Pin It To Win It: Easter Edition

I know I'm not alone when I say I love Pinterest. Like, I really love Pinterest. I seriously have an unhealthy addiction to it. I find myself using it for just about everything these days. Cleaning tips...check! Recipes...check! Crafts...check! Decorating ideas...check! I really don't know what I did before Pinterest. 

In all honesty though, I find Pinterest to be a great resource for holidays. And with Easter only a few days away, I compiled some of my favorite ideas for Easter fun with little ones.

1) A Bathtub Easter Egg Hunt from Growing a Jeweled Rose

2) Bunny Hand Prints

3) Bunny Pancakes from Everything Evans

4) Bunny Craft from Raise A Boy

5) Lollipop Garden

6) Natural Easter Egg Dye from Ecocrazy Mom

7) Bunny Bottom Pretzels from  The Queen Says

8) Egg Counting from Creekside Learning

9) Bunny Money from Crafty Journal

Want It Wednesday

I need new pots and pans and have been researching "green" cookware options. I haven't made up my mind yet on which ones to buy, but these beauties (Bialtti Aeternum) are high on my list!

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

To go along with our faux Thanksgiving dinner the other night, I made mashed potatoes. Normally, I make them the old fashioned way....boil the potatoes, mash them, and throw in some seasoning and milk. But on Sunday, I didn't feel like spending the whole afternoon in the kitchen worrying about side dishes so I tried a crockpot version. Not only were these super easy, but they were incredibly delicious. Needless to say, I will not be making mashed potatoes the old fashioned way again. I couldn't find the original source for the recipe but I wish I could since someone deserves a lot of credit for this gem!

Crockpot Mashed Potatoes

5 lbs sierra gold potatoes or red potatoes, diced with peel
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup butter, cut into chunks
• 1 tablespoon salt, plus
• ¾  teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1 1/3  cups milk, warmed

1. Place the potatoes, water, and butter into a slow cooker.
2. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Cover, and cook on High for 4 hours.
4. Do not remove the excess water from slow cooker. This adds to the creamy texture.
5. Mash potatoes with a masher or electric beater, adding the desired amount of warm milk to achieve a creamy consistency.
6. Keep warm on low until serving.
7. Potatoes keep consistency for a couple of hours after mashing. Just keep the lid on the slow cooker and serve directly from there.

Menu Monday 3/25

Call it spring cleaning (or just plain craziness), but I've spent the last two weeks cleaning out and getting organized. No room or closet has been safe, including our freezer. Spending every second on cleaning/organizing projects left little time for cooking, so I used a lot of freezer meals (which helped us work our way through our freezer inventory). An unexpected benefit of eating freezer meals was that I found a turkey that had been hiding in the dark recesses of the freezer. I knew it would be a perfect Sunday dinner for us and that the leftovers would serve as a starting point for our meals for the rest of our week.

Sunday: Turkey

Monday: Spaghetti

Tuesday: Southwest Turkey Sandwiches

Wednesday: Potato and Turkey Lasagna *

Thursday: Italian Turkey Soup

Friday: Pizza

Saturday: No plan (we have a party to go to...yea!)

*New recipe 

I shared this menu on Weekly Menu Monday:

In No Simple Language