Brunch With Babs' Favorite Easter Family Traditions Are So Wholesome - Exclusive

Barbara Costello is affectionately known as the internet's grandma because she delivers great advice and easy-to-follow recipes in her videos. The Brunch with Babs star told Mashed in an exclusive interview that when it comes to prepping for big holidays like Easter, it's important to plan ahead. She explained that she traditionally likes to make her grandmother's Easter bread, which she makes a week before her family celebration.

"There are certain traditional foods that we have every year that [are part of] establishing those traditions, because I think it's important for a family to feel like, 'That's how we do it. This is what we have for Easter,'" the Chicago native explained. "Our traditional Easter meal is lamb. I also make ham because we have some Irish people. And my mother — rest her soul — I have her lamb cake mold, so I'll make a carrot cake in that."

The social media maven also revealed that her grandmother used to make a doll out of the Easter bread for her 22 grandchildren. Babs admitted she's still trying to figure out how to make the food figurines, so she makes each of her grandkids wreaths instead.

Costello grew up with Italian and Lebanese parents and explained the kitchen was always a bustling place full of activity. The "Celebrate with Babs" author said that while her family typically serves lamb for the holiday, they also add some other delicious dishes. "I make very simple Lebanese rice — rice and chicken broth and pignoli nuts," Babs divulged. "That's traditionally what we have. I have a wonderful spring salad in the cookbook that a friend of mine gave me. It's strawberries and ramen noodles, and it's wonderful."

The TikTok star also described that Easter traditionally has more of a Middle Eastern slant because of how her relatives celebrated. "When my grandparents were alive and my mom and father were here, we would always have pasta as well, because we never had a holiday without pasta being after the appetizers," she said. "The second course would be pasta, then the lamb and the potatoes and the rice and all that business. But pasta somewhere."

Barbara Costello's cookbook, "Celebrate with Babs," is available on Amazon. Follow @brunchwithbabs on TikTok and Instagram, and check out the #WomenofTikTok: Women Who Will.