Easter Funday

 

It was a very exciting Easter 2015 for CJ, who loves hunting for eggs, eating copious amounts of sugar, and is apparently not at all scared of people in Easter Bunny costumes (go figure). At age 3 1/2, he pretty much rocked the 0-3 age division of this year's "Eggs Eggs Everywhere" hunt at Western Gateway Park. And by far his favorite Easter basket item was what I affectionately refer to as "mega-chick" -- a really huge wind-up chick that CJ assumes is the "Mommy" of his little wind-up chick. Apparently the concept that chicks are chickens has escaped him to this point.

Mega Chick takes no prisoners.

We had a really beautiful morning yesterday in Des Moines, so of course we hit the front yard for an Easter Egg hunt. Since CJ's cousin is barely 1 and doesn't walk yet, he didn't have any competition for our Sunday morning hunt. Needless to say, we're now swimming in candy at our house. Everyone just enjoyed being out in the gorgeous weather and assessing exactly how much mulching we still have to do at our place.

 

 

 

And since my favorite food is brunch (I refuse to be any more specific as I love any and all brunch foods), I was more than excited to cook a meal at our house, including a really simple and yummy raspberry ricotta cake recipe I found in the March issue of Bon Appetit magazine that was the perfect accompaniment to a big meal on a sunny spring morning.

RASPBERRY-RICOTTA CAKE

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. kosher salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 c. ricotta
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 c. frozen raspberries, divided

Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9-inch cake pan with parchment paper and lightly coat with nonstick spray.

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and set aside. Whisk eggs, ricotta, and vanilla in a medium bowl until smooth; fold in dry ingredients until just blended. Then fold in butter, followed by 3/4 cup of the raspberries. Scrape batter into prepared pan and scatter remaining 1/4 cup raspberries over the top.

Bake cake until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, appx. 50-60 mins. Let cool at least 20 mins. before removing from pan. Can be made up to 2 days a head. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

Hope everyone had a happy weekend!