Easter Basket Deviled Eggs

My youngest brother, Matt, works on Sundays and was unable to get Easter Sunday off to join us for a family meal.  This year, he requested Palm Sunday off and it was approved, so 15 of us joined together to celebrate Easter a week early.

In order to get this up quickly, in case you would like to make these cute deviled eggs for your Easter meal this weekend, I won't be posting how to make deviled eggs, just how to decorate them to make them look like a basket of Easter eggs.  I will let you know, however, that when preparing the yolks, I add mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish, and mustard to make mine.

As you can see above, I used a wavy cutter I purchased from Pampered Chef years ago to cut the eggs.  Somehow I thought that would give them more of a basket look.  After removing the yolks to a bowl, where I added the ingredients listed above, I used a plastic bag to pipe the filling into each egg white half.

Then I added a pinch of alfalfa sprouts.  I was hoping they would stay more contained to the yolk area, but those little sprouts have a mind of their own and there were 24 of them to prepare, so I refused to fight them.

Using five different colors on each egg, I added some candy-coated sunflower seeds, which became the eggs in the basket.  I found the colorful sunflower seeds at Trader Joe's, but I've also seen them at party stores.  I kept my eyes open for them when shopping since the first of the year.  By sticking them into the yolk mixture a little bit, it ensured they would not roll off the egg when picked up by the consumer.

The final step was to add the "handle" of the basket using a short piece of chive.  I thought they would be a bit more rounded in appearance.  But, they preferred to bend instead of curve nicely.  There wasn't time to fight them into submission, so each one is a bit different.  I will try to perfect this before I make them the next time.

All in all, I was pleased with how they turned out.  The were a cute addition to the table and they tasted good too!  Enjoy!

Mexicorn Dip

This was a new recipe I tried for our annual beach trip this year and it was a huge hit.  As I was making it, I thought the amount was so great that I'd be bringing some home for sure, but every drop disappeared on the beach!

Everyone who tried this dip raved about it.  My youngest son brought a friend with him this year and I discovered that he is a vegetarian the first day of our trip.  I hadn't prepared anything specifically for him to eat, so I was glad I had made this dip, which he loved!  I found this recipe on Pinterest but it originated on tastykitchen.com.

In a large bowl, I combined the mexicorn, diced green chilies, diced bell pepper and diced jalapenos.  The recipe also calls for diced green onions, but I chose to bring them to the beach separately and add them just before serving, as I was afraid they may get wilted if I added them the day before serving this dip.

After shredding the cheese, I added it to the vegetable mixture.

Then I added the sour cream and mayonnaise.  I used a Tupperware bowl, because in addition to being airtight like all Tupperware is guaranteed to be, any container with a round seal is also guaranteed to liquid tight.  It's insurance that as the ice melts in my cooler, no water will get into my Tupperware bowl!  As the recipe suggested, I served this dip with Frito's Scoops.  Enjoy!

Mexicorn Dip

2 cans (11 oz. each) Mexicorn, drained

1 can (4 oz.) diced green chilies

1 whole bell pepper, diced

3 whole green onions, chopped

2 jalapenos, diced (remove seeds)

8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mayonnaise

Mix all together; refrigerate until serving with Frito's Scoops.

Open-Faced White Cheddar Cheese Sandwiches

I have served this sandwich a few times at teas I have hosted, but most recently served it at a garden party where I catered all of the food.  I offered four savory options and three deserts, so I apologize for not having preparation pictures.  A big thank you to Connie Shelton who took pictures of my food that day and without whom I would not have a picture to share with you here!

I found this recipe in the January/February issue of Tea Time Magazine.  This open-faced sandwich is a bit of a surprise to the taste buds because it has a bit of heat from a little cayenne pepper, but it's also bursting with flavor.  Most people are surprised that it's made with white cheddar because of the color, however, the cayenne gives the cheese the orange hue.

A food processor is a necessary tool when making this recipe to get the texture just right. There are only a few steps to making this sandwich, so it doesn't take much time.  

After shredding the cheeses, I place them, the mayonnaise and cayenne pepper into my food processor fitted with the blade attachment.  Using the pulse button, I combine the ingredients until they are fully incorporated and mostly smooth.  The roasted red peppers come in strips, so after I drain them, I dice them.  After dicing the fresh chives, I remove the cheese mixture to a medium bowl and fold in the peppers and chives.  

If I'm serving these right away, I cut my bread into shapes and dress them with the cheese mixture and a couple of fresh chives for garnish.  The bread can be cut into any shape you desire, making sure they aren't any bigger than about 2 inches in diameter.  

When serving sandwiches at a tea, I've found that the bread can dry out pretty quickly.  The way to avoid this is to place your sandwiches on your serving plate, then cover with wax paper.  Completely cover the wax paper with slightly wet paper towel.  The wet paper towel will keep in the moisture and the wax paper acts as a barrier to keep the sandwiches from getting wet.  Remove both layers just before serving.  This works every time!

In this case, I wanted to make as many things ahead of time as possible, so I toasted my bread the day before and stored the pieces in a zip lock bag.  Sandwiches are usually cut in squares, triangles, and rectangles, so I decided to have a different look and cut the bread into hexagons. Open-faced sandwiches give you more of an option that way.

I had made the cheese mixture ahead of time also and brought it in a Tupperware bowl, so all I had to do was assemble the sandwiches.  I thought spreading the cheese would take too much time, so I used the smallest of my Pampered Chef scoops to top the toast with the cheese, then applied two small pieces of chives for garnish.  They tasted as good as they looked!  Enjoy!

Addendum:

I made these delicious open-faced sandwiches today again for a Fall Tea.  To make it a little more theme related, I used bread shaped like oak leaves and I put a clove in the top of the cheese ball to make it resemble a pumpkin!  This side view isn't the best, but I'll show you how I did it.

 Using an oak leaf cookie cutter, I cut out two leaves from each slice of multi grain bread.  Using a butter knife, I made an indentation up the middle to resemble the main vein in the leaf.

Then, I toasted them in the toaster oven.  I made the leaf toasts a day ahead, and once they were cooled, I stored them in a zip-lock bag until they were ready to top with the cheese ball.

Following the recipe below, I made the cheese mixture.  Using the smallest (about 1-inch) Pampered Chef scoop, I placed cheese on the end of each leaf and placed a clove in the top.  I just love playing with food!  Enjoy!

Open-Faced White Cheddar Cheese Sandwiches

8 oz. sharp white cheddar cheese, shredded

8 oz. Monterey Jack cheese, shredded

5 tablespoons mayonnaise

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

½ cup diced marinated roasted red peppers

¼ cup minced chives

12 slices multigrain bread, cut into rounds with a 2-inch cookie cutter

Garnish:  fresh chives

In the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, pulse together the cheddar, Monterey Jack, mayonnaise, and cayenne until mixture is mostly smooth.  Fold in the diced red peppers and chives until well combined.  Spread a small amount on each bread round and garnish with fresh chives, if desired.