Easter Traditions Through Instagram

Easter is just around the corner and I was lucky to have Good Friday off of work. 

I probably should have used the day to do laundry, put away my laundry, clean my floors or even put away the boxes of Christmas decorations that are sitting in my dining room!

Instead I spent the day with my family doing some of my favorite Easter traditions. 

While at Blissdom, Hershey's asked us to share our favorite Easter traditions, tips or tricks on our blogs as part of their virtual Bunny Trail. I will admit right now that there might be some not-so-virtual Hershey's Easter candy in the house right now...Yummy!

There have been some great posts shared on Hershey's Bunny Trail and a couple of my pals from over at The Real Farmwives of America and Friends are even featured in a video on Hershey's website - www.CelebrateWithHersheys.com. Be sure to check it all out.

As I said before, it was a day full of activity. It started at my parents' house with my mom and me in the kitchen preparing for my FAVORITE Easter tradition. More on that later...

Another Easter tradition that I enjoy but rarely do now that I am an adult is coloring Easter eggs!

My two oldest nephews had early dismissal from school on Friday so I picked them up and treated them to ice cream before heading to the farm to color eggs.

On our way home, we stopped by the local greenhouse and the boys picked out some Easter flowers from their mom (my older sister) and grandma (my mom).


It was great to see how seriously they took their task and I think they chose beautifully.

My two younger sisters met us at the farm with the rest of the nephews and nieces and we got down to business. The first half dozen eggs were carefully lowered into coffee mugs filled with colored water. We got a bit more creative with the second half dozen.

I loved to dip the eggs in multiple coffee cups as a kid and I introduced my nephews to this tradition and we got some very cool colored eggs out of it!

After we dyed the eggs, I sent the nephews outside with a couple baskets of plastic eggs to "practice" hunting them in preparation for a Saturday Easter Egg Hunt at church and Sunday's main event.

While they were outside, we got down to business on my FAVORITE Easter tradition - my Grandma's Butterscotch Rolls. Every Holy Saturday during my childhood (and into my adult life), my grandma would make these gooey, cinnamon rolls and we would eat them warm out of the oven the evening before Easter Sunday.

My mom has taken up the tradition in recent years and I made them for the first time last year. So we decided to make them together this year, and they were WONDERFUL.

Now, I know what you are thinking...if you always have them on Holy Saturday, why were you eating them on Good Friday? Good question!


The family is heading to an Indiana Pacers game tonight because two of our favorite former Purdue University basketball players are on the opposing team and we hope to see them play in the NBA. So we decided to bump up the tradition a day instead of not doing it this year.


I think Grandma would approve!

Holiday Baking, Take 3: White Chocolate Snack Mix

One of my all-time favorite holiday treats to make AND to eat is my version of a white chocolate-covered mix. I just love a sweet and salty treat (as you can probably tell by the other items I've been featuring lately).

I found this recipe in a great cookbook put out by our local Extension Homemaker's Club several years ago. It features favorite recipes from local women and 4-H members and there is a great variety of easy dishes. A good 4-H recipe is golden around here and my family (with four girls) had our "fair" share. Someday I may share some of the Grand Champion recipes from my youth!

Now, back to the regularly scheduled post...

I made this mix as the third component of my offering to the Great Cookie Exchange of 2010. Remember how I told you that I got the recipe from that great cookbook? Well, said cookbook is a binder that allows you to take pages in and out. The page with this recipe was "out" so I made the mix from memory and Baby Sister and I did some improvising! I've since found the page so I'll share the recipe as written and let you know where I substitute.

Darn, got some white chocolate crumbs on my keyboard...friends, don't snack on this mix and blog at the same time. It only leads to trouble.

First, find the BIGGEST mixing bowl you have. I made this mix at my mom's and she has the BEST mixing bowls. I'm not sure where she keeps finding them (I think auctions) but they just keep getting bigger and prettier. This mix usually feels up my large mixing bowl...see the photo below, this bowl is HUGE.

Mix together 6 c. of Cripix cereal (I used Golden Grahams. Feel free to experiment), 3 c. of Cheerios (I used the multi-grain ones this time. It was either those or the chocolate ones!), 2 c. stick pretzels, 2 c. peanuts (I use dry roasted.), and 1 lb. M&Ms candies (I've used milk chocolate, peanut, mint, dark chocolate M&Ms, go with what feels right. I usually just use a little over a cup - I can't believe I'm saying this but the M&Ms are my least fav ingredient in this.).

Set that aside and melt 1 tray almond bark. I do this in the microwave and it's easy!

Pour the melted chocolate over the dry ingredients and stir. If your bowl is small, you can split the mix and chocolate into two bowls. Stir to coat.

Spread the mix on foil or wax paper to set. You may find some clumps of chocolate, just mix it around right there on the paper.

Be sure to sample it as it dries...the M&Ms are kind of melty (this is the only time I really like the M&Ms in this mix)...delicious. Once it's dry, break it up in manageable pieces and enjoy.

That concludes the look into my contributions to the cookie exchange. While at Mom's making my candy, my sister was baking her molasses cookies. We had a bounty of goodies on mom's table...

Stay tuned for a rundown of all the cookies I received in the exchange, plus a couple of recipes and stories attached to the treats!

White Chocolate-Coated Mix
6 c. Crispix cereal (or Golden Grahams)
3 c. Cheerios
2 c. stick pretzels
2 c. peanuts
1 lb. M&Ms candies
1 tray almond bark

Mix cereal, M&Ms, pretzels and nuts together. Melt the almond bark and pour over dry mix. Stir to coat. Spread on foil or wax paper to set.

Check out Holiday Baking, Take 1: Simple Pretzel Kiss Candies and Holiday Baking, Take 2: Sweet & Saltines Candy.

Linking up to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Balancing Beauty & Bedlam!

Holiday Baking, Take 1: Simple Pretzel Kiss Candies

One of my favorite activities around Christmas is baking Christmas cookies either by myself, with my mom or with my mom, sisters and nephews.

Growing up my mom made dozens and dozens of cookies in the weeks leading up to Christmas day. Our freezers - yes, I said freezers - were full of delicious treats all through December. My parents have two large freezers mainly to store the meat - pork and beef - that they used to get several times a year. Since Dad quit raising hogs several years ago, there's no more pork (sad face) so there's more room for cookies!

She would use these cookies as gifts for our teachers, for my dad's landlords, for our family and friends, and for dessert at holiday parties.

Now some of the cookies have endured...continually being made year after year, such as the Spritz cookies, Dainty Logs and Magic Bars. Some have been phased out as trends come and go. The butter cookies colored green and rolled out to look like wreaths with a cherry at the top (to look like the bow) haven't been made for years.

I'll be highlighting some of my favorite cookies as we start to make them this year.

However, I started with a newer addition to the Christmas cookie line-up that isn't a cookie at all, but a cute little candy-like treat. I have no clue what they are called, I certainly didn't come up with the idea myself, so I'm calling them Simple Pretzel Kiss Candies.

You need pretzels, Hershey's Kisses and M&Ms. That's it!

Preheat your oven to 250 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. You don't have to do this but I am lazy so I don't worry about chocolate sticking to the pan this way.

Lay out several rows of pretzels. You can use the mini twist or the waffle shaped pretzels. (Sorry for quality of the photos. All I had was my Blackberry.)

Unwrap some Hershey's Kisses and set them on top of the pretzels. I normally use the milk chocolate Kisses and M&Ms, but I thought I'd go crazy and try the dark chocolate Mint Truffle Kisses and mint M&Ms this time.

Put them in the oven for at least 3 minutes. Test if they are ready by pushing an M&M in the middle of one of the Kisses. If it doesn't go straight down as the Kiss collapses into itself, it's not ready. There's really no "baking time" for these, you just have to watch them.

Unfortunately, I forgot that dark chocolate melts differently than milk chocolate (a little more liquidy) and that the truffle Kisses have two layers so the middle part of the didn't melt at the same rate as the outside layer!

So I decided to NOT use the M&Ms with these and they turned out nicely without the extra touch.

Here's what the milk chocolate Kiss and M&M ones look like. Yummy!

These take a LONG time to harden back up so don't try to package them up too quickly!

The sweet and salty combination make these kind of addictive. If you want a different twist, substitute mini Rolos and pecans and you have a bite-sized turtle treat.

Baby Sister is hosting a Cookie Exchange this weekend and I decided to make several types of "candy" as my contribution and this was the first batch. I'm going to attempt a candy featuring Saltines - yes, the cracker - that was talked about at a recent meeting I attended, as well as some crockpot candy. I may whip up a batch of my favorite white chocolate covered snack mix if I have time.

Regardless of what I make, I have to have 10 dozen of SOMETHING by Sunday.

So, stay tuned!