Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! I wanted to share this adorable centerpiece idea (great not just for Easter but also a spring wedding) and my personal favorite recipe for Easter - Easter Pie.

The Spring In A Pot DIY Centerpiece

From Martha Stewart Living: No special flower-arranging skills are needed to make these centerpieces - just a few hallmarks of spring: blades of grass, muscari blooms, and a cache of pretty eggs.

Tools and Materials
Small glass or plastic container
Slightly larger flowerpot
Potting soil
Small flat of wheatgrass
Muscari (or other small flowers)
Wire mesh (or any other material to prop up eggs)
Quail eggs or ostrich eggshell (Quail eggs are available at specialty-food stores and localharvest.org; ostrich eggshells, at uniquelyemu.com.)

Centerpiece How-To
1. Place the small container inside the larger flowerpot. Fill in the gap between the two with potting soil, and water lightly.

2. Tear off small clumps of wheatgrass (gently, keeping soil and roots intact), and arrange them on top of the potting soil. Fill in with muscari.

3. Place a small ball of wire mesh in the small container, and pile quail eggs on top. (If using an ostrich eggshell, no mesh is needed.)

Easter Pie Recipe by Giada Di Laurentiis

An Italian tradition, "Easter Pie", as it is colloquially known, is a quiche-like, savory pie, filled with eggs, cheese, meat, and a variety of other possibilities. They can also be a sweeter version (like this one) and used as a dessert. In Naples, it is known as "pastiera," and is made with ricotta cheese and whole grains of wheat to symbolize rebirth. This is the fourth year my husband and I have celebrated Easter together, and I have made this pie every year for us to have our own Easter tradition. Happy Baking!

Ingredients
3/4 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for garnish
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
1/2 cup cooked short-grained rice
1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
6 sheets fresh phyllo sheets or frozen, thawed
3/4 stick (3 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

Directions
Blend 3/4 cup of powdered sugar, eggs, vanilla, orange zest and ricotta in a food processor until smooth. Stir in the rice and pine nuts. Set the ricotta mixture aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Lightly butter a 9-inch glass pie dish. Lay 1 phyllo sheet over the bottom and up the sides of the dish, allowing the phyllo to hang over the sides. Brush the phyllo with the melted butter. Top with a second sheet of phyllo dough, laying it in the opposite direction as the first phyllo sheet. Continue layering the remaining sheets of phyllo sheets, alternating after each layer and buttering each sheet. Spoon the ricotta mixture into the dish. Fold the overhanging phyllo dough over the top of the filling to enclose it completely. Brush completely with melted butter.

Bake the pie until the phyllo is golden brown and the filling is set, about 35 minutes. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely. Sift powdered sugar over the pie and serve.