Baked Bacon and Egg Cups

For many years we've been spending Christmas mornings at my dad's house. Since he knows that our visits to other family members during the day usually involve more than one big Christmas dinner, he's made it a tradition to make a small but special breakfast. These baked eggs are a Christmas breakfast staple and are super simple and quick to make. Despite how easy these are, there is something about the way they are served that makes the meal feel a little more special and elegant.

The traditional way to make them is by cracking in a whole egg as is, but since my kids only eat their eggs scrambled I like to make a few with scrambled eggs as well. I'm sure putting in additions to the scrambled eggs like meats, cheeses, and veggies would  work well too if you wanted to go that route. I do think the whole egg looks prettier though. They are the perfect addition to any Christmas breakfast or brunch!

Baked Eggs

Bacon Strips
Eggs
Salt and Pepper

Partially cook bacon strips until they are pretty much cooked, but still flexible and not crispy.
Line muffin tins with the bacon strips.
Crack an egg into each lined tin. Salt and pepper to taste.
Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

All Saints Day Costumes 2017

Though we just started doing it last year, I have absolutely loved putting together All Saints Day costumes to help our family celebrate! This year the costumes were extremely simple to put together, but came out wonderfully. It helped that we happened to already have everything we needed around the house! (To see last year's costumes, click here.)

This year Rosemary dressed up as Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Sam once again went as St. Juan Diego, his favorite. For Our Lady of Guadalupe, we just used a pink dress and black ribbon, and for the veil we actually used a dress she happened to have that was blue with gold stars! I just bobby pinned the skirt part to her hair, and tucked in the top and sleeves. Just look at this face! She was so thrilled to dress up as Mary - maybe even more excited than she was about dressing up as Glinda from The Wizard of Oz on Halloween.

For St. Juan Diego Sam rewore the costume we made last year (an oversized shirt with fake roses and a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe hot glued to it), but we had a little fun updating it. We did a photo shoot of Rosemary in her Our Lady of Guadalupe costume, printed that picture, and then glued it to the tilma in place of the old picture. It was a big hit at the All Saints Day mass.

As for the baby, I didn't really come up with a costume for her this year. A friend said she was going as baby Jesus fleeing to Egypt since she was fussy and my husband had to take her to cry room. Works for me!

Pink Princess Party

What is it about little girls that makes them love pink and princesses so much? Since before she was even one year old my little princess would make a point out of wearing the pretty dress instead of the t-shirt and jeans. Now three years old, she was old enough to make her own request for the theme of her birthday party which resulted in an explosion of pink, pink, and more pink! Funnily enough, when my youngest sister turned three, she asked for an all pink birthday too, so we had some inspiration and ideas from all those years ago.

Decorations and Cake

Pink tablecloths, pink plates, pink balloons, you get the picture! We hung a pink plastic table cloth up in a doorway, and the sunlight shining through it from the window even bathed the room in a pink glow.

The centerpiece for all this was a pink princess cake. Strawberry flavor of course, so it was even pink on the inside. I baked the cake in a Wilton wonder mold pan, the same one my mom used to make doll cakes for us when I was little! The doll pick that came with the pan was a little worse for wear after all these years, so I used a full sized doll in the cake. This meant that I had to add an 8 inch round cake to bottom of the wonder mold pan to make the doll fit. I just wrapped the legs in plastic wrap, and carved out a hole in the middle of the cake to help her fit in better.

This was my first time ever piping ruffles, and I was pleased to find that the technique is quite simple, though you do need a large amount of frosting when covering a whole cake with it - as you can see I didn't quite make it to the top of the skirt with the pink ruffles. To create ruffles you use a petal tip. Hold the wide side against the surface of cake and move up and down as you apply pressure to the piping bag and move around the cake. If you have a lazy susan that spins to put the cake on while decorating, I would recommend it. I'm saying this since I do not have one and I would've liked to! All in all, I think it turned out well, and I now have another decorating trick up my sleeve. I'm proud of myself for figuring out how to use something besides a star tip and a round tip!

Menu 

This is the part that took the most inspiration from my little sister, though we did add in a few new menu items.

Pink Rice - Put pink or red food coloring in the water and the rice turns bright cotton candy pink!

Pink Mac 'n Cheese - We just got a boxed white cheddar mac 'n cheese and added pink food coloring.

Shrimp - You can cook your own, but we just got a shrimp cocktail platter from the grocery store. Ham would be another good protein that's pink.

Pink Fruit Wands - I did a post about these a while back for the 4th of July. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes from slices of watermelon for the top of the skewers. Under that we used strawberries and grapes.

Pink Lemonade

Activities

We mostly just let the kids run around and play with each other unstructured, but we did have a little crown decorating craft that was a big hit with the kids and adults alike!

Happy Birthday Princess Rosemary! Thanks for all the joy you bring to our lives!

What's So Wrong With This Provincial Life?

Okay 90s girls, I know that you loved Beauty and the Beast and would pretend to be Belle belting out, "There must be more than this provincial life!" I know I did. It's a theme we see often in the modern Disney movie - a female protagonist wishing for more than what her current life is offering. Belle wants adventure and excitement, Mulan wants to be more than a housewife, Moana wants to explore the sea, and Ariel wants to be a different species all together. While I really enjoy these movies and I understand that great stories almost always have a call to adventure for the hero, (check out this video about the hero's journey, also known as the monomyth), lately I've been wondering, "Hey, what's so wrong with this provincial life?" 

First let's look at the definition of provincial. Dictionary.com says that provincial is an adjective meaning having or showing the manners, viewpoints, etc., considered characteristic of unsophisticated inhabitants of a province. Something provincial could be a rustic living space, or a narrow minded person. Ouch. For a movie that seems to be teaching a message about not judging others without getting to know them, Belle is being pretty judgy in her opening song. For the most part the inhabitants of this little town seem to be perfectly nice people living perfectly nice lives, working hard to provide for their families and offer goods and services to the other townspeople. Sure Belle, you may not be able to discuss literature with them, but does that make you better than them, somehow above living a simple life with your family in a quiet town? I know Gaston thinks you're better than everyone else, but he's the villain so...

Disney princesses of the past like Snow White and Cinderella are often viewed as not being as good of role models for girls as the more modern princesses because of their passivity. The story happens to them rather than them taking the initiative to kick butt and take names. I find this comparison troubling. Saying that Snow White is a worse role model than Mulan is just replacing one stereotype of what a girl should be like and what they should want with another. If a girl wants to wear blue t-shirts, play with trucks, and take karate that's great! More power to her. By all means, go for it. But if a girl wants to wear pink dresses, play with dolls, and take ballet, that's great too. Heck, a girl can even do both! We need to stop thinking of  traditional expressions of femininity as inferior - but that could be another post altogether.

I think Snow White and Cinderella actually have some pretty admirable traits. In both stories they are treated horribly, forced to wear rags and basically used as slave labor. They have hope that things will get better and certainly won't pass up any opportunities that come along; but also accept that this is the situation they are in right now and deal with it as best they can - facing the world with a positive attitude and treating others, including those who treat them poorly, with patience, kindness, and selflessness. To some this may seem provincial, but I think that this attitude is much more sophisticated than whining about your perfectly nice life, being aggressively rude to your parents and engaging in dubious dealings with witches just to get what you want - I'm looking at you Merida and Ariel!

Let's take a look at the most recent Disney princess movie, Moana, (I know her princess status is not official yet!). In the song "Where You Are" Moana keeps being drawn to the sea and her father explains how the island provides them with everything they need and that she can find happiness where she is. Hey Moana, I get it. I'm drawn to the water too. Looking out on the horizon of Lake Michigan is one my favorite things in the world, but your dad's song is actually incredibly wise! There is value in realizing that you have everything you need and being thankful for it. If you are always trying to find happiness outside of yourself and where you are, it is going to be very difficult to be happy. I like how even though it is difficult at times, Moana does her best to obey her parents and find happiness on the island, only setting out to sea when it becomes necessary to save her people and restore their history. She doesn't go just because it's what she wants. She goes when she realizes there is a purpose outside of herself for her desire.

 The truth is, we are all called to something more. But it's not a magical castle, becoming a war hero, or you know, legs. We are all called to union with God in heaven - we are all called to be saints. The way we get there will vary. Some of us may be called to set off on a grand, exotic adventure, and some of us may be called to love our spouses and raise our kids in a quiet town, and that's okay. Through the saints the Church gives us examples of warriors, scholars, spouses, parents, religious, royalty and peasants in grand variety who were all living out holy lives striving to be the best version of themselves. Remember that. Not the best version of someone else, but themselves. While St. Therese of Lisieux desired to be a missionary traveling the world, it was not what God had planned for her, and the impact she's had on the world by doing small things with great love inside the convent walls is awe inspiring.

Sometimes it's easy to break into song about how you wish your life was different when you feel more like that lady who needed eggs than the effortlessly beautiful Belle. But trust me, whatever else you do in your life, marriage and family is one of the greatest adventures there is. While my husband staying home to watch the kids while I work at an online school is certainly unconventional, our focus on faith and family and a desire to stay close to home may seem provincial to outside eyes.  Sometimes on a bad day I may wish for something different or more, but this is where our family is at right now and we are doing our best. Sure, camping in the next county may be our current idea of a big vacation and no one may ever make a movie of my life, but I find happiness in a loving husband and children, being close to my family, and the beauty of my faith. And if that makes me provincial, so be it.

This post is linked up at the #WorthRevist link up at reconciledtoyou.com/blog. Check it out!
 

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Yesterday was the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in other words, Happy Birthday Mary!

A little family magazine we picked up at church had a few suggestions to celebrate including lighting a prayer candle, bringing flowers to an altar, and saying the rosary. We have recently started up praying a decade of the rosary a day using the Holy Heroes rosary CDs. It just so happened the mystery we were on yesterday was the Assumption of Mary, so the decade was filled with scripture passages about Mary - it worked out perfectly! I highly recommend the Holy Heroes CDs if you are struggling to say the rosary as a family, or you feel you need help getting started. It's led by children and each Hail Mary is preceded by a short scripture verse that helps you meditate on the mystery for the decade. My oldest, (7 years old), immediately took to it, asking to do entire rosaries instead of just a decade, reminding the rest of the family about prayer time each night, and taking the CD player up to his bedroom to pray on his own before he goes to sleep. He is definitely much more focused than when we would try it on our own before! I enjoy them as an adult as well. They do a great job creating a relaxed, meditative mood. We also really enjoy listening to the Glory Stories CDs about the lives of saints on long car trips.

Of course the last suggestion for Mary's birthday in the magazine was the kid's favorite; bake a cake and sing happy birthday! Using ingredients we had on hand I decided to make one of my absolute favorite cake recipes; a chocolate zucchini cake I found on allrecipes.com. It's the same recipe I used for my daughter's farm themed birthday last year. It is a very easy cake to put together, especially since we have a ton of shredded zucchini on hand in the freezer due to an abundance from the garden. It's probably the only thing I've been able to grow in abundance so far! The original recipe also calls for chopped walnuts, but I leave that part out.

I had my own idea on how to decorate the cake for the feast day, and the kids had another. I started with my design, and then let the kids take over. It was the last day of the first week of school so I didn't use any piping bags or anything, we all just had some fun with sprinkles. As I told the kids, Mary is a mom, so she would love whatever way they wanted to decorate the cake for her! My son also made the keen observation that if Mary is everyone's mother, and she's the queen of heaven, than all of us are princesses and princes! That certainly pleased the almost three year old who is currently very into princesses.

"When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son.' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother.' And from that hour he took her into his home." John 19:26-27

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 cups grated zucchini

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Mix in the eggs and oil. Fold in the zucchini and pour into the prepared pan. 

Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a fork or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting and enjoy!

Kidney Bean Salad

Summer 2017 is coming to a close, and what a summer it has been!  One day after the last day of school we welcomed baby Clara to our family. We had a lot of snuggles, a baptism, a trip to the family farm, and of course the older kid's summer camps and lessons. School and work start up again in a few days, and while it is always sad to bid another summer goodbye, I'm excited for what this new year will bring. As a teacher the new year starts in September, not January!

As one of our last big summer activities, we did a little group camping with a bunch of other Catholic families. Camping with a brand new little one can be challenging, but we knew with all these great friends around us we could handle it. It was an amazing experience. Not only did the kids play outside all day long without ever once seeming to miss t.v. or video games, but we had mass every day in the camp lodge, praise and worship music around the campfire, and overall a great chance for fellowship with other Catholic families doing the best they can to get each other to heaven.

There was quite the large group of us there, so getting everybody fed was a group effort. With everyone pitching in we had plenty to go around! For one of our meals I brought one of my favorite salads my dad used to make a lot when I was little. The official recipe in the family cookbook uses several different kinds of canned beans, but my dad usually stuck to kidney beans, green bell pepper, and onion. For my version I added some fresh green beans, which I think made a great addition. The ingredients are marinated in a simple sweet dressing, which pairs wonderfully with the cool, crisp vegetables. I love the contrast between the soft kidney beans and the crunchy peppers and green beans.

Everyone else loved it too! I had a lot of people tell me how good it was and even ask for the recipe. There weren't any leftovers to take home! It may sound silly, but I think that was one of my favorite parts of trip. As regular readers know, I married a picky eater that comes from a picky eating family and we brought forth picky children who constantly challenge my notions on how to get kids to eat healthy and varied foods. We're working on it and things are slowly getting better, but the only person who would eat this salad in my house would be myself. Coming from a very food-centric family that likes almost everything, this has been one of the great frustrations of my adult life. It felt so good to see so many people truly enjoy a dish that I made;  I knew I had to share it!

Kidney Bean Salad
(amounts for veggies are approximate - I don't really measure for that part. Add as much or as little of your favorite ingredients as you want!)

Ingredients:
2 cans red kidney beans
2 green bell peppers, diced large
1/2 large sweet onion, diced
1 large handful fresh green beans, cut into short pieces

Dressing:
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup vinegar
3/4 cup sugar
salt
pepper

Mix together vegetables and add dressing. Serve chilled. I prefer to serve with a slotted spoon to  help drain any excess dressing. 

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

It's my favorite season here in Michigan, and no, I don't mean summer. (It's too hot!) I'm talking about blueberry season. While I can and do freeze large quantities of locally picked blueberries for

smoothies and baking during the rest of the year, it is only during these few weeks of summer that I get to enjoy the delicious and nutritious treat of fresh blueberries in cereal, on yogurt, and by the handful. Blueberries are one of my favorite foods not only for their flavor, but because of the
nostalgia factor due to all the wonderful memories of my grandpa's blueberry farm.

 In honor of blueberry season I thought I'd share this amazing blueberry muffin recipe. I have shared a blueberry muffin recipe on the blog before, and it is very good, but this one goes the extra mile by including a crumb topping - yum! Both this recipe and the one I have previously shared are in the family cookbook, so I figure they can both be on the blog too. Those who taste these muffins always say they have been named very appropriately.  Of course fresh blueberries you've picked yourself are the ideal mix in to this muffin batter, but feel free to mix it up. I've been known to substitute cranberries or chocolate chips for the blueberries at times, and have even added shredded zucchini to recipe.

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1/3 cup milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Grease and flour a muffin tin or use muffin liners

Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder

Mix the oil, milk, and egg together and add to the flour mixture. Fold in the blueberries.

Fill the muffin cups 1/2 to 2/3 full, (I like to use an ice cream scoop to get just the right amount), and sprinkle with the crumb topping mixture (see below).

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.





Crumb Topping

1/4 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons all purpose flour
2 Tablespoons butter
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter. Sprinkle over each muffin before baking.

Sarah Roses's Dad's Made Up Kind of a Salad Sort of a Thing (plus another side dish)

What a summer it has been! Relaxing and crazy all at the same time thanks to the newest addition to our family, baby Clara. Her older siblings have adjusted incredibly well, showering their little sister with love and being great helpers. We love you Clara!

Last week we celebrated Clara's baptism. It was a wonderful day that brought a lot of our family together. With a one month old baby, it's was important to keep the gathering after the baptism simple with minimal prep. Since it's summer a hot dog cookout was just right! Since it was a special occasion I did opt to get the best hot dogs out there, Koegel viennas, (fellow Michiganders, you know what I'm talking about!). Some family members helped out by bringing fruit and chips and a cake, but I did manage to throw together a couple of my favorite cold summer salads from my handy dandy family cookbook.  Since they are both cold dishes I could make them ahead of time and just pull them out for the party.


The first salad is lovingly named "Sarah Rose's Dad's Made Up Kind of a Salad Sort of Thing." Yes, it's a mouthful, but it's hard to forget! You can always tell which recipes in the family cookbook come from our branch because they always seem to have names like "That Fettuccine with the Stuff," "Stuff in a Pot," and well, "Made Up Kind of a Salad Sort of a Thing." Some may say we need to work on our dish naming skills, but I love it! Sarah Rose's Dad's Made Up Kind of a Salad Sort of a Thing is a spaghetti pasta salad mixed with tomatoes, mushrooms, and olives, among other flavorful add ins. My dad also added some humorous commentary to the recipe concerning different ways you can prepare it, which I will include below.







The second dish doesn't have a humorous story to go with it, but I do remember my dad making it
frequently when I was a kid - Cucumbers in Sour Cream. Cucumbers are one of my favorite vegetables. I'll often eat a whole one just sliced up and sprinkled with salt for a snack. This simple salad preparation mixes things up a little bit and is nice and refreshing on a hot summer day. The cucumbers are marinated in vinegar, salt, and sugar mixture, almost making  kind of a sweet pickle, before being tossed into sour cream.







Sarah Rose's Dad's Made Up Kind of a Salad Sort of Thing

Ingredients:
1/2 pound thin spaghetti -broken into fourths or fifths
2 pints grape tomatoes - cut lengthwise into halves
1/2 to 1/3 diced red onion
1 can (6 oz) small black olives - cut lengthwise in halves
1 package (12 oz) fresh mushrooms - sliced
2 -3 cloves garlic - minced
2 -3 Tablespoons dried sweet basil
salt
pepper
olive oil
some kinda greens (Romaine, kale, chard, etc - Do not use iceberg, it turns soggy too fast)

Directions:
1. Boil spaghetti and drain. While still hot add some salt, pepper, garlic, basil, and olive oil. Mix it up and set it aside in the fridge to cool.
2. In a bowl combine the tomatoes, onion, olives, and mushrooms and season with salt, pepper, garlic, basil, and olive oil.
3. When the spaghetti is cool, combine the spaghetti with the vegetables. Just before you serve it  tear the greens into small pieces and mix them in. Not too much! It's not a lettuce salad - the lettuce pieces are just part of the mix.

(Dad's Commentary): This is very flexible and simple. If you want you can replace half the olive oil with a quarter cup or so of Italian dressing. Or add a couple glugs of balsamic vinegar to the thing, along with the olive oil. If you don't have all the ingredients, that's ok. It's been made with just the spaghetti, tomatoes, plain white onion, garlic, basil, salt, pepper and olive oil and still got rave reviews. If you want to put something else in, go ahead, ain't no big deal. As long as no one starts poking it with a fork and mumbling "had a science experiment look like this once, only it smelled better," you're doin' just fine.  

Cucumbers in Sour Cream

Ingredients:
1/2 cup water
1 cup vinegar
4 Tablespoons sugar
dash of pepper
1 teaspoon salt
4 large cucumbers, thinly sliced
1 pint sour cream

Directions:
1.Combine water, vinegar, sugar salt and pepper. Stir cucumber slices and marinade in the vinegar mixture for 2 -3 hours, and drain.

2. Mix cucumbers with the sour cream. Serve chilled.  

A Teacher Gift That's For the Birds

Happy Last Week of School! My last day with students is Tuesday, and my son has his last 1/2 day on Thursday.  I can't believe he's going to be in 2nd grade! We are ready for a summer of lots of family fun and a new baby!

Of course as we end another school year we have to say thanks to the amazing teachers that worked so hard to help us learn. Sam picked out a little bird feeder for his teacher. Not only does she like birds, but it goes perfectly with the fact that his school does a special nature based program. Strangely enough, with all the cute teacher gift ideas out there on the internet with all their adorable packaging and witty sayings on the gift tags, I couldn't find anything bird themed. So we had to get creative and come up with something ourselves.

Sam said if it was birthday present he would say "Happy Bird-day!" I'm happy to see he's developing an appreciations for corny jokes! However, it was not a birthday present so we had to come up with something else. We eventually decided to use a common bird that shows up at feeders in our area, the black-capped chickadee, and tell his teacher that her class was "Chickadee-lightful!" I just grabbed a free clip art picture of a chickadee from the internet, added the message, and printed it out on card stock. Sam wrote his own personal message on the back. A hole punch and piece of yellow yarn attached the card to the bird feeder. Bonus -  the chickadee matched his school colors!

Easter Feasting

Happy 6th Week of Easter! In true Rose's Supposes fashion, I am just now getting around to posting about the food we enjoyed back on Easter Sunday. Isn't it great how the Easter season lasts for 50 days? That means that even six weeks later, I can still claim that my post is timely!

Previously I have shared some Easter desserts with you, like blueberry lemonies, and the dirt pudding trifle that has become Easter tradition thanks to the requests of my son. This year we move on to the main course with a stunning loaf of bread, some scrumptious veggies, and an impressive lamb roast centerpiece.

Egg Braid 

At heart, I'm really more of a baker than a cook, and this loaf is my pride and joy. It may be simple white bread, but there is something about the braid, the golden shine from the egg wash, and the sprinkle of poppy seeds on top that makes me feel very accomplished when I pull it out of the oven. Even though the lamb is the main course, this is the dish I insist on waiting to cut until all the guests have arrived!

Ingredients
4 to 4/2 cups all purpose flour
2 packages dry yeast
1/2 cup milk, room temperature
1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
3 eggs
1 egg for egg wash
poppy seeds

Directions
In a mixing bowl combine 2 cups of flower with the yeast. Add the milk, water, shortening, sugar, and salt, and mix together.  Add the eggs and mix until combined.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 8 minutes.

Cover the dough and let it rest for 20 minutes. Punch down and knead for an additional 30 seconds.

Divide the dough into 3 equal parts, and let rest for 3 minutes. Roll each piece into a log approximately 15 inches long.  Place the logs side by side and braid from top to bottom, pinching the ends together.

Place on a prepared baking sheet and let rise until doubled in size.

Beat one egg and brush over the loaf. Sprinkle with poppy seeds.
 
Bake at 400 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes.

Zesty Brussels Sprouts

I know that brussels sprouts are not everyone's favorite vegetable, but I just love 'em. While bacon is a traditional brussels sprouts pairing that almost  everyone loves, my husband happens to be in that weird minority of people who doesn't like bacon. I can't remember where I saw it, but one day I saw a suggestion of cooking brussels sprouts with orange zest. I gave it a try and we loved it! The orange zest really brightens up the bitter brussels, and gives the vegetable a fresh feeling that goes great with a spring meal. This Easter I threw in some bell peppers for an added splash of color and sweetness.

Ingredients: 
Brussels sprouts
Olive oil
Zest of 1 - 2 large oranges
salt and pepper

Directions:
Saute brussels sprouts in olive oil. While cooking, add salt, pepper, and orange zest. Cook until tender and caramelized.

Roast Leg of Lamb

The impressive centerpiece of the Easter table! I only cook one big holiday meal on my own during the year, so I don't mind splurging a little on some lamb. Not only is lamb a significant Easter symbol, but my husband doesn't like turkey, and neither of us are big ham people, so lamb is perfect! As impressive as it looks when it comes out of the oven, it is actually quite simple to make. Amaze everyone without having to slave away at the oven all day!

 Ingredients:
1 boneless or semi-boneless leg of lamb
olive oil
salt
pepper
rosemary
thyme
minced garlic

Directions:
Take lamb out of the fridge 1 hour before cooking. Place in roasting pan with rack

Rub with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Broil on each side for 5 minutes (or brown each side in a pan)

Rub with fresh rosemary, thyme, and garlic

Roast at 325 degrees, at 25 minutes per pound. Cover loosely with tinfoil for 1 hour, and then remove for the rest of the cooking time.

Let rest 15 minutes before carving.

Happy Easter!

It's a Birthday Party Charlie Brown!

This year my son is obsessed with the Peanuts comics by Charles Schulz. Back in middle school when I played the role of Schroeder in a production of "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown," I got really into it too. And yes, Schroeder is a boy, but the director wanted Schroeder to really play the piano on stage and I happened to posses that skill. Of course Schroeder is my favorite character from the comic too! Anyway, my son found one of my old Peanuts books and hasn't been able to put it down since. He spends a lot of time pretending to be the World War I Flying Ace and Joe Cool. He has even suggested that if the new baby on the way is another little sister we should name her Rerunette, the way Lucy called her second little brother Rerun. Inevitably this all led to request for a Peanuts themed birthday party. The other kids at the party may not have been as familiar with Peanuts as Sam, but given my own affinity for the classic comic, it was a lot of fun to put together.

Happy Birthday Sam! You are growing into one amazing young man! 

Decorations

We went back to the dance studio for this year's party, and I think the owner repainted just for Sam's party! The new yellow walls, (actually "mango tango" I believe), made it easy to add a simple decoration that had a lot of impact. Yellow wall + strips of black construction paper + double stick tape = Charlie Brown zigzag shirt wall!  Add some Peanuts stuffed animals and black and yellow table settings and that's all you need!

That may be all you need, but we did have a little more. The aforementioned director of my middle school play was my mom, who has been involved in other productions of You're a Good Man Charlie Brown since then as well. She was able to bring in some cool props from the shows, including Schroeder's piano!

Food 

The food was very simple and kid friendly with the birthday boy's request for his favorite food - pizza. Some clever labeling makes things a little more fun and on theme!

For example, Sam read one strip where Snoopy says something like, "Joe Cool never eats at the dorm cafeteria, he always orders pizza." We knew then that it wouldn't just be any pizza, but Joe Cool's Pizza.

Of course we all know that the World War I Flying Ace's drink of choice is root beer! I found the perfect picture to go on our pop labels. To add a little variety to the beverages we also included Linus and Lucy Lemon Lime.

Instead of a traditional birthday cake, the birthday boy opted to have "Charlie Brownies." Of course you can make any brownie recipe you want, and then just top them with yellow frosting and a chocolate frosting zigzag. I used a recipe from the family cookbook titled "Julie's Awesome Brownies," (the recipe can be found at the end of the post!). They truly are awesome, some of the richest, gooiest brownies I've ever had. Thanks Julie!

 I divided the recipe in half to make both plain brownies and ones with peppermint patties mixed in, (get it?). I put the peppermint patties in the bottom of the pan and poured the batter over them. This method made the brownies stick to the pan. I had to wrestle them out of the pan a little, but they were delicious! I would recommend pouring some batter in first, then adding the peppermint patties, and then topping off with the rest of the batter to try to prevent sticking.

Games

I don't have any pictures of the games but we did have fun with them!

Peanuts Musical Chairs
We played a modified version of musical chairs that we had played at church for All Saints Day. I put pictures of different Peanuts characters on chairs and played music while the kids walked around the circle. For the music I played the soundtrack from "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" as well as the classic "Linus and Lucy."

When the music stops everyone sits on a chair and the name of a character gets pulled out of a hat. Whoever is sitting on the chair with that character gets a prize! In this case the prize was a bag of peanuts. We kept going until everyone  got a prize.

Pull the Football Away from Charlie Brown (Pinata)
This was just your classic birthday pinata, but we got one that was in the shape of a football.  My husband played the role of Lucy and pulled the football away from all our Charlie Browns trying to hit the pinata. Of course we had to fill the pinata with peppermint patties and peanut butter cups! A black Sharpie turned some plain red and blue bags into Linus and Lucy treat bags.  On the back I wrote, "Happiness is Celebrating with Friends!"

Julie's Awesome Brownies

This is a huge recipe! It makes two 9 x 13 pans of gooey, chocolatey goodness.
This is the original recipe - I used cocoa powder instead of baker's chocolate and omitted the  extra chocolate chips, coffee, and walnuts when I made them for the party, (and of course added some peppermint patties in!)

Ingredients:
1 pound unsalted butter (you heard right! That's 4 sticks.)
1 pound plus 12 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips - divided
6 oz unsweetened chocolate
6 eggs
2 Tablespoons instant coffee
2 Tablespoons vanilla
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups flour - divided
1 Tablespoon baking power
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups walnut pieces

Directions:
Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate and cool slightly.

Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla, and sugar.  Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.

Stir together 1 cup of flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and remaining chocolate chips in 1/4 cup of flour, then stir into the chocolate batter.

Pour the batter into a greased 13 x 18 pan, or two 13 x 9 pans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until a skewer come out clean. About halfway through the baking process rap the pans against the oven shelf.

Cool thoroughly and refrigerate before cutting into squares. They are so gooey and rich if you try to cut them while they are warm they will crumble!