this year the strawberries
have been so sweet and juicy.




This is how they appeared on the Easter Table -
nestled in purple grass.  I think they will be a regular
for spring and Easter.  

Of course, the kids wanted to know if it was real dirt!

I will be posting with

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Easter Dinner in the Great Hall


Easter is one of my favorite holidays of the year.
I remember as a little girl always getting an Easter bonnet,
new shoes, a new dress, a new purse and gloves!  I really
liked the bonnet, gloves and purse.


Here I am in my yellow Easter bonnet, sitting 
on my dad's lap.  (1958) 
We even have Easter coats on!



So Easter dinner with the family is special,
and since we keep growing, we decided to
have it in the living room, so we could all
sit at one table.  We have had this table set up for
several events since the beginning of February.

When I told the kids to take it down, there were
moans and groans, and I was asked to keep it up for
Mother's Day.


We decided we should just change the living room
to the
GREAT HALL
(like in Harry Potter)
for feasts and family dinners!  I guess we could
move the living room furniture into the formal
dining room!  Haha!!  We will see!


A black and white striped tablecloth was paired
with a sparkling pink runner, and that was topped
with square, embossed white plates.



I brought out the sterling that I had
purchased from my Aunt Ionia's Estate.
I thought it was Whiting's Lily (the spoon on the
right), as that was the pattern of the berry spoon
I had inherited from my parents' estate, but when
I ordered and received some Lily pieces to
replace missing pieces, I realized I didn't have
the right pattern.  After a little research I found
that it was Wallace's Violet pattern instead.  There
are two editions of Violet, so I ended up with a mix
of all three patterns, but I think they go beautifully
together and I have enough for everyone.



I had fun with some tags that I found
on
They were used to decorate the table


and each place setting.


My gorgeous cookies with edible images
from Fancy Flours were part of the decor
for each place setting.


Easter goodies adorned the table.



A touch of natural grass



and cut stems added a little greenery.





More Easter goodies were at the other
end of the table.



I just loved the black and white stripe
with the soft pink.  It created a fun, new look
for the table.  





It is fun to take photos from the balcony upstairs.
This one was taken before the cookies were
placed on the plates.


I hope you had a wonderful Easter too.

If we decide to turn the living room into
the Great Hall, I will let you know!  Seems
like everyone loves it this way!!!

May your lives be filled with family memories.

I will be posting with

Saturday, March 26, 2016

Easter Cookie Fun



We had a day of Easter Cookie making fun!
We just love to play together in the kitchen
and cookie making is the perfect thing to do.

I have been wanting to try Fancy Flours edible
images for decorating cookies, and we finally
got around to doing it.



I ordered these vintage images,


and these innocent bunny ones.  They create
cookies that are works of art.

They really are fun and easy to do and 
Fancy Flours sends them with instructions.
I combined their instructions with some things
I learned at Cookie Con and had great success.


Make your cookies using your favorite recipe.  
After they cool frost them with Royal Icing.


Here is the trick that I learned at Cookie Con - 
rather than waiting for them to dry overnight,
dry them for 20-30 minutes in a food dryer, then
the frosting is hard enough to work with. 

There is no way that I could wait overnight!!



Cut the edible papers out to fit.  Have them slightly smaller
than your frosting surface as the papers don't really bend
down the curved edge of the finished frosting.  (I made
that mistake!)

Brush them with light corn syrup, being sure not to get
any on the front surface of the image as that will smear
the image.


Place on the front side of the cookie, smoothing down and 
then turn over for ten minutes to keep the image smooth as
it dries.  Fancy Flours gave this instruction, and it really
helps the edges not curl.



Decorate the cookies as desired.  I added pastel
Disco Dust to the edges.


I had also watched a video made by
Arty McGoo, whom I met at Cookie Con 
on hand painting cookies with food coloring
 with her swirl method,
 so my daughter Jessica
and I tried our hand at that and loved it.  Even her
three year old daughter Jacquelyn got into the fun.


The cookies will be part of our Easter Dinner.

Let us all rejoice in the joy
of Easter, as we celebrate
the most important event in human
history - the Resurrection of the Savior of Mankind!

What joy and hope that brings!


Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Pink and Sparkling Easter Decor


Enjoy my kitchen counter scape!
No words - just eye candy.
























This buffet setting was used for a brunch
the day after the wedding of my niece.

Click here for directions on the French Script eggs
that I made last year.

I hope your Easter is filled with love,
family and thoughts of the
Resurrection of the Savior.

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