Easter Celebration

We celebrated Easter on Saturday this year since my nephew's girl friend Tara and I work in the restaurant business it's really hard to get the holidays off, so many times we celebrate before or after the actual holiday. My family is pretty used to this since I have been in this business since I was 14 years old so this is nothing new.

We were really blessed with some really nice weather so that we could be outside. Here's my niece Gina and her man Ben playing bad mitten and even the cats were getting involved.

Since Pepper was getting into the game, Elix thought that he should be a part of it too!

This is my sister in law Wendy
Here's my dad

Here's my niece Gina and her man Ben.

This is my nephew Erick and his girl Tara. Don't they make the cutest couple?
I think so!

Wow did I say we celebrated Easter or was it Thanksgiving? My brother's tummy
was full so what else is there to do but sleep! I didn't take a picture of my dad but he was

doing the same thing! I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree!!!

It was a wonderful Easter and we have such a good time when we all can get together.

There is one person missing have you guessed who yet? If you guessed Dave you are correct. He also works in the restaurant business he is a banquet chef at the Edina Country Club and he had to work until 9:00 then he had to come home, try to sleep fast and get up and be to work at 4:00 am! I sure do feel sorry for him that is no fun having to work back to back like that but Easter is their busiest holiday at the club.

I love it when Dave works at the club on holidays because he always thinks of me and brings me home some of the nicest flowers! Here's what he brought home for me for Easter

Aren't they beautiful?

I hope your Easter was great and that the Easter Bunny brought you some really good treats!

Happy Easter!

I am sending Peter Cotton tail your way with tons of colored eggs and wonderful goodies to fill your Easter basket with! I hope you have a great Easter and remember don't eat all the chocolate bunny at one time, save a little for later!

Raspberry Cheese Spread

I was surfing all of my blogs in search of a great new recipe to take to work on Monday to celebrate a few birthdays that were at the end of march and I came across this. It is WONDERFUL!!! I know, I know, you are going to read the ingredients and say "Who would ever put raspberry jelly with a cheese mixture?" Well do not knock this until you try it! Everyone at work loved this recipe so give it a try it is very easy and very elegant looking!

If you do not like raspberry this would be awesome with pepper jelly too!

Raspberry Cheese Spread

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 cup mayonnaise

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

3 green onions, finely chopped

1 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup seedless raspberry preserves

In small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese and mayonnaise until blended. Beat in cheeses and onions. Stir in pecans. Spread into a plastic wrap-lined 9 round dish. Refrigerate until set, about 1 hour. Invert onto a serving plate; spread with preserves. Serve with crackers.

Note: The 1/4 cup of raspberry preserves is a little skimpy......I'd go ahead and add a good 1/2 cup or more to ensure that each little scooplet gets some raspberry goodness. ;)

I found this at Michelle Wooderson's blog and she notes that this comes from Taste of Home. If you would like to check out her blog just click here. She is very talented and I have made several of her recipes and they are all wonderful!

April Fools!

It's April Fools Day and how many times are you gonna get fooled? I try and try every year not to get fooled but alas, I always do! It will be fun to see what people come up with today!!

Well here's something that I don't fool around with and that is the April Stamp Of The Month!!! It is called Flower pot and what a great set for making thank you cards! Here is some art work made with this set!

Here is some great art made using this set:

You can get this set at full price $25 or you can get it at a discount with a qualifying purchase. If you spend $25 you will get it at 25% off, if you spend $50 you will get this at 50% off, if you spend $75 you will get it at 75% off and if you spend $100 you will get it for free! What a great deal!!!

I will be placing an order on April 23rd so if there is anything you want, need or just have to have, let me know and I will add it to my order!

Have a great day and remember to fool someone today!

Spring Is Here!!!

Wow this has been the best March ever!!! It is the very first March, in my lifetime, that we did not have even a flake of snow! Spring has actually sprung and here is actual proof of that. Check out all the buds on this tree!

And in honor of spring here is a spring card that I made! It is a really simple tent card that I made using some of my older supplies. It just makes you smile doesn't it?

Enjoy your day and enjoy spring!

Creamy Chicken Lasagna Recipe

Here's the Chicken Lasagna that I told you about in my last post. I got this recipe from Betty Crocker's recipe book called Easy Recipes with Rotisserie Chicken and let me tell you it is the best cookbook I have ever bought. This recipe makes a 9x13 pan and it is sooooooo good that it goes really fast!

Creamy Chicken Lasagna

12 uncooked Lasagna noodles

1 Tbsp butter or margarine

3/4 c chopped green peppers, optional

3/4 c chopped onion

1/3 c milk

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1/2 tsp dried basil leaves

1/4 tsp pepper

1 12 oz container cottage cheese

3 c dices rotisserie chicken

2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

1 c shredded cheddar cheese

1/2 c grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan (I always use my Pampered Chef stoneware pan for easy cleanup) with non stick spray.

Cook noodles as directed on package.

Melt butter over med-high heat and add peppers and onions cook about 5 minutes stirring occasionally, until crisp tender.

Remove from heat and add milk, soups, basil and pepper.

Place 4 noodles in bottom of pan. Top with 1 cup of sauce, half the cottage cheese, 1 1/2 c chicken, 2/3 c mozzarella cheese and 1/3 c cheddar cheese.

Repeat layers once, starting with the noodles. Place the remaining 4 noodles over top. Top with remaining soup mixture, mozzarella cheese, cheddar cheese. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese.

Bake uncovered 50-55 minutes or until hot in the center and golden brown. Let stand 15 minutes before you serve it, enjoy!

I served this with garlic toast and a Cesar salad

Cathy raved about it! I hope you try this and enjoy it as much as we did!

Fun Day At My Friend Cathy's!

My Friend Cathy and I have been trying to get together for quite some time to do some stamping and we finally made it happen! Here's Cathy and take a look at the mess we made on her kitchen table! Oh well good art is messy right?

Here are some of the cards we made:

This is my favorite card that I made!

It's amazing and what you can do with a bag of scrap paper, some stamps, punches and embellishments! I think we did a great job!

Here is Cathy's dog Max he needed a little mommy time so we had to take a break! Isn't he the cutest? He has gotten so gray over the years but I think it makes him look even cuter!!!

I brought over lunch with me and I made Chicken Lasagna and I will post the recipe tomorrow! You won't want to miss this it was fantastic!