An Easter Mystery at 3 in the Morning!

Easter morning, 3 am we were awakened by our girls who were checking to see if the Easter Bunny had brought them any goodies. The girls had checked out their Easter baskets and had were helping themselves to bowls of cereal. . . at 3 am! They also woke up their brothers to share the good news. . . at 3 am! After being sent back to bed on a sugar high (from all the Easter candy they ate) they went back to sleep until about 7 am. Does anyone else's kids get up this early, is or is just ours? (This wasn't the first time!)

The mystery came later when we discovered that the eggs full of candy that the Easter Bunny had so carefully placed in our 4 kids Easter baskets had mysteriously disappeared. We searched the house for the missing jelly beans and chocolate eggs and grilled the kids, waiting for one of them to crack under pressure. I'm suspicious that they may have ended up in our 4-year-old Emma's little tummy, although I can't prove it.

Despite the mystery of the missing Easter candy going unsolved, we had a wonderful Easter visiting North Point Church in Springfield and meeting my family for lunch at Ryan's Steakhouse. The weather was gorgeous. All in all it was a truly blessed Easter!

Fish Tacos With Mango Salsa Recipe-Memories Of The Cheesecake Factory

Last week while my husband and I were visiting Florida, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory, one of my favorite restaurants. We ordered the fish tacos because we wanted to try something new. I love seafood, but wasn't sure I would like them in a taco. However, they were awesome with the fresh salsa and guacumole. I'm hoping to try this recipe soon in an effort to recreate the wonderful fish tacos from The Cheesecake Factory.

Fish Tacos with Mango Salsa

Preparation Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Servings: 6

Ingredients:
1 medium mango, peeled, seeded and finely chopped
1 small tomato, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup seeded and chopped cucumber
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 tablespoons sliced green onions
1 tablespoon frozen orange juice concentrate, thawed
3/4 pound fresh or frozen swordfish steak or tuna steak, cut 1-inch thick
2 teaspoons jerk seasoning
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
6 (8-inch) flour tortillas, warmed
1 1/2 cups fresh baby spinach or torn romaine lettuce
1 1/2 cups Ready-To-Eat Cereal Smart Start® Healthy Heart

Directions
1. In medium bowl toss together mango, tomato, cucumber, jalapeno pepper, green onions and orange juice concentrate. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.
2. Thaw fish, if frozen. Remove any skin from fish. Crosswise cut fish into 1/4-inch-thick slices.
3. In large nonstick skillet cook and stir fish strips and jerk seasoning in oil over medium-high heat about 2 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork. Remove from skillet.
4. Top tortillas with spinach, fish pieces, KELLOGG'S SMART START HEALTHY HEART cereal and mango mixture. Roll-up. Serve immediately.

Honey-Glazed Bunny Rolls-Great For Easter

Honey-Glazed Bunny Rolls
Recipe courtesy of Gourmet Magazine

1 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast, or 2 1/2 teaspoons
1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons and at room temperature
2 large egg yolks
4 cups bread flour
2 teaspoons salt

For glaze:
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 stick unsalted butter
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
12 dried currants, halved

In a small saucepan heat milk with honey, stirring, over low heat just until lukewarm and remove pan from heat. Stir in yeast and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add softened butter and yolks, whisking until combined well. Transfer milk mixture to bowl of a standing electric mixer (or to a large bowl if kneading by hand). Add flour and salt gradually to milk mixture, stirring until incorporated. With dough hook knead dough until smooth, about 2 minutes. (By hand, knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth, about 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled large bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with plastic and allow to rise in a warm place, until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Make glaze: In a small saucepan heat glaze ingredients, except currants, over low flame, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted. Remove from pan and keep warm and covered.
Grease two baking sheets. Punch down dough and divide into 12 equal pieces. Form each piece into and egg shape and transfer pieces to prepared baking sheet. Form a bunny tail on each roll by holding scissors, points down, perpendicular to baking sheet, and making a 1/2-inch long snip at base of wide end. Form 2 bunny ears by making a 2-inch long snip on each side, starting near wide end and cutting toward narrow end. Form eyes on each piece by making 2 holes in narrow end with a wooden toothpick and pressing a currant half firmly into each hole with pick. Brush half of warm glaze on rolls and let rise, covered loosely with plastic wrap in a warm place for about 45 minutes (or until doubled in bulk).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Heat remaining glaze and brush rolls. Bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching positions half way through. Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown, and transfer to racks to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.

My Hero

While taking my 9-year-old son Cooper to a routine dental check-up today, I was informed that he needed to have 2 baby teeth extracted ASAP. Being the compliant mom that I try to be, I concurred and my very brave son now has 2 black holes in his mouth where his teeth were this morning. It was fairly traumatic (for both of us!), but it's over now and he is recovering nicely. I think a trip to the movies (and a little Advil) tonight will help get his mind off the pain. What can I say, but he's one tough dude and my hero for the day!

Easy Chicken And Stuffing Recipe For The Crockpot

I love my crockpot! It's been with me for several years now and has helped simplify my life and make me more efficient. I use it to make everything from soups and chili to Italian meatballs and roast beef. I love being able to just throw a couple of ingredients in and leave it to do it's magic while I get along with my day.

This morning I pulled out a recipe that I've made several times that the entire family loves. It's surprisingly healthy, yet at the same time hearty. I usually serve the dish with a vegetable side and tonight I'm baking a mocha chocolate cake for dessert.

Easy Chicken and Stuffing for the Crockpot

3 large or 6 small boneless chicken breasts

2 boxes of stuffing mix (sometimes I buy the chicken flavor, but today it's cornbread)

2 cans cream of mushroom soup (or any other cream soup such as celery or chicken)

1 cup chicken broth

Spray the inside of the crockpot with Pam cooking spray. Then place the chicken in the bottom. Next, in a large bowl, mix the stuffing mixes, cream soups and chicken broth. Simply spread the stuffing mixture over the chicken and cook for about 6-8 hours on low.

This makes enough to feed an army, and if you're like us, that's a good thing, but you can always cut the recipe in half if you're cooking for fewer. As is, the recipes makes 10-12 generous servings.

My Baking Experiment: Peach Cake Recipe

Okay, I'll admit it. . . I love to create recipes, throwing ingredients into a bowl, adding a touch of this and a hint of that. Sometimes, I'll admit, my creations come up a little short, but this time it was a success! David, the kids and I all loved it. Here's the recipe, if you're interested.

Peach Cake

Ingredients:
Cake:
1 box white cake mix
1 regular sized can of peaches, sliced into small pieces
1/3-1/2 cup orange juice

Frosting:
1 tub of fat free Cool Whip
1 T. peach jello mix (I used regular, but sugar-free might work too.)
1 small can mandarin oranges, mostly drained

In a large bowl mix the cake mix with the can of peaches (partially drained) and the orange juice. Put batter into a 13X11" pan and bake according to directions on the back of the cake mix box.
Let the cake cool completely. Meanwhile you can prepare the "frosting". Fold the peach jello mix into the Cool Whip. Then fold in the mandarin oranges. Spread the frosting on the cake and enjoy! The oranges and peaches really taste delicious together.

Easy Tator Tot Casserole The Kids Love

I found this recipe in my Four Ingredient Cookbook my mom bought me a few years ago. I believe in simplicity, and when you're short on time using only 4 ingredients really helps speed things along. The recipe actually called for ground beef, but I substituted fat-free hot dogs because all the beef was frozen.

Ingredients:
1 large bag of frozen tator tots
1 can cream of chicken (or celery, or mushroom) soup
1 cup shredded cheese (your choice)
1 package hot dogs, cut up OR lean ground beef, browned

Spray an 11X13" pan with cooking spray and line the bottom of the pan with the hot dog pieces. (If you have very small children, be sure to cut the hotdogs up into very little pieces.) Next, pour the soup over the top of the meat. Then sprinkle the shredded cheese and finally, top with the tator tots. Bake covered at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, then uncovered for 15 minutes. I served this with veggies and ketchup and the kids (and the parents) loved it!