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What I think: This is a terrific time to take advantage of all the summer sales around because the prices are low and the selections are still good.  Here’s just a partial round-up of some of the sales on now….

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For those of you anxiously awaiting Easter time, the one thing that makes Easter extra special are decorated Easter cookies. Just like Christmas cookies have become a staple of Christmas time, so have Easter cookies become a part of Easter tradition. There are numerous great ways to dress up the Easter season and embellished Easter cookies are just one of them. Here are some tips on putting smiles on the faces of your little ones or friends this Easter season.

Decorated Easter Cookies Come in Many Shapes and Sizes
Decorated Easter cookies can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and if you can conceptualize it you can surely create it. For most people Easter is affiliated with bunnies, rabbits, chicks, lambs and Easter eggs. For the most part you can usually find all these shapes and more in the form of cookie cutters.

Cookie cutters are almost always easy to pick up at numerous discount shops, grocery stores, and craft shops. Or you can usually make them yourself- you just need some pliable metal and an idea. If you do not have a cookie cutter, no big deal. In fact many people that are artistically gifted choose to cut their own shapes out of cookie dough themselves, without the use of any cookie cutter.

Decorated Easter Cookies Start Out with Scrumptious Cookie Dough
The most important thing about the embellished Easter cookies that you prepare is that must taste just as great as they look. No one likes a nasty tasting cookie. For many chefs, a tasty cookie begins with delicious cookie dough. Yes, you can purchase the dough already pre-made and ready to cut, but for the purists out there, start with a family recipe that is either chocolate chip or of the sugar cookie nature.

Decorate Your Cookie Using the Tools of the Trade
It’s easy to adorn your Easter cookies, just make sure you have all the tools of the trade. They usually involve, food coloring, colored frosting, sprinkles, delicious candies such as licorice, M& M’s, nuts, marshmallows, etc. Once you have gotten the cookie shape, let yourself or your kids use their creative magic to make wonderfully decorated Easter cookies. You can find food coloring and many cool decorating accessories at your local grocery store. You can even purchase ready-made Easter embellishments to add to your cookies, cakes or Easter eggs.

Presentation is Key
Once your decorated Easter cookies are complete, make sure to show them off to the rest of the family and even give them away to your colleagues and friends. Savor the Easter spirit by showing off your tasty and creative embellished Easter cookies.

One creative tip is to take some photos of your adorned Easter cookies and include them in your yearly Easter scrapbook, this way you can regularly look back at the savory and beautifully adorned Easter cookies that you have created.

You can also write the cookie recipe on a pretty note card and include a photo of your Easter cookies to give to family and coworkers. Many people cherish handmade gifts, especially when it’s a treasured family recipe.

If you are looking to maximize your gratification of Easter this year, take part in making decorated Easter cookies.

Christine Steendahl Is The Founder Of Dine Without Whine – The Number One Online Source For Affordable And Family Friendly Weekly Meal Planning. Eliminate Your Dinner Hour Stress And Re-Discover The Pleasure Of The Dinner Hour! For A Free Sample Menu And Grocery List Visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com

With spring fast approaching, Easter is just around the corner. One of the most enjoyed holidays is Easter and part of the reason why this holiday is so much fun is the food associated with it. If you are hosting an Easter meal with your friends or loved ones this year, here are some great hints for some yummy Easter recipes.

Maple Syrup Ham and Sweet Potatoes with Marshmallows
One of the most requested types of food to eat at Easter is ham and you can sweeten up the flavor of it by adding some tasty maple syrup. While your store bought maple syrup should work, try to purchase maple syrup that is 100% pure and not made with corn syrup. Adding pure maple syrup will add a sweet, delicious taste that your friends and loved ones will love.

You can quickly accompany your maple syrup ham with some yummy sweet potatoes smothered in miniature marshmallows. Sweet potatoes will be your maple syrup ham’s best friend. For an extra treat, add miniature marshmallows and you will definitely get some smiles from children and adults alike.

Easter Bunny Cookies
Although chocolate bunnies are pivotal to Easter, cookies can also be a fun treat. Just like Christmas cookies are fun to bake and yummy to eat, so are Easter Bunny cookies. Most food stores, discount stores, and craft retailers sell Easter Bunny cookie cutters to make your favorite chocolate chip or sugar cookie into some fantastic Easter Bunny shapes.

Easter Egg Cup Cakes
Easter Egg cup cakes are a fun way to add excitement to the holidays for your children. Easter Egg Cupcakes are an easy and fun way to bring color to any Easter dinner dessert. Instead of using cup cake holders, try to use small waffle cones to hold your cup cake mixture. Once baked, add coloring, sprinkles, candy, etc. to your creation.

Easter Bunny Carrot Cake
Easter Bunny carrot cake is an awesome way to add color and fun for the whole family. What goes better with bunny rabbits than carrots and a yummy carrot cake goes with an Easter dinner. You can simply buy a carrot cake and decorate the top by hand. Many people create their own frosting adding food coloring to color the carrot cake to look like an Easter egg.

Easter Cocktails
For those adults that prefer to top off their dinner with a delicious alcoholic libation, there are many fun cocktails that compliment the atmosphere of an Easter dinner. For example, certain liquors come in several colors such as grenadine for scarlet, blue Curacao for blue and mixing clear liquor with assorted fruit juices for multicolored Easter drinks. For those that like a cocktail without the alcohol, it’s easy to add color to your meal with a host of fresh fruit smoothies, just by adding fresh fruit with cream or milk. Many people even add a little yogurt to the mix.

If you are looking for a great way to enjoy your Easter this year, take a look at the above Easter recipes.

Christine Steendahl Is The Founder Of Dine Without Whine – The Number One Online Source For Affordable And Family Friendly Weekly Meal Planning. Eliminate Your Dinner Hour Stress And Re-Discover The Pleasure Of The Dinner Hour! For A Free Sample Menu And Grocery List Visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com

Easter eggs generally start with hard boiled eggs, so purchase one dozen or two for coloring. Gently lower them in boiling water for about 10 minutes. The eggs will cook and become hard boiled. Now just let them dry.

The most convenient way to color your Easter eggs is to acquire an Easter egg decorating kit. These kits generally include dyes to paint your Easter eggs several colors, templates or stickers to adorn and design them, and an Easter egg holder to easily allow them to dry. Most kits only cost a few dollars and are extremely practical.

You can also prepare your own colored dye. You can mix about 1 tbsp. of food coloring with a half tsp. of vinegar, then add about 1/2 cup to a third cup of water. Now just soak your Easter egg into the colored cup of water. The longer your egg sits in the water, usually the deeper and darker the color.

Moreover you can hand paint your Easter eggs. You can find many water color paints or other types of paints to design and decorate your eggs. Even undiluted food coloring usually works. It is important to note that you shouldn’t eat any eggs that you have used paint on.

Designing or decorating your egg is fun and easy as well. Once the eggs are hard boiled, you can secure stickers to the egg, use a brush to carefully coat a creative design, or glue construction paper cut outs to your egg. Some people even dress their Easter eggs up with doll or handmade clothing made from wool or other kinds of fabrics.

Christine Steendahl Is The Founder Of Dine Without Whine – The Number One Online Source For Affordable And Family Friendly Weekly Meal Planning. Eliminate Your Dinner Hour Stress And Re-Discover The Pleasure Of The Dinner Hour! For A Free Sample Menu And Grocery List Visit http://www.dinewithoutwhine.com

Have fun!

At Easter we try to explain the resurrection of Christ to our children in a unique way so they will really understand it.

Numerous people have questioned and even ridiculed the idea of the resurrection of Jesus over the centuries. The author of The Passover Plot suggests that Jesus swooned or fainted on the cross. The author then claims that Jesus was later revived by the cool, moist air of the tomb.

Despite such novel theories that attempt to explain away the resurrection of Christ, Josh McDowell in Evidence That Demands a Verdict, points out several key historical facts that have never been refuted. (1)

We want our children to learn AND remember the Easter story. So we will try to not only tell but also show them what it all means.

This year on Easter Sunday morning our six children will get in their Easter baskets, along with 2 feet chocolate bunnies and lots of jelly beans, a plastic Ziplock bag filled with 6 special objects. These objects are symbols of historical facts that have never been refuted about the Easter Story.

1. Jesus predicted His resurrection. Before His death Jesus told His disciples that

“They will mock him, insult him, spit on him, flog him, and kill him. On the third day

he will rise again” (Luke 18:32-33).

For the first object we place in each Ziplock bag is a three inch piece of string

to symbolize a whip used to beat Jesus.

2. Jesus suffered actual death. Numerous doctors, researchers, and pathologists who have

examined the account of Jesus’ death have concluded He was definitely dead when He was

taken down from the Cross.

For the second one we place in their Ziplock bag is a blunt nail to represent

the Cross and the agony Jesus suffered there for us.

3. Jesus was buried. No one has suggested, not even His enemies among the religious

leaders of that day, that Jesus was never buried. The leaders went to the ruling Roman

governor Pontuis Pilate and pleaded that the tomb be sealed and guarded (Matthew

27:62-66). No one would ask that an empty tomb be guarded.

For the third one we place in the Ziplock bag is a small rock to represent that

the tomb was sealed.

4. The tomb was empty – except for the grave clothes. If the tomb of Jesus wasn’t

empty on Easter morning, the ruling officials would have just had to produce the body

for public viewing. They would have silenced everyone.

For the fourth symbol we place in the Ziplock bag is a white kleenex to

represent the grave clothes.

5. Despite centuries of attacks no critic has been able to adquately explain away

the resurrection. Even Christ’s enemies never refuted His resurrection. Although the

early believers were persecuted for their faith, the facts of Jesus’ resurrection were

never publicly protested or refuted by His enemies (Acts 5:27-31).

For the fifth one we place in the Ziplock bag is a small Cross.

6. The disciples’ lives were changed. Jesus’ followers were demoralized, frightened,

and confused after His death. Then something significant changed this group of cowering

fugitives into a group of fearless evangelists. What was it? The answer is

simple-they saw the risen Jesus.

For the sixth symbol we place in the Ziplock bag is a toothpick to represent a

match, showing that a fire was started and it’s a Flame that cannot be

extinguished.

Each one in our family has have been transformed because we too have met the

risen Jesus. Our sins are forgiven, our future in heaven guaranteed, and

our daily life filled with His living Presence. The key is to place your entire faith on

His finished work on the Cross. Our prayer for ourselves and our children is that we

will be an irrefutable, living argument for the resurrection of Christ

“After He said all of this, he showed then His hands and side. The disciples were

overjoyed when they saw the Lord.” John 20:20

footnote

(1) Josh McDowell, Evidence that Demands a Verdict, vol. I (San Bernardino, CA: Campus

Crusade for Christ, 1972).

———————————————————

Bob Moeller is President of Marriagevine. Conference site is:

www.forkeepsconference.com

Cheryl Moeller is a stand up comic and humor columnist for moms.

www.momlaughs.blogspot.com

Together they have authored two books on marriage. Both books Marriage Minutes,

Moody Press 2000, and For Better, For Worse, For Keeps, Marriagevine 2007, can be

purchased on the conference website above.