Thursday, April 8, 2010

Courtney's Birthday!

One of Courtney's favorite dessert's is Neopolitan, originally named Banana Split. The recipe is from Jan Petteys (our Pastor's wife) and she is one fine cook! Jan placed sliced banana's on top of the crust before adding the ice cream, hence the name.
Neopolitan:
2 packages graham crackers (finely crushed)
1/2 cup melted butter
1/4 cup sugar (or a bit more)
Combine above ingredients and pat into a 9 x 13 pan, place in freezer for awhile
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1/2 gallon Neopolitan ice cream, sliced in approximately 1" pieces to fit on top of crust
1 cup chopped peanuts
Place the ice cream slices on top of crust and then sprinkle peanuts over all
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Now the chocolate sauce:
Melt together:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup milk chocolate chips
add 2 cups 10x sugar (sifted) alternately with 1 1/2 cup evaporated milk slowly
over medium heat bringing to a boil and cook until thick ( this takes awhile)
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Remove from heat and add 1 teaspoon of Madagascar vanilla
and allow to cool at room temperature
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After the chocolate sauce has cooled, pour on top of peanuts and place back in freezer
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Whip 2 small cartons of whipping cream and sweeten to your taste
Spread over chocolate topping and top with additional chopped peanuts if desired
Return to freezer
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Enjoy


Auntie Courtney with Maggie~ About to extinguish the candles

Another favorite recipe of Courtney's is chicken salad...
Chicken Salad:
1 pound elbow macaroni, cooked & cooled
1 cup chopped carrots
1 large head of broccoli, separated
2 cups grapes, sliced in 1/2
1 cup chopped sweet pickles
8 hard boiled eggs, chopped
2/3 cup chopped sweet onion
4-5 large chicken breasts, cooked
Mix the above together and add a little Hellman's Light to the mixture...(maybe 3/4 cup or so)
3 to 4 small cartons whipping cream (whipped & sweetened to taste) and now add to the salad

You can add chopped dried cherries, celery, etc. to the above~

I generally decorate the salad with a few mandarin oranges, sliced fresh strawberries, and sprinkle with dill weed.

The crowning touch is Sugared Almonds:
1 egg white, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup sliced almonds
2 tablespoons butter, melted
Beat egg white at high speed of electric mixer until foamy. Gradually add sugar (1 tbsp. at a time), beating until stiff peaks form. Fold in almonds. Pour butter into a 9" square pan. Spread coated almonds in pan over butter. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until almonds are dry, stirring every 5 minutes. Set almonds aside to cool and allow guests to garnish their own chicken salad!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Now comes the "Easter Bunny"

Sorry the adorable picture is not rotated...

Such a happy little Maggie!

And now the Easter Bunny has arrived!!!

He is Risen! Happy Easter!

Easter sunrise from our deck...Christ has risen...He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

It is a season of Hope!!!

Now to the Cookies!!!

Caribe & Courtney joined me on Saturday to make Easter cookies! Courtney continues to be our inspiration and she is a good little instructor! The bunnies turned out so adorable with the touch of green icing!Now on to the cute little chicks...they were decorated with modified royal icing and then dipped in colored sugar for a finishing touch!

This was the lone tulip...when cutting out the cookies I thought perhaps the tulip would be difficult to frost but I should have made more...they are so cute!

The carrots turned out cute!!!

Monday, April 5, 2010

More prepping for Easter

Motorcycle Bunny is a treasured gift from Courtney & Matt purchased from a cute shop in Marshall, Michigan!As you can see, Motorcycle Bunny is perfectly displayed on the sofa table along with the antique looking tree adorned with ornaments and another bunny in the same color scheme!

The Welcome Spring sign was purchased at "The Barn" several years ago. Jan Milbert, along with her husband, sister, and brother-in-law created some beautiful items and I wish they were still in business!
A colorful display to welcome family & friends!

Preparing for Easter's Arrival

This will be the first year with a grandchild in our midst and even though Maggie is only 11 weeks old there needs to be some eggs and bunnies!!! The playful plastic eggs are displayed on bittersweet vines.The little bunny is ready with his basket of eggs!!!

Miniature daffodils bloomed just in the nick of time!

And the brilliant little crocus erupting for our spring-time pleasure!

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Spring? Perhaps an early one this year (2010)

The above photo of miniature daffodils was taken this morning (3/16/2010) and they are approximately 1 1/2 inches high already! Can't wait for the bright yellow flowers to appear!
Here we have poppies and clearly you can tell that I have not groomed the garden yet but if I were not on my way to work I would be grubbing in the flowers today because the temperature is supposed to reach sixty degrees by afternoon!!! Spring is such a beautiful time of year (once we get beyond the "dirty snow sludge").