Easter Fresh

Dear Red Couch Readers, I have been missing in action for over three months.  We lost one of our sons in January, just 31, and it has been hard to come to terms with it.

I have thought of blogging again, but not until Easter have I done anything about it.  Easter for us is more than bunnies, eggs, and chicks.  Yes, we love those things, and it is always nice to have soothing "fresh" colors around after a hard winter.  Easter for me, means that because our Savior Jesus Christ died for us, and took upon our sins, that life is not over after we die.  We believe that we will see Chris again, and that he will be healed.  Because of Jesus Christ, we have hope.  I cannot imagine losing a son and not having this hope.  So just because I am featuring bunnies on this table; I want you to know how thankful and grateful I am for our Savior this Easter time, and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father loved us so much that he sent his son.  He truly is our source of life. 

We bought these little egg cups years ago, and I just love their little legs and shoes.

I have a small collection of these "faux" chocolate bunnies.  Just don't take a bite of one.

The blue bunny glasses were acquired last year. 

The sterling was brought out for the occasion.  The bunnies like the good stuff!

The little vintage post card screen is so cute, and it provides a nice backdrop.  The little egg plates are new this year.

Here is a better shot of it.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter with you and yours.  I have missed blogging, and I have missed you and your kind visits and comments.

Have a wonderful Easter!

Posted with Tablescape Thursday

White on White Easter Egg Sugar Cookies

 

Happy Easter from Red Couch Recipes.  I had a little fun making all white Easter Eggs.  I thought you might want to see them.  I was inspired by my sister Jacqueline's cookies.   I like the embossed look on these cookies.   I hope you have a wonderful Easter.  I am so thankful for the life and sacrifices of our Savior Jesus Christ.  I am so indebted to Him for every good thing in my life.

 

 

Here is our cat Wolfay all decked up for the holiday. 

 

Thanks for dropping by my Red Couch.

 



Sometimes the Easter Bunny Delivers Cookies

 

You know Mr. Easter Bunny is not all about chocolate eggs; sometimes he likes to deliver cookies.  Last night my girls and one of their friends sat down and decorated cookies.  It was a nice evening of working with royal icing and decorating.  Perfect, I can't say they were, but we are learning.  as they said at Cookie Con -- "It is jut a cookie!"   Just look at that fancy pink and white shirt  designed by my 13-year old daughter.

The big bunny delivered these to some friends.  Hope they like cookies for Easter.

 

I hope you have a wonderful Easter!

Forsythias and Eggs Easter Table

 

Welcome to our Forsythias and Eggs Easter Table!  The forsythia at our home is in bloom and is brightening up our property and life.  You always knows when the forsythia is in bloom that spring is here.

 

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I have had this venerable and honorable Mr. Rabbit for years.  Today he is carrying a load of forsythia instead of his usual load of eggs. 

 

 

I was a bit worried our forsythia wouldn't bloom this year because we had so little moisture, but fortunately, it did bloom!

 

 

 

Don't worry, he knows where his delivery of eggs are.  He will make it to your home this year :).  Some of eggs  have been skewed around the table.

 

 

A little view of the springey napkins.

 

 

I love these green glasses.  C'est magnifique, they are plastique!

 

 

How about some white chocolate mousse eggs?  Click here the recipe and instructions.  Around here, they are a family favorite around Easter

 

 

Thanks for dropping by Red Couch Recipes!

 

 

Posted with Tablescape Thursday.

White Chocolate Mousse Eggs Dessert Tutorial

 

Hippity Hoppity, Hippity Hoppity, Easter is on it's way!"  Here at Red Couch Recipes we have a very delicious dessert for Easter Sunday.  It is designed to look like the Cadbury Eggs, so popular at Easter.  The white chocolate mousse is killer --- it really is!  The lemon curd "yolk" center goes so well with the mousse, and adds a little bit of tang.  So delicious even the Easter Bunny would approve of these himself.

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My very talented friend Shannon used to host a local cable television show that features cooking and crafts.  A few years ago I was one of her guests when she made these White Chocolate Mousse Eggs, and we have been making them ever since at Easter. 

 

 

The dessert is comprised of a chocolate egg shell, white chocolate mousse, and lemon curd.  I will take you through the steps.  None of it is difficult.  Making the mousse generates a few dirty dishes, but it really is an excellent tasting mousse, well worth the effort.  But if you are not in the mood for making a homemade mousse, buy a mix.  So let's start with the chocolate egg shells.

 

Chocolate Egg Shells

 

1.  Blow up water balloons.

 

2.  Melt some good quality milk or dark chocolate chips in a medium -size glass bowl in the microwave.  We used milk chocolate chips.  Melt the chips first for about 30 seconds, then stir, and then return to the microwave and melt another 10-15 seconds, and then stir,  repeating the steps until the chips are completely melted.  Be careful as the chips can be easy to burn. 

 

3.  Then take an offset spatula, or the backside of a spoon, and spread the chocolate around the bottom of a small water balloon.  You don't want to make the egg shell too large.  You can also dip the bottom of the balloon in chocolate which will give the chocolate egg shell a cleaner look.  I like using a spoon because it gives it a more rough look.

 

 

 

4.  Place the chocolate covered balloon on a goblet or a half-pint sized mason jar to dry.

 

 

 

5.  Take the chocolate covered balloons  and place them in the freezer or refrigerator until the chocolate is firm.  The chocolate covered balloons should be ready for filling in about 10 minutes or less if you place it in the freezer, and a bit longer if you place it in the refrigerator.

 

6.  Pop the balloon and peel away the balloon from the chocolate shell.  Set aside the chocolate shells.

 

 

 

White Chocolate Mousse Filling

Adapted Food Network Recipe

 

 Ingredients

 

7 ounces white chocolate chips -- I used Ghiradelli White Chocolate Chips

2 egg yolks

2 tablespoons sugar

1-1/4 cups heavy cream, divided into 1/4 and 1 cup portions

 

Directions

1.  In a large glass bowl, place the chopped white chocolate  and set aside.

2.  Add the egg yolks and sugar to a small bowl and whisk until pale in color.

3.  In a saucepan, over low heat, bring 1/4 cup of the cream to a simmer, and slowly add the cream into the yolk and sugar mixture to temper.

4.  Pour the creamy mixture (the egg, sugar and cream) back into pan and stir with a wooden spoon until it coats the back of it.  The mixture should be quite hot, hot enough to melt the chocolate chips.

5.  Pour hot mix into a fine mesh sieve placed directly over bowl with the chopped chocolate. Stir until completely smooth.  Then set aside.

6.  In another bowl, whip remaining 1 cup of the cream to almost stiff peaks. Fold half the whipped cream into the white chocolate mix to lighten and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.

 

With a spoon, fill the chocolate shells about half full.

 

 

Place a small amount of lemon curd in the center.  We used Trader Joe's Lemon Curd.

 

 

 

All of the steps can be done ahead except for adding the lemon curd.  After about 30 minutes or so the lemon curd does tend to sink down into the mousse, so place the lemon curd on the mousse right before you serve the dessert.

 

 

I hope you make this dessert and let me know how you liked it. Thanks for dropping by my Red Couch.

 

 

Posted with Foodie Friday

 



Chocolate Bunny Easter Table

Dear Red Couch Readers!  Hippity-Hoppity Easter is on its way!  As I was pulling together a table for Easter, I had a bit of fun with these chocolate bunnies and some non-traditional Easter colors! 

 

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I knew I wanted to incorporate these guys, and then I remember that I had some basket weave reactive ware plates that were brown to go along with the brown bunnies.

As some of you may know, our lives here at the Red Couch Family have been a bit crazy for the past two years.  Many of my dishes are in storage (yah, there were about 35 boxes), and I do not have access, or it is very difficult to get to them.  If you are ever going to move, I would not recommend having a dish collecting hobby :).  Alas, the reactive ware is not in storage! 

Just a peak of the edge of the dishes.

Just a close-up of this embossed cutie!  These are the real chocolate deal!

 These are the imposters!

These are the little chocolate guys that inspired me.  I have them sitting on a cake plate near my sink.  I bought them years ago at Dillard's, no I mean the Dollar Store!



Just another view of the little guys.



As I was searching in my napkin stash for some napkins to use, I found these CHRISTMAS napkins, and I thought, "Why not?"  As you know, I am a lover of red, and it has the green similar to the green Easter grass  with the bunnies?  What do you think?  As for me, I love it!

Then, of course since there was red in the napkins, I decided to add some red stemware.

Okay, in my crazy mind, this all kind of goes together.  The red and green look great with the background of my red couch, don't you think?



Just another peek  at my table...

This little imposter wishes you all a wonderful Easter.

Thanks for hopping by!

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Table Information:

White chargers, salad plates, bubble stemware, and brown reactive ware plates -- Tai Pan Trading

Red Stemware -- Costco

Flatware -- World Market

Napkins -- Wal-Mart, on sale after Christmas 2012

Napkin Rings -- Bed, Bath and Beyond

Imposter Bunnies -- Dollar Store

Cake Stand -- Home Goods -- They always seems to have cake stands like these.

Posted with Tablescape Thursday

Watercolor Fondant Easter Egg Sugar Cookies

 

 

Dear Readers, in my last post I wrote to you about going to Cookie Con in Salt Lake City.  After that wonderful, creative experience I could not wait to get back to the kitchen to create.  Okay, so I will never be like those cookie artists I featured in this post, but I want to try and share with you quick and fun cookie art ideas. 

 

I will never be making these kind of cookies, but oh how I admire their talent!

 

 

 At Cookie Con I learned to put fondant on cookies.  I learned the water color technique from the talented host of Key Art Studio.  So here goes.  This is such a fun and easy technique!  No mistakes here, but if you don't like the way the coloring was applied, you can just peel off the fondant and try again, and that my friend is a wonderful thing! Try doing that with a royal icing cookie!

 

This is my favorite of the bunch!

 

 

So you just make some wonderful cookies.  I use this recipe, but you can use any recipe.  I like my sugar cookies thick and light on the bottom.  Then either buy or make some fondant.  I used the Wilton recipe for marshmallow fondant here, which I think is a good recipe.  I use a bit of almond flavoring, and I do think the marshmallow fondant tastes good on the cookie.  Roll out your fondant and then either place fondant under your cookie and cut around your cookie; the fondant tends to pull and stretch.   Or you can  out the fondant with a cookie cutter.  Of course, if you cut out the fondant with a cookie cutter, you will have to stretch it out a bit because your cookie will most likely have spread a bit.  So it is not a perfect world even in cookie land; each has its disadvantages so you choose. 

 

I chose using a cookie cutter to cut the fondant.

 





 

Place a bit of water on the back of the fondant cut out, and then apply the fondant to your cookie.  Remember you most likely will have to stretch it a bit, and then smooth it a bit.

 



 

Put a taddle bit of lemon extract, maybe a cap or two, into a container along with some food coloring.  This is just the liquid food coloring that you used to dye eggs with when you were a kid. 

 

 

Then take a bit of some paper towel and dab the towel into the lemon extract and food coloring.  By the way, the lemon extract smells so good when you are working with it ;).  Now, I want you to relax and have some fun.  Just a little tattling about myself.  I don't care too much for cutting out cookies.  I do not care to much for making fondant or royal icing, but I LOVE DECORATING THE COOKIES!!

Now press the paper towel with the coloring on the cookie.  You can vary the look by how you press the paper towel on the cookie.  

Then add another color.  I would stick to just a few colors -- no more than four.  Using a lot of colors might make a muddy cookie!

 



Let the cookie dry.  The alcohol  in the extract will help it to dry.  You don't want to use water because it will take a long time to dry and you will risk having a soggy cookie!

 

After drying you will have some marvelous and unique cookies.  I did these by myself, but I think they would be a fun cookie craft for you and some "littles."  I just love the look of them!

 

 

A little flower wanted to be "water colored too."

 

 

 

Just a funny story about cookie making.  I had a few ladies over to my house for a meeting last night.  I had made these cookies during the day and was letting them dry.  Of course, I showed the ladies the cookies, BUT didn't offer them any to eat!  Why not, they were drying and I hadn't photographed them yet for my blog!  Ya Ya, the life of a blogger -- show them your cookies, but don't let them eat them!

 

Thanks for dropping by my Red Couch today.  Make some cookies for those you love!