Corn and Potato with Jalapeno Soup and a Friday Faves Giveaway

Oh man do I have the travel bug. Ever since spending New Years in Mexico and being spoiled rotten with sunshine on my shoulders and warm sand under my toes, I’ve been trolling the travel sites looking for our next destination.

Finally, a vacation is almost here. Vegas for spring break is in my sites. We won’t be hanging out with the MTV crowd flaunting our bikinis and trying to not—cough, cough—show off our naughty parts as if we were Hollywood elite. No, this will be a family vacation all about the 8 year olds and finding the sunshine. I can’t wait to reprise last year’s Easter poolside fun, daily $2.99 breakfast buffet chow-down and a Vegas ramen eating rampage.

With a fresh snowfall today and more on it’s way for the weekend—I’m certainly ready for spring weather but I’ll happily take a few more spring ski days—this recipe for Corn and Potato with Jalapeño Soup is the perfect transition from winter into spring. It’s not too heavy yet has just enough spice with chunky potatoes and corn to add some bite to the soup’s slurpability leading up to your Easter brunch.

Enough about me, what’s on your Easter agenda? Not sure yet? Well the giveaway below should be.

So let’s get right to our Friday Faves.

1. Our friends at Harry & David want you to have a Classic Easter Basket filled with crunchy goodies, fresh pears and chocolate love. I may or may not have sampled half of this basket. Okay, I did. And happily so. How to win? Jump down to the end of the post to get the details.

2. Inspired by Mrs. Lilien, I’ve started my spring cleaning by digging into my iPhone and deleting the failed apps I may have tried once and have since abandoned but still take up my much coveted digial space. Somehow I don’t think I have shared my new, favorite, only-one-I-use iPhone photo editing app: Afterglow. Melissa turned me on to it and now you must give it a try. At $1.99 you may not need any other filter editing software for your phone. I don’t. And The only apps I did keep are Instagram (as if!), VSCO app and PS Express.

3. Speaking of Melissa, have you seen her croissants yesterday? Holy crap. The fortitude (the recipe lists 11 steps) and dedication (it takes 1 ½ days to make) are so far beyond my bounds that I hang my head in respect. And yes Melissa, my heart is going pitter patter.

4. Easter in the U.S. is a big deal but let’s not forget about the other holiday right at it’s heels: Passover, which this year starts on Monday, March 25. I was thrilled Tori asked me to be part of The Shiksa’s 2013 Passover Potluck featuring recipes from Lori, Jackie, Catherine, Rachael, Irvin, Kathy and David among others. My recipe for Passover Cake Bites goes live on Sunday, March 24 so be sure to check it out and don’t miss the other food bloggers recipes rolling out throughout the week for fantastic meals no matter what your faith.

5. It’s time to turn my wardrobe upside down and ditch the black drabs and insert a few shots of color. My husband and my yoga pants will be thrilled Gap is having a killer sale on tissue T’s. Here’s to a new spring uniform.

6. Kelly gives us a sneak peek of Wide Angle, the new app for Mac that give you instant access to all of your photos and video across all social media platforms in one place. All in one place, could move from interesting to revolutionary.

7. #Happy7thbirthday in 140 characters or less to dear Twitter, your present is your 200,000,000 follower. Where would we be without you and where would celebrities be without us dopes following them? I’m looking for new tweet inspiration, who’s your favorite follow (maybe it’s yourself!)? Let us all know in the comments below. img: @twitterUK

8. Dying eggs is so…2006. These days it’s all about decorating eggs, DIY, image transfers, crochet, caligraphy. Find your style in this round-up of 40 great eggy ideas. img: Brit & Co.

9. If you’re a food blogger, have you taken the Foodista Food Blogging Survey yet?

10. Tweet of the week: “Is your online presence projecting a story that can inspire and/or help others?” ~ @bonnietsang

And now it’s time to enter to win the HARRY & DAVID CLASSIC EASTER BASKET GIVEAWAY. No big deal, just want to give you a little more chocolate to make your holiday a little more special.

Win a Harry & David Classic Easter Basket (value $59.95 USD) that includes:

2 Royal Riviera Pears
Dark Chocolate Moose Munch Popcorn (4.5 oz.)
Dark Chocolate Cherries (6 oz.)
Chocolate Eggs (4 oz.)
Caramel Birds Eggs (4 oz.)
Easter Egg Chocolates (1.9 oz.)
Milk Chocolate Easter Bunny (4.23 oz.)
Net Weight: 2 lbs. 5 oz.

For an easy peasy chance to win, leave a comment about any of the Friday Faves above or let us know what your favorite Easter treat/candy/meal is in the comments on this post and record it in the Rafflecopter list below.

The other entry options are optional, but will give you additional entries (in other words…more chances to win). This giveaway is open to residents of the United States, aged 18 years and older.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway is open until Sunday, March 24, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. MST and is only open to U.S. residents. Be sure a valid email address is included with your comment. Winner will be chosen randomly and announced on this post. I will email the winner and if the winner doesn’t respond in 24 hours, a new winner will be chosen.

A gift basket was provided to me by Harry and David, and they are supplying the giveaway basket to one lucky winner. All opinions are my own.

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