Easter Egg Appetizer

Hard-cook and refrigerate the eggs up to 2 days ahead. Assemble appetizer up to 1 day ahead; decorate up to 8 hours ahead.

Ingredients:

13 large eggs
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter or margarine (not spread), softened
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped scallions
1 cup (8 oz) reduced-fat sour cream
4 oz (1/2 an 8-oz brick) 1/3 –less-fat cream cheese (Neufchatel), softened
Decorations: orange and yellow bell peppers, chives, flat-leaf Italian parsley
Assorted crackers

Directions:

Place eggs in a single layer in a pot. Add cold water to cover by 1 inch. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover and let stand 15 to 17 minutes. Place pot under running cold water 1 minute to halt cooking. Drain, then shake pot side to side until eggshells are well cracked. Cover with cold water and let stand 5 minutes. Hold eggs under running cool water and peel off shells.

Egg-shaped mold: Fold a 25 x 18-inch sheet of heavy-duty foil in half lengthwise. Repeat, folding lengthwise twice until about 2 1/4 inch wide. Tape ends together, overlapping by about 1 inch. Coat inside with nonstick spray. Place on serving Platter and form into a 9 x 5 1/2 – inch egg-shaped ring.

Remove yolk from 1 hard-cooked egg. Press through a sieve into a small cup. Cover and refrigerate to use for decoration. Finely chop remaining egg white and eggs in a food processor (or mash in a bowl). Add butter and salt and process (or mash) until well blended. Spoon into prepared foil mold, spread in an even layer, cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour until firm.

Sprinkle with chopped scallions. Mix sour cream and cream cheese until well blended (it doesn’t have to be completely smooth). Spoon over scallions then spread evenly without disturbing scallions. Cover and chill at least 4 hours.

Brazilian Easter Shrimp in Coconut Sauce

This is a traditional Brazilian Easter dish.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 green pepper, minced
1 small onion, minced
1 large tomato, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/ 1.2 tsp. ground cumin
1/3 cup cilantro, chopped
1 1/2 lb. fresh shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 Tbsp. flour
2 cups coconut milk
salt and pepper to taste
3-4 chopped scallions
handful of grated coconut

Directions:

In a skillet, saut? pepper, onion, tomato, and garlic in oil. Add cumin, cilantro, and shrimp. Saut? until cooked through. Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute. Add coconut milk, cook over low heat until thickened. Season with salt and pepper and serve garnished with scallions and coconut.

EASTER EGG DECORATING IDEAS

Fingerpainted Eggs:

Put a few colors of tempura paint on a paper plate. Hold the egg in the ends with your thumb and finger so you can rotate it while you're stamping. Dip your finger in the paint, dab off the excess on a paper towel, then gently press your finger onto the egg. Do NOT eat eggs that have been painted!

Crayon Resist Eggs:

Color on the Easter eggs before placing in the dye (simple dots, lines shapes swirls, etc...). The wax will resist the dye and your picture will show through. If you are dying Easter eggs with little ones and do not want to use dye, the children can simply color the eggs with crayons and leave it at that.

Waxing Eggs:

Drip wax from a lit taper candle onto the egg. After the wax is set, drop the egg into food coloring dye. Remove from dye and pat dry. You can scrape the wax off and dip into another dye, or leave the wax on if you wish.

Batik Eggs:

Cut out designs from masking tape and stick them onto your egg. Dip the eggs into dye. When they are dry remove the masking tape. You can repeat the process by sticking on new cutouts and re-dipping the egg. You can overlap some of the colors for variety. Be sure to start with the lightest dye and work your way to the darker ones. If you want to keep an area a particular color, cover it with masking tape.

Craft Ideas Courtesy: I Love to Craft.
View more Easter Craft Projects at iLovetoCraft.com
 

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