*BPT

The post Every ‘bunny’ loves bunnies at Easter appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

The Easter bunny is right around the corner, which means chocolate eggs, chick marshmallows and stuffed bunnies will soon be popping up around the home. Celebrate with a build-your-own Easter basket with the kids for some quality time for the entire family. DIY doesn’t mean it needs to be complicated or difficult. Here are a few great ideas with some easy shortcuts to make it an enjoyable experience for everyone.

The basket

It all starts with the basket. The egg hunt and basket fillings wouldn’t be complete without an Easter basket decked out in bright spring colors. It’s not easy to spend hours making your own Easter basket, but you can still make it your own with custom Easter baskets from Personal Creations. Pick out the size, color pattern and design, and add your kids’ names to make it a personalized basket that can be from the Easter Bunny himself. Best of all, it comes with a fluffy plush bunny and Easter sweets to make it a complete package for the entire family to enjoy.

The eggs

Colored eggs are an essential part of any Easter celebration. This year, add a fun and simple twist to the usual DIY egg coloring with a tissue paper egg dye. Simply wet the eggs, wrap it in brightly colored tissue paper, and spray the eggs with water to ensure all of the paper has been wetted. Once the egg is dry, kids will be able to easily remove the tissue paper. Beneath, they’ll find a perfectly dyed egg that carries the appearance of stained glass.

The sweets

No Easter celebration is complete without treats to sweeten the basket. Marshmallow chicks and chocolate eggs are a classic, but adding a gourmet twist to the list of everyday sweets can make receiving this Easter basket an unforgettable experience for even the adults in the family. For an easy twist on the classic, ask kids to shred leftover bits of wrapping paper left around the house to make homemade Easter grass, and add it to a simple Easter treat pail. Then, fill the pail with Easter-themed cake pops from Shari’s Berries for a festive gourmet treat everyone can enjoy.

The fluff

Bunnies get all the attention during Easter, but little chicks can be an adorable alternative to add to the basket. For this simple craft, ask children to draw and color a picture of a chick. Make sure the chick is facing forward and not from a profile viewpoint. They do not need to draw the wings; those come later. When the little artists are finished, cut the chicks out. Next, help children trace their own hands and cut these traces out. Glue the traced hands to the chick with the thumbs up, and just like that, the chick has wings with a familiar look.

The grownup basket

Grownups deserve some Easter fun too. Forego the basket filled with candy and design a fresh and colorful take on the Easter basket. Start with a classic wicker basket with liner and add some fresh spring flowers to brighten up the look. Fresh flowers are a beautiful way to brighten anyone’s day, and fresh, vibrant flowers from ProFlowers make it easy to order and arrange flowers quickly and easily. Bright spring daffodils arranged in a pretty spread or 30 multi-colored tulips hanging loosely out of the basket is a great way to celebrate Easter in an upscale way.

*BPT

The post Easy do-it-yourself Easter: Fun Easter projects for the whole family appeared first on AKAMom Magazine.

Plan an Easter gathering everyone can enjoy with a make-ahead menu that includes crowd-pleasing brunch casseroles packed with everyone’s favorite flavors – and leaves you plenty of time to spend with the family.

“Combine all-star breakfast ingredients like eggs, bacon and cheese into a single dish in this Cheesy Bacon & Egg Brunch Casserole, seasoned with ground mustard and nutmeg,” said Chef Kevan Vetter of the McCormick Kitchens. “The best part about this recipe is you can assemble it the night before – just add an additional 1/2 cup of milk – chill it in the refrigerator and bake it off in the morning.”

Serve a spring-inspired dessert topped with an array of fresh fruit to complement your brunch casserole.

Find everything you need to create a complete brunch menu and more easy Easter-themed recipes at www.McCormick.com, www.Facebook.com/McCormickSpices and www.Pinterest.com/mccormickspices.

Cheesy Bacon & Egg Brunch Casserole

Serves: 12

• 8 slices bacon
• 1 medium onion, chopped (1 cup)
• 1 loaf (8 ounces) Italian bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (5 cups)
• 2 cups (8 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup cottage cheese
• 5 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk*
• 2 teaspoons McCormick® Mustard, Ground
• 1 teaspoon McCormick® Black Pepper, Ground
• 1/2 teaspoon McCormick® Nutmeg, Ground

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook bacon in large skillet until crisp. Drain bacon on paper towels; crumble and set aside. Remove all but 2 tablespoons drippings from skillet. Add onion to skillet; cook and stir 3 minutes or until softened.

Spread 1/2 of the bread cubes in 13×9-inch baking dish. Layer with 1/2 each of the onion, bacon, Cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese. Spread evenly with cottage cheese. Top with remaining bread cubes, onion, bacon, Cheddar cheese and mozzarella cheese.

Beat eggs in medium bowl with wire whisk. Add milk, mustard, pepper and nutmeg; mix well. Gradually pour into baking dish. Press bread cubes lightly into egg mixture until completely covered. Let stand 10 minutes. (*To prep the night before, add an extra 1/2 cup of milk and refrigerate overnight.)

Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until center is set and top is golden brown.

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To tell you the truth, as much as I love crafty things, I am not the most artistic person in the world.  The good news is that I have learned tricks over the years to compensate for my lack of artistic ability and my crowning jewel is my Easter Bunny cake!  This is the easiest cake and the kids love to help decorate it. *The pictures are from the bunny cake that I made with my family made last year.  We are big chocolate fans so we chose to do a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sacrifice a little on the looks!  The cake looks more like a traditional Easter Bunny when it is vanilla.

What you will need-

Ingredients:

• One recipe of your favorite cake batter
• Two recipes of your favorite frosting
• 2 bags of shredded coconut
• Green and red food coloring
• Jellybeans
• One piece of licorice

Supplies:

• One 9-inch round cake pan
• Two 4-inch round pans (or oven safe dishes)
• A cupcake tray
• One small piece of cardstock or cardboard (aprox. 8 x 5 inches)
• Flat serving tray or cookie sheet
• Wax paper

Step One Mix up your favorite cake batter and divide it between the 9-inch, the 2 4-inch pans and 3 cupcakes (these 3 only need to be about half full).  Don’t forget to grease the pans, put wax paper in the bottom of the 9-inch pan and cupcake wrappers in the 3 used spaces in the tray.  Bake the cakes according to the recipe but be sure to keep a close eye on them, the various sizes will take different lengths of time.  Use a toothpick to test if they are done!  

Step Two Once the cakes are cooled it’s time to assemble the bunny.  First cover the center of the try with a thin layer of frosting.  Next cut the round cake in half and frost the surface of one of the halves.  Now, form the bunny’s body by lining up the 2 halves next to each other, flat sides down and frosting side on the inside to connect the 2 halves.  Now that the body is assembled, frost the whole thing. 

Step Three Now its time to make the cake actually look like a bunny.  Attach all of the pieces with frosting.  Take one of the 2 small round cakes and cut it in half, these are the back legs.  Place them on either side of the body, flat side down, about an inch from the back edge of the cake.  The other small round cake is the head, prop it on the opposite end as the hind legs.  Next we have the cupcakes.  The first one is going to be the tail.  Position it opposite the head, in between the two hind legs.  The other two cupcakes make the front paws.  These go on either side of the body, about an inch back from the head.  Now the bunny is completely assembled, cover everything in frosting and make it look pretty.

Step Four All bunnies need to be fluffy, so it is time to add the fur.  Gently press the coconut in to the frosting to cover the whole cake until it looks like it looks nice and furry.  Next make some grass by mixing a few drops of green food dye with enough coconut to cover the tray.  Add frosting to the tray until it is all covered, then press the green coconut into the frosting on the tray.

Step Five The details really make this cake come to life.  First cut ears out of the cardstock/cardboard.  They should be about an inch wide at the bottom and 3 inches tall.  Cover them in frosting.  If you are really feeling crafty, dye a little bit of coconut pink (using a tiny bit of red food dye) and use the pink coconut in the middle of the ears.  Next take the licorice and cut 4 thin strips for whiskers and stick them on the face.  Find a pink jellybean for the nose and 2 blue, green or brown ones for the eyes.  Scatter the rest of the jellybeans in the “grass” to look like Easter eggs.

And just like that you have a super simple, adorable Eater Bunny cake that is sure to impress!

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