Easter madness

isn't there madness with every holiday? just when you think you got it all figured out there's always a curve ball in there somewhere. our Easter madness began saturday afternoon. just in time for dying eggs.

okay friends, i have been dying eggs for a long time and for some reason the directions on the dye packet didn't seem right, so i made up my own directions and added water to the dye. not thinking this would totally dilute the color and take forever to get beautifully dyed eggs. i know a big "duh" to me. so, instead of waiting forever, i ran back up to the store got another package of dye and followed the directions this time. which was much better until...

this little fella came along and thought it would be fun to mix all the colors together. again a big "duh" to me. i should have thought this one through a little bit better. so, in the mix of trying to help the little miss and keep him from sabotaging our dye, he some how spilled the blue dye all over himself. (with a sigh of relief) the mister took him in for a bath and left the little miss and i to our decorating.

we decided to keep it simple and just go for solid colors and they were turning out nice.

then, all of a sudden this little fella came running back out for more, stark naked and almost sabotaged us again until the mister came and got him again and the little miss and i finished in peace. with those out of the way, i went inside to get the rest of our Easter stuff together. i made a couple of breakfast casseroles for our brunch, my girl made some beignet's with a little help from me and i made some giant sugar cookies for dessert. (recipes below) finally, it was time to put the kiddo's to bed and get some baskets together. the picture below will be my reminder for next year that there is no need for presentation when doing this for the little fella...

the first thing he did was pick up the basket, turn it upside down and shook everything out of it.

nice.

but, he was extremely stoked with these bad boys.

i decided to set our table in yellow because i love yellow. you already know that right?

this was our spread. french toast casserole, sausage and egg casserole, yummy fried potatoes with gravy and beignets with strawberries. i know we should have all had heart attacks after this meal, but it's not like we eat like this everyday.

with full tummies and lots of energy, it was time for the egg hunt. 107 eggs. yes i know that's crazy. but, it's just what we do. my mom, my sister and myself all fill and contribute a set of eggs to the hunt. all of our eggs are filled with candy or money and we each put a $5 bill in one of our eggs.

so, the heat is on to see,

who will get

the most eggs and/or the most money

and between these two

it's always a competition.

we finished our day with these yummy giant sugar cookies and strawberries. there's always some goodness to every bit of madness. oh and for those of you who are wondering who "won" the egg hunt, they both did. my nephew found 35 eggs, just one more than my girl, but she found two of the $5 bills and got the most money which was $21 all together. she's informed me she only needs one more dollar to buy a big lalaloopsy. and now for those recipes i promised...

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stuffed french toast

24 slices of cinnamon raisin bread

cooking spray

3 cups milk

6 eggs

1 cup half and half

1 cup sugar, divided

1 tbls. vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, softened

1 (8 ounce) block 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

1. trim crust of a bread. arrange in a 13x9 baking dish coated with cooking spray.

2. combine milk, 4 eggs, half and half, and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. pour half of milk mixture over bread in a dish.

3. combine 2 eggs, 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and cheeses in a food processor or blender; process until smooth. pour cream cheese mixture over moist bread in dish. top with remaining bread; pour remaining milk mixture over bread. cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

4. preheat oven to 350*

5. uncover and bake at 350* for 55 minutes. let stand 10 minutes before serving and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar if desired. yields 12 servings (servings size: 1 piece)

sausage and egg casserole

i used chicken sausage instead of pork and added a green and red bell pepper

giant sugar cookies

(makes 10) i always double the recipe

2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

8 tbls. butter (1 stick)

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for sprinkling

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 cup sour cream

1. preheat oven to 350*. in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.

2. using an electric mixer on med-high, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 4 minutes. add egg and vanilla; beat well to combine.

3. with mixer on low add half the flour mixture, followed by sour cream, then remaining flour mixture; mix just until smooth. ( dough will be stiff; you may need to finish mixing it by hand with a wooden spoon)

4. drop mounds of dough, each equal to 3 tbls, 3 -4 inches apart, onto two ungreased cookie sheets; sprinkle with sugar. bake untiol edges of cookies are just firm and tops are barely beginning to brown, 20 - 25 minutes, rotating sheets once halfway through. transfer cookies to a rack to cool.