Happy Easter!

To those of you who celebrate...Happy Easter!

My parents are in Washington DC right now so my sisters and I decided to make a breakfast brunch of our own. It was fantastic. Way better than I expected. I get so nervous when I cook for anyone other than Andy!



Mimosas. MMM.



Andy helped with the fruit salad. Pineapple, raspberries, kiwi and bananas. Plus Nature's Path granola & more bananas on the side for make your own yogurt parfaits.



Mimosas are good for me.



Lemon-blueberry scones and cranberry orange scones from Trader Joe's. I had a lemon blueberry with brunch and snagged a cranberry orange for tomorrow's breakfast.



Sausage & irish cheddar strata. (I used a recipe from a book and don't have a link!) I used brioche in the strata and it was soooo delicious.



Veggie strata- same recipe with asparagus, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and irish cheddar.



Here is a super blurry picture of Andy, Emily, Kerry, Chris and Sarah.





My vanilla greek yogurt parfait.



Kerry holding her very own easter bunny, Boo boo.



Colored eggs! Although none of us enjoy hard-boiled eggs. I should try one tomorrow...the smell just drives me nuts!



Last but not least, a mini chocolate cheesecake from Whole Foods. My sister Kerry brought them over.

Hope you had a nice holiday! Andy and I are gearing up for our mini-vacation to Las Vegas so I won't be posting until Thursday! I will have tons of blogs to read when I get back. YIKES! Love you all!

Yes, I really do cook.

I'm in a mood. I really wish I wasn't. Yesterday, I did some errands with my mom and did some Christmas shopping. It was fun and relaxing and I finally finished my Christmas shopping for Andy! But for some reason, I am in a funk today.

I wish I could explain more but unfortunately someone is reading my food blog and I do not want that person knowing what's up quite yet. Vague enough for you?



Ok, here are the eats I've created over the last 2 weeks. Green bean casserole. With fresh green beans, ricotta cheese, summer squash and homemade mushroom gravy. It was time-consuming but so worth it. I did include the traditional french-fried onions. They were good!



Turkey burger on whole wheat bread. Boring picture, awesome turkey burger.



Kerrygold cheddar really made these turkey burgers. This cheese is so sharp and creamy. YUM!



Fontina, tomato and asparagus frittatas. I've made this frittata before



Peanut butter, banana and flax toast!



It was a good recovery meal after an intense workout.



Gingerbread latte and starbucks oatmeal. This oatmeal is ok...a little watery for my taste though.



The best butter on the planet.



With herb-crusted pork loin and mashed potatoes. (The butter is in the mashed potatoes. I used 1 tbsp and made 4 servings.)



My mock Thanksgiving day meal. Cranberry-apple sauce, roasted butternut squash with brown sugar, turkey cutlets and a hawaiian roll.



For the butternut squash, I sliced up half a squash into cube shapes and coated them in 1 tsp olive oil, 2 tsp honey and 1 tbsp brown sugar. Tossed to coat and roasted in the oven at 400* for 25 minutes.



For the cranberry-apple sauce, I boiled 1 cup water and 1/2 white sugar. Then added 2 sliced honey crisp apples and 1 bag cranberries. Continue to boil until cranberries pop and release their natural pectin. This sauce WAS SO GOOD! I liked the sauce more than anything else.

So I've got to ask, do you have any cyber stalkers or unwanted guests reading your blog? How do you deal with it? I've decided to let them read and enjoy...maybe they really like cooking?

Also...have you ever heard of Butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata) dermatitis? It's a contact dermatitis from cutting up butternut squash? I noticed in last night when my hands got all dry, yellow and waxy feeling. It's gone now luckily but how weird is that? I googled, "hands feel weird after cutting butternut squash," and found tons of blog posts about it. WEIRD!