Sunday, April 4, 2010

Spring Bunny

Happy Easter!

When I was shopping for the stuff for this meatloaf, I couldn't resist picking up an Easter lily and other pretty spring flowers. I figured I'd use them in the presentation and then bring them to my grandmother. It was worth it to see my daughter, 22 months, walk down the Park Slope street in a spring dress, carrying flowers. But I digress.

The bunny is covered in lots of ricotta cheese to give him rabbit-like fluffiness. (And come on, that cheese makes anything taste good.) For the pink in his ears and nose, I repurposed last week's pink mashed potatoes. And his eye is a simple bean.

Before baking, I used a knife to carve out lines on the basket. I hollowed out the basket using 3 raw eggs while baking. After it cooked I removed those eggs and replaced them with eggs my kids had colored and decorated. The two eggs on the right say Melody and Theo. Also in the basket is some curly parsley.

The "grass" is created from chives...I didn't trim them because I liked the look of the wild grass.

My intent was for the bunny to be peering in the basket, but my husband says it looks like he's pushing the basket. What do you think?

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Layer Cake? April Fools!

Of course I didn't make this "cake" with the intention of actually fooling anyone. So imagine my delight when Melody walked in, saw it, and happily chirped, "Cake!" I asked my 21-month-old if she wanted some. "Yeah."

I fed her a bite and she made a face. Uhhh, mom, why isn't this sugary?

Wanna know how I made the pink "frosting?" I'm dying to tell you! When I started this blog I promised myself I wouldn't use food coloring. Dear readers, I kept my promise. I dyed my mashed potatoes using beet water--the water in which I steamed beets. My original thought was to puree the beets and mashed potatoes together, but once I realized that just the water would do the trick, I didn't need to take that extra step.

My husband showed me this awesome George Carlin bit...check it out, starting at :50 seconds. He does a bit where he can't identify leftovers in the fridge. "Is it meat or is it cake?" 

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