Easter Cupcakes

We made these this weekend just for fun. I had cut the recipe off a cupcake box a few weeks ago. The kids really enjoyed decorating the cupcakes.

Ingredients:
1 Box yellow cake mix
water, vegetable oil, and eggs called for on the cake box mix

Decorations:
2 1/2c shredded coconut
1 container of vanilla frosting
m&m's
orange gumdrops
whopper robin eggs (next time I'm going to try jelly beans)
yellow and green food coloring

Mix up the cupcake batter following the instructions on the box. Bake as directed and allow to cool. Divide the coconut in half and place in ziploc bags. Add 4 drops of food coloring to the bag. Shake to mix. Frost the cupcakes with white frosting. Top with yellow or green coconut. For eyes, add brown m&m'. Cut orange gum drops to resemble a beak. Place on cupcake. Add Robin Eggs to the green cupcakes. If I had thought about it, I would have bought some red licorice strips to turn the green cupcake into a basket.

Ants on a Log

I am not nearly as patient with my kids as I should be. They like to "help" me cook, but that usually translates into more dishes, a bigger mess, and a mommy who has lost all her patience. I realize that this is a short-coming on my part so I've been letting them into the kitchen to help more often. This is a recipe that I let Kaitlyn help me make.

Ingredients:
Celery Sticks
Peanut Butter
Raisins

It's pretty self explanatory. Kaitlyn uses a butter knife to put peanut butter on the celery sticks and puts the "ants" on the peanut butter. Of course, then she decided she didn't like raisins and picked them all off before eating the celery stick, but it was still a fun activity to do at snack time.

*You can also substitute cream cheese for the peanut butter.

Cilantro Lime Rice

My girlfriend Lisa told me about this recipe so I begged for the recipe. I've been meaning to try it for awhile and I'm sure glad that I did. I left out the cilantro in the portion I gave my husband. He really doesn't like cilantro. When I tasted his batch, the lime was a little over powering, but when you mix in the cilantro you get just the right mix. The kids gave it mix reviews. Maura loved it, but Kaitlyn was happy to eat it after she'd picked out all the "leaves". I really liked this and will be sneaking it onto the menu from time to time.

Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1c basmati rice
1 1/2c chicken broth
2-3 cloves garlic, pressed and chopped
2 Tbsp lime juice
zest of one lime
1/2c cilantro, chopped
1 tsp salt

Add the oil to a sauce pan and heat on medium. Add the garlic and rice to the oil and saute for about 2 minutes on medium heat. Add the chicken broth, salt, and lime juice. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Turn heat down, cover the pan, and simmer the rice for about 15 minutes. If the rice is too moist. Simmer a little longer. The texture of the rice in this dish is the same as if you cooked your rice in a rice cooker. I live at a higher elevation so I had to simmer my rice longer. When the rice is finished, mix in the lime zest and cilantro. Serve immediately.

Note: If you use long grained rice, follow the cooking directions on the package substituting the ingredients in this recipe for the water.