Easter Prep! Art Projects, Baskets, Cupcakes, and Food

At daycare on Friday, the boys made these adorable Easter projects. She used a picture of them, a bunch of cotton balls, and turned them into Easter bunnies! How cute!! She does so many crafts with them, it's so fun to see the pictures while I'm at work.

Conor -

Caden -

Then we met the actual Easter Bunny at the Burlington Mall. Instead of sitting on his lap, he came over and greeted us and we gave him a few high fives. We were shy at first, but warmed up towards the end. :)

We went grocery shopping to pick up a few things for Easter on Sunday. I am in charge of some delmonico potatoes, green beans, and cupcakes. I also grabbed some things to make dinner last night - since it was Good Friday. I picked up some salmon and shrimp - and made dinner for me, Jim, Jordan, and Chelsea. I unfortunately didn't take any pics while making it - but I sauteed some EVOO, diced red onion, red bell pepper, orange bell pepper, scallions, and let it simmer for a while til everything softened. Then I added a diced cortland apple. While that cooked, I boiled some Israeli couscous and added that to the veggies. I added some more EVOO and let it sit while I cooked the salmon and shrimp. I just added simple salt and pepper and crushed red pepper as a "marinade" on those and let them cook in the pan (covered). I plated each dish and garnished with a sprig of basil and a squeeze of lemon. It was delicious and fresh.

The photo of my potatoes is NOT pretty lol. Mainly because I got real lazy halfway through peeling them and then threw them whole in a pot of water. They were real small potatoes, about the size of a half dollar - so my hand felt like it was going to fall off as I was peeling and dicing.

Ingredients:

Potatoes, 8 or 9

1 pckg grated cheddar cheese1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp flour1/4 stick butter1 c. milk1 small onion
Breadcrumbs, optional

I (mostly) peeled the potatoes, boiled them in water with some onion and salt. Then I set them aside to cool. While those were cooking, I made the "sauce". I melted the butter and then added the flour to make a gooey sauce. I then slowly added the milk and the cheddar cheese. I let that simmer and melt together. I then poured the potatoes in a Pyrex baking dish (9 x 13) and poured the sauce over it. Then topped it with some breadcrumbs.

I popped it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes.

All done! See how ugly they are?? Hopefully they taste better than they look!

As for the cupcakes for tomorrow....I used a yellow cake mix and then poured it into a muffin dish. I then cut up 6 peanut butter eggs and placed the halves in the 12 muffin cups.

Here are the cupcakes and potatoes baking away!

Complete! (minus the frosting of course)

I frosted them, cut up some Dove dark chocolate pieces to make the "nests" and added some jelly beans as eggs! So these are my little egg nest cupcakes for all the kiddos tomorrow.

Instead of making Easter baskets for the boys, we got them these wheelbarrows and filled them up with goodies. They are going to LOVE the bubbles tomorrow. Thank goodness for a bright sunny day. I wish it was going to be a little warmer - but hey, can't complain.

Everyone have a "Hoppy" Easter!! 

xo,

Shaz