I do, however, have some tasty Cinco de Mayo recipe links.  Cinco de Mayo is this coming Wednesday.  Even though it is not a holiday most of us have any reason to celebrate, it is a great excuse to go all out with a tasty Mexican meal.

I am going to make these Easy Chicken Fajitas, from Food & Wine, and my favorite Vegetable Enchiladas, from Everyday Food.  I love that enchiladas recipe!

For dessert, how about some homemade Churros or Mexican Brownies, both from Food Network?  Or, if you prefer, Joy the Baker has a recipe for Tres Leches Cake and a few words about falling in love.

Let’s not forget the drinks!  Pick your poison: Classic Margaritas or Frozen Strawberry Margaritas.

Enjoy the fiesta!

My Easter started out with me remembering that I forgot to boil the eggs for coloring, so I got right out of bed and got to work.  While I was in the kitchen, I made a batch of rolls, which came out perfect, like little fluffy pillows of buttery, bready goodness.

After the eggs and rolls were done, I put the finishing touches on my desserts and prepared the platter for lunch.

Last night, I was looking up how long I needed to cook the ham for, so I could plan a preparation schedule, and I found the best ham recipe ever.  No, I mean ever.  It was so amazing.  And, I had fresh syrup from the sugar house we visited last weekend, which made it all the more so.

The rest of the dinner consisted of mashed red potatoes (with skins), asparagus, corn, sauteed peas and red onions, and of course, those amazing rolls.

Then, the desserts.  I told you before what I was making for desserts, but then I realized that I had nothing chocolate, so I added these  Baker’s Mousse Bars.

Here is the torte that I made with the strawberry and mango sorbets.  The icing is made with whipping cream, powdered sugar, lime juice, and lime zest.  I did not like the icing.  Also, the mango sorbet was too tart for me.  I will make this again, but I will use two layers of the strawberry sorbet and normal whipped cream icing (ie vanilla instead of lime).  Still, it was pretty.

The Vanilla-Almond Fruit Tart, via Kraft, was so delicious.  The crust is made from crushed Nilla wafers and toasted almonds.  The cream is made from instant vanilla pudding, whipped cream (the recipe calls for Cool Whip – yuk), and almond extract.  It was delicious.  (I said that already, but it bears repeating.)

Last, but not least, the Carrot Cake Cupcakes, via Martha.  Oh.  My.  God.  They were so amazingly good.  I cannot even tell you.

But, what’s better than amazing, moist, supremely delicious carrot cake cupcakes?  Amazing, moist, supremely delicious carrot cake cupcakes displayed on my new Martha Stewart cupcake tree from Macy’s.

The photos just can’t do it justice.  (Although, the photo at the Macy’s link above does a good job.)

And here’s a close-up of the star of this little show.

Yum!

So, tell me, what goodies did you have this Easter?

First, make sure you get out there and buy all the good Easter candy before it’s gone.  I’ve already bought all of mine.

Now, I am planning the Easter dinner.  The first place to start: dessert.  Of course.  Really, it’s the most important part.

So far, I have the following:

Vanilla-Almond Tart, by Kraft.  This recipe looks so simple and good.  It uses Jello instant pudding and Cool Whip for the filling.  I know it might seem like cheating, but it is just so darn good.  I use real whipped cream in place of the Cool Whip in every recipe like this I have ever made.  It makes all the difference.

Fruit and Cream Cake, by Betty Crocker.  The one I am making is basically like this, but it’s made from a sheet cake, cut into thirds and filled with mango and raspberry sorbets or sherbets, or whatever.  The recipe is in a free calendar I got from Betty Crocker and I don’t want to dig it out right now.  The recipe at the link is the basic concept, though.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, by Martha Stewart.  I love carrot cake.  So do the kids.  It’s an Easter staple around here.  This year, I am going cupcake, using some adorable Easter cupcake liners by Wilton, with cute chick and bunny picks.  I will not be doing the fancy-pants toppers that Martha made, but only because I don’t have the springerle mold.

I do not need to do a trial run of any of these desserts (I don’t miss those days), so I won’t have pictures until the day or two before Easter.  There are, however, pictures at the links, which are far better than any I could take.

What desserts are you making for Easter?  Or, if you aren’t making dessert, what is your favorite Easter dessert?

The embellishments were made using “Candy and Cupcake” stickers and microbeads from Martha Stewart Crafts, available online or at Michaels.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies (they’re heart-shaped!)

Rice Krispie and Coco Pops Treats (dressed up for Valentine’s Day)

Valentine’s Day Treats Recipes by Martha

Chocolate Lip Balm with Cocoa Powder

And don’t forget to check out my Valentine’s Day ideas from last year – tag: Valentine’s Day

To make these yumtastic goodies, you will need 2 boxes of Jello (I used cherry), a bag of jelly hearts, a can of whipped cream, silicone cupcake liners or foil cupcake papers, and optional cake sparkles to give it, well, sparkle!

Make the Jello according to the directions for Jigglers.  Jigglers call for 4 boxes.  I used 2 and halved the amount of water.

Pour the jello into the cupcake liners.  If you use foil ones, leave the paper layer in.  I tried it with the paper and without.  It is much easier to remove the jello from the paper.  I think it would be awesome to use the silicone cupcake liners, but I use mine for soap and I don’t have any that I use for food.

The way I filled mine yielded 7 Jello cupcakes.

Melt and pour soapers, resist the urge to spray with alcohol to remove the surface bubbles!

Refrigerate until fully set.  It took one hour for mine.

You can leave the jello in the papers (as pictured above) or take them out (pictured below), before decorating.  It’s up to you.  If you want to remove the paper, first peel away the foil.  Then, go around the top gently rubbing the jello away from the paper.  Once you loosen the top all the way around, you can just peel off the paper and it should come off fine.

Top with whipped cream and cake sparkles, if desired.  Place a jelly heart on top.  Wait until just before serving to top, or the whipped cream will melt!  If you want them to last longer, try Cool Whip, which holds its form better.

If you push a toothpick into the jelly heart, then push the other end into the jello, the heart will stand up better.

Jello and soap cupcake BFFs.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

]]> http://allthingsholdtogether.com/blog/2009/11/26/happy-thanksgiving-2/feed/ 0 http://allthingsholdtogether.com/blog/2009/11/12/pumpkin-spice-is-oh-so-nice/ http://allthingsholdtogether.com/blog/2009/11/12/pumpkin-spice-is-oh-so-nice/#comments Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:14:33 +0000 Charity http://allthingsholdtogether.com/?p=1063 Continue reading →]]> A few weeks ago, I tried the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks and was instantly in love.  The very next day, A Year of Slowcooking posted a link to a Pumpkin Spice Latte slowcooker recipe.  I had to try.

It was yum!  I thought it was a wee bit heavy on the pumpkin, so I halved it the next time.  I also added a bit more spices.  But overall, I recommend trying it.

Since I had so much left over canned pumpkin, I decided to make mini pumpkin pies.

I used my favorite pie crust recipe – Martha’s Pate Brisee.  I cut large circles and pressed them into a standard muffin tin.  Then I made the Libby’s Pumpkin Pie filling and filled the crusts.  I baked as directed, until the pies were set.

Since I was on a Pumpkin Pie kick, I decided to make the Triple-Layer Pumpkin Spice Pie, using JELL-O’s seasonal Pumpkin Spice Flavored Instant Pudding.

The recipe calls for Cool Whip, but I substituted 8 oz. of cream, whipped.  I often do this with recipes and they come out fine.  I like to use powdered sugar instead of regular to give it a little more stability.

I also used a Keebler Shortbread crust instead of graham cracker crust.

It came out delicious!

My final adventure in pumpkin spice was a loaf of cold process soap using Pumpkin Spice fragrance oil from Bramble Berry.

Those are actually apples on top that I made using a silicone ice tray, but they get the job done.

The soap smells amazing – and I already had someone ask me about buying a bar!

All of the wonderful pumpkin spice delights make this time of year my favorite.  And I am not done yet!  I am making Pumpkin Whoopie Pies for Thanksgiving.  I will be sure to post pictures when I am done.

Click on the photos to go directly to the patterns on the Lion Brand website.

I hope you and yours have a wonderful Fourth of July!

Step-by-step instructions for the Stars and Stripes Soap can be found here.