A Spring Masterpiece!

 It's finally spring here in Illinois!  We have planted some flowers and have been outside often.  Last weekend we had a fabulous Easter celebration here at our house for both sides of the family!  I love entertaining big crowds but I was absolutely exhausted when it was over.  I was in charge of the main dish which was of course him and then made a second main dish in case somebody wanted something different which was my barbecue pulled pork.  Both main dishes were easy to do the day of a big event and caused very little stress.  I started looking back on some of my other Easter dishes that I have created for Easter celebrations and my favorite is always my spring basket cake!  The cake is so simple but it looks like I spent hours on it.
How do you make the cake?
 Take your favorite cake mix or homemade recipe and make two (or three)  round cakes!  Frost in between the cakes and layer them accordingly .  Frost around the cake and place Kit Kat bars around the cake for your basket.  Typically for the "grass"  I would take coconut and food coloring to make the green grass.  However I have a husband that absolutely hates coconut .... not sure what's wrong with him because I love coconut !  So I took green frosting and green sprinkles to make the grass effect on top of the cake! You could then take the many Cadberry Easter eggs and place them on the top of the cake if it's for an Easter celebration or you could do it I did and got the plain white mini Cadbury eggs to make a Spring Basket!  To finish off the cake I tied a simple ribbon around it just to give it a pop!  If you're really good with frosting you could make a ribbon out of frosting.  I know I'm not that steady!
 This cake turned out absolutely delicious in  2013 and I may have to make another one soon!

Farmer's Market linguine!

Sometimes when I come across a recipe on Pinterest or a cookbook I get inspired to shake up that particular recipe and make it my own. This happened to me earlier this week after making my meal plan and then taking a fabulous trip to Costco's produce department! 
Here in Illinois it has been very dreary and cold so far in April. I have been craving sunshine and warmth (especially after our spring break in Florida)! So I decided fresh veggies as a main dish may just brighten things up around here. I am a sucker for squash of all shapes and sizes so that was my focal point in this dish. You can use just about any veggies you want in this dish depending on what is in season or what looks good in your supermarket! 

Farmer's Market Linguine


Ingredients: 
1 rotisserie chicken (cut and shredded)
8 oz. linguine noodles
1 butternut squash
2 zucchini
2 yellow squash
12 oz. white mushrooms sliced
1 pint grape tomatoes halved
olive oil
salt
Wishbone's EVOO olive oil and herb dressing
1/2 cup feta cheese
freshly shredded Parmesan cheese (optional - add desired amount)
parsley (optional on top for presentation)

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
2.  Chop up all of your veggies, toss them in olive oil and salt, then spread them out on a large baking sheet. Cook at 450 degrees for 18-22 minutes. Make sure the veggies are nice and tender. 
3. While the veggies are roasting in the oven, prepare your linguine noodles as directed on the package. 
4. Toss chicken and noodles together with the olive oil dressing. Add veggies when done. 
5. Add feta cheese to pasta and toss. 
6. Add freshly shredded Parmesan cheese and parsley to top of pasta for presentation and flavor! 
7. ENJOY!
   
   

   

   Read to devour!

   

   I love chopping veggies!

   

   Roasted fresh veggies is the best!