Easter & Eggs

Week 2 of the Leap into Spring Photo Challenge is to capture Easter and or Eggs.  In case you missed my capture of week 1 you can check it out HERE.

This year for Easter it was just me and my husband a.k.a the Cookie Monster, oh and Blanca of course. My parents sent me the most beautiful arrangement of flowers! It's a tradition of sorts...

The local florist that delivered them did an AMAZING job. As you can see I was trying to set up to get a picture and Blanca had to put her nose in the way. I think she loves flowers just as much as I do. When we take her for hikes or even just go for a walk, we always laugh because she literally has to stop at every flower and smell it.

The details they put into this arrangement were stunning. I could have taken pictures of these flowers all day.

 It's such a bright and cheery arrangement of flowers! Perfect for celebrating the resurrection of my Savior.

 

Of course Easter wouldn't  be complete with out some special Easter candies. The Cookie Monster and I were walking through the grocery store and he mentioned that he missed all the special treats that come out for the Easter season. So I decided to surprise him Easter morning with a bowl full of treats.

Are you a fan of Peeps? They are not the Cookie Monster's favorite so I've been enjoying them :)

Cooking brings me joy so no matter if we have visitors or not I love to cook a special meal whenever I get the chance.

We had Asparagus & Portobello Pasta Salad, Homemade Biscuits, Sweet Potato Casserole, Smoked Salmon Deviled Eggs and Classic Ham. My husband said I went overboard.... On the bright side I won't have to cook again for at least a week!

I haven't made a classic ham before. It was yummy. I attached the pineapple and cherry with clove pieces and brushed it all with a mustard based glaze. The top caramelized wonderfully! 

I adore this tray! It was my great grandmothers. Most of my special dishes are packed away in storage because we don't have much space in this "temporary" place we've been living.

Even though most of my dishes are packed away. I have to keep out my deviled egg dishes. The one pictured above was my great grandmothers too! O how I love to own pieces like this. Even though I have a mismatched set of her dishes, it makes it fun and they mean the world to me.

Deviled Eggs are one of my favorite foods, it's a delight to serve them in such a special way. In case you missed my Smoked Salmon Deviled Egg recipe you can find it HERE.

I have another special deviled egg dish in the shape of a butterfly. I could probably collect deviled egg serving dishes. Aren't they too fun? This one is special because it was a surprise at one of my bridal showers in North Carolina. Since my mom wasn't able to make it to that shower she sent this dish and the recipe for her deviled eggs to my mother-in-law who surprised me with it.


I love how there are butterflies, bees and lady bugs hiding underneath the eggs, waiting to be revealed.

Did I mention that we had dessert? We are huge fans of Banana Pudding but I wanted to make something different so I made my first Banana Cream Pie.

It didn't quite hold together like a piece of pie should but it was scrumptious. Notice the little flecks in the filling, those are vanilla bean seeds. Using a fresh vanilla bean made all the difference.

Oh yeah and drizzling homemade caramel sauce over top. Are you drooling yet?

As you can see even though we weren't surrounded by friends and family this year we still had quite the celebration.  Let me know which picture was your favorite?