An Eggscellent Easter Spread for Your Sunday Meal!

Cheesiest caption ever—but seriously. As you all know, my husband is the Chef in our family, and he did NOT disappoint with our recent [early] Easter spread. This year we decided we wanted to host some friends and get together, so that’s what we did! My number one request for basically every formal (or informal, who am I kidding) meal my husband makes, is that he makes his amazing Deviled Eggs. I posted a story on Instagram about it and asked if anyone else was as obsessed with them as I am, and did you know that in Australia, no one really eats them!? This sweet gal said, “No, but I’ve also never really had a deviled egg before, they aren’t popular here.” I told her that she desperately needed to change that, OR she should fly to Kentucky so my husband can prepare some for her the right way. Easy, right? ;)

My mother-in-law actually took the kids to a movie for some of the afternoon, and so it was REALLY nice to have a meal in our formal dining room fellowshipping with some of our favorite people, without them interrupting. I love them to death, but let’s face it, sometimes you can’t get much catching up when you have a busy five and six year old present. (They did show up towards the end though, and they were equally as happy to see our friends and eat their Dad’s delicious food.)

While we tend to have too much food no matter the holiday (no complaints there!) we like to keep things pretty simple. For our Friends Easter, we enjoyed a delicious ham, honey glazed carrots, green beans, baguettes, deviled eggs, and another favorite of mine…mashed potatoes! We also indulged in the desserts, and went with a yummy Kroger Carrot Cake, and cute Easter themed sugar cookies. YUM!

If you’re looking for some Easter inspiration, I hope this helps! If you need to pick my husband’s brain for recipe ideas, or any further details, don’t hesitate to e-mail me. He really is an amazing cook and I am SO thankful for him!!

Here are a couple of the items Asa (my husband) whipped up. You’ll have to tell me if you re-created any of these ideas or how this post inspired YOUR Easter planning! Happy Holiday, sweet friends!

Everything found in this blog post was purchased at our local Kroger, but it was not sponsored by them. I just wanted to show you what we did for this meal and thought it may be helpful to know where we got everything, decorations included!

Books, Bunnies, and a BIG TGIF

This has been the longest/shortest week ever. I'm not sure how it's Friday, yet some of our days have felt incredibly long. Some things I've wondered this week: do other moms completely lose their patience? We have some incredibly sweet moments, but come Friday (today) I legit had to call Asa at work to talk with Pierson because I was at my wits END. Anyway, that's perhaps another blog post...and I'm getting this one up later than usual, so I may or may not be even MORE worn out as I try to figure out the good things to say about these five days ;) 

The kids had so much fun decorating for Easter this month and I love how excited they were with some of their crafts [hence why I'm sharing some Easter photos a tad late.]

We spent 99% of our days at our dining room table, but I love it. It's where I read my devotions, journal, and often where we read our Bible stories in the morning. As you all know, I am pro-every-single-holiday so with Earth Day being tomorrow, we did some lessons this week. We talked about the importance of recycling, deciphering what goes in the garbage, and ways to keep the world clean. Pierson impressed me with his sorting and gluing skills; I had a little glimpse into his upcoming kindergarten days :( Sammy is pictured because he has been cracking us UP getting into our fabric boxes, trying to steal the kids craft pom pom balls. Look at his crazy eyes!

The kids got some new books this week, Kingdom of You, and we LOVE them. They are personalized with their names, their favorite things (pasta and ice cream, and superheroes and princesses!), and the pages are full of color and fascinating pictures. I read to both Pierson and Reese their individual stories, and they loved finding their names throughout the pages. If you haven't yet checked out this company Lost My Name, I highly recommend them and their books!

This afternoon was a long one waiting for Daddy to get home... but it was filled with laughter, drinks at the faucet (his favorite thing to do because his cool big cousin/best friend Arie showed him how, haha!!) and princess spins in the dining room. And last but not least, Reese got an adorable new toy, Chloe the Bunny, from Cuddle and Kind. When one doll is bought, ten meals are given to children in need--how awesome is that?! 

Spring and Easter M&M Cookies

Baking + holidays are my JAM, so with Easter soon approaching, you know I've been all over Pinterest. I figured someone had a great Easter or spring themed recipe and sure enough, I found one. On our first day back to 'normal,' (aka Dad went back to work!) the kids and I spent a long time at the park with our pups and the only way I happily got them to leave was by saying, "Well let's go make cookies!!" These kids LOVE to help in the kitchen. I measured out the ingredients and then same as they always do, turns were taken pouring into the mixing bowl, turning on the standing mixer, and finally the best part [duh]: licking the spatula and beater. Yummmm! These are SO soft and chewy, so don't miss the cornstarch part because it really helps!

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
1 1/2 cups milk chocolate M&Ms (I used peanut because that's all our Kroger had at the time, they were DELICIOUS!]

DIRECTIONS:

1. To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well-creamed, light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (or use a hand mixer and beat for at least 7 minutes). 

2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, optional salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.

3. Add the M&Ms and fold in by hand.

4. Use a 2-inch cookie scoop, and make heaping mounds. 

5. Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with parchment, or spray with cooking spray. Place them on the baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart. I baked mine for eight minutes total. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.

6. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one week, and ENJOY! My lunch today may or may not have been mostly cookie dough.....;) 

Adapted from Averie Cooks