I love dipping :-)

Bruchetta Dip

1 250ml container of sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped peppers (red/orange/green)
3 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder (or more, as desired)

Boil one bunch of broccoli and chop. Add to above mixture. Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Serve on toasted French Bread.

Salad Season

With summer coming, we tend to have more BBQ and that means more salads. I will be sharing some salad recipes over the next few days.

PASTA SALAD

2 cups spiral pasta (cook and let drain)
2 medium tomatoes, chopped
3/4 cup chopped celery
3/4 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup chopped green onion
1 cup grated carrots

Mix together above ingredients.

Dressing:
1/3 cup Italian dressing
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup French dressing
1/2 tsp black pepper
4 Tbsp sugar

Add to pasta and vegetables. ENJOY!

Chicken Fettuccine

We had this for supper. Everyone loves it, and it tastes even better as leftovers -- IF there are any!

CHICKEN FETTUCCINE

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans of Cream of Chicken soup
2 cans milk
1/2 red pepper, diced
5-6 fresh mushrooms, sliced
handful of real bacon bits
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
linguine noodles (though we almost always use spaghetti noodles)

Dice chicken and fry in a bit of olive oil. Add chopped pepper, mushrooms and bacon bits.

In saucepan, heat two cans of soup with two cans of milk. Be careful that it doesn't scald and stick to the bottom of the pan! When heated, throw in mozzarella cheese and stir until cheese melts. Add chicken mixture to soup mixture.

In another saucepan, cook the noodles. Top with the creamed mixture and serve with garlic bread or tossed salad.

Just for Dad! - Lovebug Blog Hop

Welcome to Lovebug Scrapbooking's "INSPIRE US!" blog hop!! Our blog hops take place on the last Saturday of every month. Thanks so much for joining us!

If you just happened by this blog and didn't realize a blog hop was taking place, please go back to Lovebug Scrapbooking and start the Hop. You won't want to miss all the inspiration from our members....... or the prizes :-)

Our theme for April is "Mother's Day/Father's Day".

What Dad doesn't like CHOCOLATE!??! Here's a nice treat that a child can make for his/her Dad on his special day :-)

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TRIPLE TREAT CHOCOLATE MILKSHAKE


1 cup cold chocolate milk
1 large scoop chocolate ice-cream
1 Tbsp chocolate syrup


Combine ingredients in blender. Cover and blend until smooth. Sprinkle with grated chocolate if desired. Makes about 2 cups.

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This blog hop will run from today, April 24th until April 27th. Lovebug will be drawing for winners on April 28th

Follow along in our blog hop! Your next stop is the lovely Margo!

Cakes for April

April started out slowly for cake orders, but these past two weeks I have been so BUSY with cakes!

I had so much fun with this one!

This one was made using fondant. It's so easy to use, but now I just need to find a good recipe to make my own. It's expensive to buy.



I made a big #1 along with this order. These were 2 little "smash" cakes.

For the girly-girl :-)

In addition to these shown, I did:

~ a round chocolate cake with chocolate icing

~ another firetruck cake

~ another "welcome, baby" cake

So, a total of 10 cakes for April.

WINNER of ........

Lovebug's March bloghop prize is LIZZY! Congrats, girl! You've won a "Taste of Home -Casseroles" magazine.

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DD and I are trying out some fondant recipes. We also made some modeling chocolate, which turned out ok. I think it needed to be a bit firmer, so we'll be experimenting with that a bit. I'll have a project to show you later this weekend using the modeling chocolate.

If you have a favorite fondant recipe, I'd love to see it!

Eggs in Nest - "INSPIRE US"

Welcome to Lovebug Scrapbooking's "INSPIRE US!" blog hop!! Our blog hops take place on the last Saturday of every month. Thanks so much for joining us!

If you just happened by this blog and didn't realize a blog hop was taking place, please go back to Lovebug Scrapbooking and start the Hop. You won't want to miss all the ispiration from our members....... or the prizes :-)

Our theme for March is "EASTER".

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For my cooking project, I decided to make some "Eggs in Nest". I've done these before and used boxed chocolate mousse, but this time I made mousse from scratch. It is DELICIOUS!! More time-consuming, but well worth it :-)

Here's what you'll need for the mousse:

Chocolate Mousse

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 1/2 Tbs. butter
8 egg yolks
2 cups whipping cream
4 egg whites
1/4 c. sugar

Melt chocolate chips on stove or in microwave. I did mine in the microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring each time. They might not look like they're melting, but they are! Be careful not to scorch.

Melt butter and mix in egg yolks. Add this egg mixture to the chocolate, stirring constantly (you don't want lumps!). Let cool a bit.

Whip the cream -- soft peaks :-)

Whip the egg whites to soft peaks, then start adding in the sugar gradually. These should whip to stiff peaks.

Fold the whipped cream into the chocolate, then fold in the egg white mixture. Refrigerate.

Now, for the nests. First, prepare some small bowls -- these will make the rounded nest shape. Grease them and cover with plastic wrap.

Melt a bag of semisweet chocolate chip as you did above, for the mousse. Let cool a bit then spoon into piping bag. Pipe over the bottom of the bowl and then make random pipings to create a nest. Let chill in refrigerator until firm.

Remove from refrigerator and release the "nest" from the bowl/plastic wrap. You might need to warm a few minutes or the chocolate may crack. If it does, no fear -- just melt and redo :-)

Fill nest with chocolate mousse and add some chocolate eggs for decoration.

ENJOY!

Thanks for looking! Leave a comment and I'll enter your name to win Taste of Home's Casseroles Recipe Cards magazine.

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This blog hop will run from today, March 27th until March 30th. We will be drawing for winners on March 31st.

Now, head over to Margo's blog and see what she has to share with you :-)