Yummy Summer Recipes

I love summer! I love all the great salad/pasta salad that I get to consume during this time of year so I thought I would post a few recipes that are my favorite. The first recipe, Cauliflower and Bacon salad (otherwise known as Teqiulaberry's Salad) is a recipe from my mother's side of the family. The broccoli salad recipe is from my mother in law (it's great!) and the chicken and swiss salad recipe is from my sister in law. Both of them are fantastic cooks! I hope that any readers of this blog will try each of these tasty salads because they are absolutely delicious!

Cauliflower & Bacon Salad

Ingredients:
2.5 bags of iceberg lettuce
1 head of cauliflower
2 bags of Hormel Bacon Bits (real bacon)
1 cup of Parmesan cheese
1 cup of sour cream
1 cup of mayo
4 tbsp of vinegar
1 cup of sugar

In one bowl put the cut up cauliflower, lettuce, and bacon bits. In a smaller bowl, mix together the sour cream, mayo, vinegar and sugar and blend with a whisk until smooth. Add the dressing to the cauliflower/lettuce mixture and top with the Parmesan cheese. Then toss it all together. Put in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.


Broccoli Salad

Ingredients:
1 head of broccoli
1 chopped red onion
1 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup of raisins
1 bag of bacon bits
1 cup of miracle whip
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp vinegar

Mix the broccoli, chopped onion, sunflower seeds, raisins and bacon bits in the miracle whip/sugar/vinegar dressing and serve chilled.

Chicken and Swiss Salad

Ingredients:
16oz shell macaroni
1/2 cup sugar
2 tblsp apple cider vinegar
2 cups real mayo
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
3 tbsp poppy seeds
2 cooked chicken breasts, cubed
8 oz swiss cheese cubed
1 bunch of seedless grapes halved

Cook shells accorading to package directions and rinse under cold water and set aside. Mix the sugar and vinegar together until the sugar is dissolved. Add mayo, garlic/onion powders and poppy seeds to sugar mixture and mix until creamy. Then add the chicken, swiss and grapes to shells. When you are ready to serve add the dressing and mix until it covers all of the pasta, chicken, cheese and grapes.


THIS RECIPE IS SO GOOD! YOU SHOULD TRY IT!

Home Improvement

There have been many projects that I've wanted to accomplish around our house for quite some time but we always seem to get so busy during the summer. It is hard to find the time and money to make some of these changes so when they happen I get really excited about it!

We recently did some landscaping on the side of the house. I replanted flowers that used to be where our vegetable gardens are now along the left side of our house. Before, there was nothing there but weeds so I thought it was the perfect spot to transplant Day Lillies, Sedum, Hostas, and Dahlias. I'm a pretty frugal person and I didn't want to simply throw these plants away just because we decided that a vegetable garden was a better use of the space they used to occupy.

The finishing touch on this little project was adding rock to keep the weeds out and also adding stone edging. I actually found all of the stones for the edging in the woods near our house, and when I would take Lily on a walk I would put two or three in the stroller bag. We also had some left over from the former rock garden.

We've been using the rock all around the yard, not only on the new landscaping but in the front and backyard as well. New rock just makes everything look so fresh! We are putting the remainder of the rock around in the new "bird garden" that surrounds the bird houses. I also plan on painting the bird houses to match our house! It will be so cute.

Yes, we've been busy around here and the kids just love it! Logan was so excited when the dump truck pulled up and dropped of the rocks. He wanted to help Daddy put it in place but he and Lily also had a grand time playing on it. Ahhhh...home improvement, great fun for the kiddos and good for property value.

Two Littles Monkeys Jumpin on the Bed!

Logan and Lily love to play together and I'm so thankful that we've finally hit this stage. At 2 and 4 they can go out in the backyard and play in the sand box together, jump on the bed together and watch their favorite movies together. I won't lie and say that they never fight, because they do but most of the time they enjoy each others company.

One of their favorite past times to do together is to jump on Logan's bed and sing songs. They especially love it when I sing "Two little monkeys jumpin on the bed, one fell off and bumped his head..." It is really fun to watch them get such joy out of such a simple thing. I guess that is what the most wonderful thing about kids is!

I know that jumping on the bed isn't the safest activity in the world, and we have had a few bumps on the head. But if we protect our kids too much from every little bump and bruise they will never have any fun. I also think jumping on the bed is a learning experience. They learn to share space, control their bodies and gain a bit of courage in the process. I think a bump on the head just might be worth it!

Easter 2010

Hello everyone!I know it has been almost a month since I posted but I've been super busy with the children and with weddings. I've finally found the time to post about the wonderful Easter we had this year. I look at the pictures of my adorable children all dressed up and think about how blessed we are. They bring so much happiness to my world as I get to experience and pass on the wonderful traditions from my family of origin to my own kids.

We celebrated a fabulous Easter at my aunt Shari's house on Medicine Lake. The kids absolutely had the most fun running around hunting for Easter eggs and Easter baskets. They also loved exploring the yard and going down the rustic steps to the lake. (The dock wasn't in yet.) Logan even spotted some ducks and quacked at them. They went down to the lake several times with daddy or with grandpa.

Logan really got the concept about the egg hunt this year and was helping Lily find the Easter eggs. He looked all over the yard and was thrilled to find all the "beautiful eggs" as he called them. After he would find them he would put them in bag I carried with me to collect them. (Mike made a really tasty egg salad with them and had egg salad sandwiches for lunch after Easter.)


Not only were there "beautiful eggs" but my kids looked so sweet in their Easter best. I had so much fun dressing Lily in her pretty peach Easter dress and she loved wearing it! I lucked out and found it at a garage sale for $2.00, that price is impossible to beat. The lady I bought it from said her daughter only wore it once. I'm sure I will end up donating it for another little girl to wear. :)

What can I say?! The kids were so spoiled with all of the Easter baskets they received. One from each set of Grandparents, one from Great Grandma Nelson and of course one from Mike and I. Yes, my kids got 4 Easter baskets each. I think we might have to limit the Easter baskets in the future but they sure did enjoy getting so much stuff. Now Mike and I have to regulate the new toys and candy.

After eating a big ham dinner, we all headed up to the park while Great Grandma napped. The dinner was absolutely delicious, honey ham, mashed potatoes, corn slop, seven layer salad, and pie! It was such a beautiful day and the kids just wanted to be outside. We brought Logan's bike so he could ride it up to the park.

Logan and Lily really loved going on the merry go round, down the slide, on the swings and just generally playing at a new park.


Mike and I had time to visit with my cousins, my parents and aunts and uncles. It was nice to be able to have a great meal with our family. They enjoyed watching the babies have a blast hunting for eggs, eating candy and playing at the park!