As we gather with family And friends to remember all the ones who have sacrificed for us to have the freedom we have, may we gather at the table to give thanks for their sacrifice! Thank God for the precious people who have sacrificed so much! May we never forget! Last night our Memorial Day began at some of our kids’ and had smoked ribs that were just delicious! I took dessert and this lemon blueberry biscotti!

All I can say is “this is good enough to start a biscotti company”. Thinking of calling it Biscotti Babe! Seriously a week or so ago (Mandy) one of my DIL’s ask me to make a lemon biscotti for her. I starting looking at different recipes and found this one. I added my own take on ingredients but it is simply divine (and that sweet friends is being typed in a most southern draw). This is one of the best recipes I have found in a long time. I took Mandy a plateful last night. I think she is now indebted to me forever! HA. It was a hit!

1/2 cup (room temp) of butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs at room temp

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 teas baking powder

1/2 teas salt

Zest of one large lemon

1/2 teas almond extract

1 teas lemon extract

Mix sugars with butter. Add eggs until well beaten. Add extracts and zest of lemon

In another bowl mix flour, salt and baking powder! Add to butter mixture. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds, 2/3 cup dried blueberries and 1 cup of white chocolate chips. Divide dough into 2 equal amounts and Shape in to 2 football shaped logs on parchment paper on baking sheet. Sprinkle about a tablespoon of sugar over each log. I pat the sugar onto the dough assuring that the sugar stays on the dough Bake in 350 preheated oven for 25 min. Remove from oven and reduce oven temp to 325. Slice each log diagonally and place slices back on cookie sheet. Bake for 8 min. Remove from over and turn each slice over and bake again for another 8 min. Turn oven off, open oven door a little and leave in oven for 1-2 hrs. Remove and cool before placing in covered dish or bag to store.

Zest of one large lemon

1/2 teas

Made these last night (thank you Paula Deen) to have along side our buttered potatoes, fresh green beans with bacon and onion and broiled broccoli! There was enough left over for breakfast! Served slices with bacon and toast! Was almost like a quiche! One bowl recipe! Will be great to serve with pinto beans and flour tortillas, as wel

Why is it that each new season conjures up different foods that come to mind? This Spring season makes me want to have luncheons and get the pretty pink napkins out and plates that just scream “yea the sun is out!” One of the most favorite things of mine is to have ladies who share the love of gathering together and visiting over a table of good food. Lately I have noticed that there is a group of ladies all over the country who gather and have a Southern Living Luncheon. There are groups forming all over and they make all the recipes from SL magazines! So that is now a new bucket list of mine. To find ladies who would love to meet for lunch and eat all the wonderful SL recipes that have been given through the years. This recipe is a great spring dessert and comes from a Southern Living Sept 2005 magazine. Refreshing and oh so good!

15 lemon cookies, coarsely crushed (about 2 cups)

1 (21 oz) can blueberry pie filling

1 (8 oz) container extra creamy Cool Whip, thawed

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk (like Eagle Brand) not evaporated

1 (6 oz) can frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

Sprinkle 1 tables of crushed cookies (each) of 8 parfait glasses. Spoon 2 tablespoons of pie filling over crumbs.

Mix Cool Whip with condensed milk and thawed lemon concentrate together! Stir until well mixed spoon 2 tablespoons of this mixture over pie filling sun each glass! Repeat layers once. Top each glass with cookie crumbs. Cover and chill 4 hours before serving!

When MD is over and we have the opportunity to sit back and think over the years of raising children and now seeing them as adults themselves raising children, it is such a delight to watch them do some of the things we tried to instill in them! When I reread all the cards last night after the kids were gone and the kids that live OOT had called, it just made me realize that dispite the fact that mistakes were made, decisions were sometimes not the best, hard days were sometimes not dealt with in the best of ways, by Gods grace, our kids knew they were loved! They have grown up with the kindest hearts which forgive our mistakes, they are seeing that as they raise their children, they are learning how to respond to each new season of their children’s lives, just like we did. And continue to do. That as we taught them how to be independent of us, we then then had to accept their independence, they are now doing the same! It is a joy to now not only be their parent, but a friend as well! I remember that my dream job was to be a mom! That’s truly all I wanted to be! And here at 72, as I look back. That dream job has been so rewarding and such a blessing! We have a blended family of 5! And as that blending continues to just get better and better, Randy and I both know that it is truly a gift from the Lord that we can say, “behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one’s youth. Happy is the man whose quiver is full of them: they shall not be ashamed. Psa 127:3-5

Some years ago when Randy and I went to visit friends in CA, we went to breakfast with them and had this dish, because of their recommendation! They were wonderful! We have made them from time to time but today I added some chopped fried bacon to them and now this is how we will have them from now on! It is such an easy breakfast and so filling! Because we just make them for 2, the ingredients will be of course different than if you are making breakfast for 4! But adjust to how many people you are feeding. Very easy!

Ingredients

2 corn tortillas , fried crisp and broken up in strips

2 eggs

2 pieces of bacon, fried and chopped

1/2 cup sharp cheddar cheese

1/3 cup mild green enchilada sauce

Directions

Stir 2 eggs until well mixed and scramble in pan you used to fry the bacon. Season with salt and pepper to your liking! Add cooked bacon and tortilla strips! (Because I was only making for 2 I used only one of the fried tortillas in the egg mixture and used the other one as a base in the bottom of the baking dish). Layer the one flat tortilla in bottom of greased small baking dish. Spoon the egg mixture over the tortilla! Drizzle the green enchilada sauce over egg mixture. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and place in preheated 350 oven until cheese is melted and mixture is bubbling! (About 3-5 min) Serve with soft heated corn tortillas that have been buttered and salted.

Some years ago when Randys parents were still living, they spent about 4 months every year in Colorado camping with friends at a campground! We use to love going up there and spending time with them! Each trip I came home with new recipes that I got to sample from the nights where everyone would bring a dish and we had dinner outside around a huge fire pit. It was one of these nights that a lady brought this casserole and I fell in love with it! It is one of those dishes that you will make for pot lucks, family dinners, or just yourself when you are wanting to have a meatless dinner. Just add a salad and you have a filling, comfy and flavorful dinner! It is called zesty because of the diced green chiles! If you like it mild then use the can of mild, if you like more “zesty” go wild and use the can of hot green chilies!

Ingredients

In a large bowl add together:

1 can of Rotel diced green chiles (your choice of mild or hot)

1 cup of raw macaroni (no need to cook before)

1 can (undrained) while kernel corn

1 can sweet cream style corn

1/4 cup melted butter

1 cup cubed velveta (this will melt as dish is cooking)

Stir ingredients until mixed and pour into a greased 9×13” baking dish. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven, covered with foil for 30 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350, uncover and bake an additional 30 min! casserole should be bubbling and macaroni is done.