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    The verdict is in!  This year, in order to accommodate everyone's schedules, we are doing Easter Brunch at our house!  I am actually pretty excited about it! All of the kids who live in town, and those "adopted" into our family kids and various other friends and family are going to attend church with us at 8:30 AM. My husband and I will be singing in the choir.  I am going to love looking down from the choir loft and seeing so many loved ones there with us listening to the Easter message.  We get done with our Sunday meetings at 10:30.  Since we live across the street from our chapel, it will be easy to come home and pull out all of the food that I will have prepared the day before and enjoy a lovely brunch together! 
      And what will the menu be, you ask?  Well, that is still in the planning stages.  But one of our favorite dessert/brunchy foods is a nice cake roll! We usually make and give away pumpkin rolls at Christmas time.  (I can't believe we haven't shared our recipe for those yet)!  For Easter, I thought a nice Carrot Cake Roll sounded like just the thing for Spring! I've made one to try it out!  It is definitely going on my Easter Brunch menu! 

     As I began to create this recipe, I started thinking about other cake roll recipes I've made or eaten.  The nice things about cake rolls is that you get a lot of bang for your buck! They are pretty simple to make, they don't have to bake very long and they look beautiful when they are all finished and decorated and sliced!  Best of all, they taste deliciously decadent! All of these thoughts helped me to decide that cake rolls would be the Friday Faves subject for this week! Not only that, I came up with a nice little surprise for our subscribers!  You may or may not know that our subscribers all get a secret link to a secret page on our blog where they can download printables just for them! Today, I am giving a nice little Spring/Easter Gift of a Mini Cookbook with 3 Cake Roll Recipes, along with some tips and variations for making them to our subscribers!  All you have to do to download your own copy is to subscribe to our blog!  Don't worry, I only send 1 email a week.  I welcome new subscribers and give them the link to the secret page and tell you about what we are up to.  It's painless! All you have to do is put your email in the box at the top of this page, or on the pop-up that appears.  
     Now, on to the Carrot Cake Roll! 

     This cake roll has the traditional carrot cake flavors of cinnamon and carrot with some sweetness of pineapple.  The filling is a cream cheese filling with pineapple added as well.  You don't have to add the pineapple, you can make it a plain cream cheese filling.  But, my husband loved the pineapple in the filling.  The frosting is our regular popular recipe.  Those carrots aren't fondant, I just piped them on with the frosting. I am so excited to serve this at our Easter Brunch!  And you can make it and serve it as well!  Just follow us here on the blog and we will send you the link to the  Mini Cookbook with this Carrot Cake Roll recipe plus 2 others that are faves, with ideas for delicious cake roll variations. 
      I printed off my own copy of the Mini Cookbook and put it right into my Bloggelicious Baking Binder under the cake section.  You can order your own Bloggelicious Baking Printables here.  It is a great way to organize all of the recipes that you print from online sites.  I find it so much easier to print them off when I use them often, rather that searching for them again and again online. 

      Now, on to the rest of my menu!  Deviled Eggs are a must. Some croissants with various fillings to choose from?  Do you have any great ideas for me?  Let me know in the comments with a link to your recipe!  I am open for some wonderful ideas! Thanks! I'll let you know the final menu soon.

       I can't forget a nice tablescape as well! 

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     One weekly date that I try to keep as often as possible is going over to my son's house every Tuesday and eating lunch with his two children.  One is almost 3 and the other is 6 months old.  I started when there was only the oldest and we called it "Lunch with Spencer."  Now that I babysit my daughter's baby, Emily, I take her along and it is a nice time for these cousins to connect.  
       I usually stop at a different take-out restaurant and pick up food for everyone.  Since my son works from home, I get lunch for him, my DIL, myself, and the kids.  (Well, Emily mostly shares with me and Amelia is too young for that kind of food yet, but you get the idea.) I have started to learn what everyone likes.  For example, if I stop at Subway, I know my DIL likes the meatball sub.  
        Recently, I was looking at Jan D'Atri's website. She published a version of a Meatball Sub Casserole that I thought looked delicious and I figured that my DIL would really enjoy it.  I tried it out and it was very tasty. DIL did really like it!  My only problem was that I like to do my garlic bread slightly differently and I decided to make my own meatballs.  I wanted the bread to come out a little crispier the second time I made it.  So, I took her awesome recipe and adapted it to my taste and this time, it really hit the spot with ME!  I am going to make this version and take it to "Lunch with Spencer" and see how everyone likes it. 

          Click on the pictures to get a quick overview of what I did: 

Meatball Sub Casserole

     One warning!  There is a lot of stretchy, melty cheese in this casserole that can be kind of deliciously messy!  I sure didn't mind that though!  

P.S.  It is even better if you use good cheese! 

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     We have people over for dinner quite often, whether it is family or friends who are like family or people we are just getting to know.  When I have the same people over very often, I have to change up what I cook, but when I am having people over for the first time, there are a few menus that I go to for "company meals."  Now that my girls are all off living on their own, I asked them what meals they like to serve when they have friends over.  We came up with a nice variety of choices! Some can be served a little nicer, but many lend themselves to more informal, comfortable, and delicious nights of food and gathering together.  So, today for Friday Faves the question is: 

What do you like to serve company for dinner? 

1. The hands down favorite around here is Taco Night.  I don't think I have ever shown you guys how I make tacos, I make them just like my mama used to.  I stand at the stove and cook them up hot while everyone puts on toppings buffet style around the island.  We will have to do a video or a Facebook live one of these days because my tacos are pretty darn good and it is a fun way to eat dinner as well as have fun and conversation! 

     2.  Coming in at a close 2nd to taco night is Green Chili Burro night.  This one involves a roast in          a crock-pot and once again all of the Mexican toppings.  Plus, there is usually rice and beans to           go along with it.  Maybe some Guacamole.  If we are having a large crowd, I sometimes serve             both tacos and burritos. 

      3.  Lasagna is always a great crowd pleaser and you can serve a lot of people with it and some                  salad.  Alicia shared her recipe for the Best Lasagna Ever awhile back.  And Lindsey made a                   Zucchini  Lasagna here.  Now I am really hungry for lasagna just thinking about it! 
     4.  Along those Italian lines, Lindsey and Maddy both like Spaghetti!  Lindsey likes to be able to                  toss the sauce in the crock pot and Maddy can make it without meat.  Lindsey may even                      serve it over spiralized zucchini. 
     5.  Stuffed Shells are similar to Lasagna, but maybe a little fancier?  They are a favorite of                             Lindsey's. 
​     6.  Speaking of crock-pots, they can really help relieve the stress of getting food made and the                house straightened for company at the same time!  Or, if you work the day that company is                  coming, you can just throw something in it in the morning and it will be delicious and ready by            the time you get home.  One of my favorite go-to meals, and my family's favorites is this                      Chicken Casserole that I showed in the crock-pot, but often make in the oven as well.                        People always love it. 
​          I am still just learning how to use my Instant Pot, or I am sure that I would have recipes on                   here for using it, too.

​6.  The final thing that we love to serve is grilled burgers, my husband's favorite!  Practice and                   find the method that you love when it comes to grilling burgers, add all of the toppings and                   some good sides and you will be set! 

     What do you like to make for company? Leave us a reply in the comments! 

Past Friday Fave you may have missed but shouldn't have: ​