This layered fruit-cheese salad was the first course for our Spring Reunion Dinner. I decided to make individual servings, but it could be made even easier in a large clear bowl or better yet, in a trifle dish.

If you’re making one large salad, you’ll use all the fruit. For these six small individual portions, you’ll end up with about half of the fruit left or enough to make at least 12 individual servings. So either cut the fruit portions in half or freeze the remaining fruit and use it for smoothies, that’s what I did.

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On Friday night we had a little reunion of sorts. Our dear friends and former neighbors, Lori and Jonathon, were in town for the week.

In December, Tram and I flew to Chicago to visit them and do a bit of Christmas shopping. We had an absolute ball! I meant to blog about our trip but I never got around to it, you know, with the holiday rush and all.

Tram and Steve and Lori and Jonathon came over for dinner and we had the very best time! I’ll be posting recipes all week; appetizers, cocktails, starters, salads, and even a salt block cooking recipe. I’m going, to begin with a gorgeous smoked salmon appetizer. It’s hard to take that first chunk out of it because it’s so beautiful, but once you get going on it, it’s hard to stop. It’s as delicious as it is lovely.

There is no cooking involved and you’ll be using a food processor to put it together. As such, I’ll be tagging this one as an Easy-Breezy Recipe.

Once you add the herbs, you want to use the Pulse button ONLY. You don’t want the mixture to turn green from the herbs or the processor to turn the salmon and cranberries into baby food. What you’re going for is a cohesive mixture with a bit of texture.

Fresh Fruit – Smoked Salmon Spread

• 4-ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon each; fresh minced dill, mint, and thyme
• 24-ounce package of smoked salmon
• 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped dry roasted almonds
• Fresh sliced peaches, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and fresh sprigs of thyme, basil, dill, and/or mint for garnish
• Crackers for serving

Place the cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor and blend; add the mayonnaise and salt and blend until smooth.

Using the pulse button, add in the fresh herbs with only 2 or 3 short pulses.

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A dear friend and neighbor has gone through an especially tough time. I offered to bring dinner over for her family. She tried to say no, but I wouldn’t have it, so we decided that Sunday would be a good day. I brought over an Italian pasta dish and this Mexican dish.

I made another pan of the Mexican dish for our family’s Sunday meal. I hadn’t planned on putting up a post of it, but after Connor asked for the recipe and another neighbor asked for it too, I decided I’d better get it up here.

I hadn’t taken any photos, meaning I had to remake them. One problem though – I was out of black beans so I used kidney beans in their place. It’s far better with black beans! I also forgot to add a dollop of sour cream for the photo… it’s tastier with the sour cream too. In other words, don’t rely on the photos, just follow the recipe and you’ll be all good.

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For the last two years, I’ve served as the vice-president of our HOA. I decided not to run again so yesterday my term ended. On Monday night, I hosted our annual meeting to vote on new board members.

I love my neighbors and I love my neighborhood, so it’s always a joy to cook for them. These next few days I’ll share the dishes I made for the meeting, beginning with this easy and yummy dip.

Pictured above are the main ingredients, less than one package of the Boursin. Boursin comes in this three-pack at Costco and I made the recipe to use it up before the expiration date. I had bought it back in December, thinking I’d use it in some holiday cooking and entertaining, but no. Any savory flavor of Boursin would be just fine in this recipe.

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Here is the last of the week’s worth of slow cooker recipes. This was the perfect thing to get me back into a blogging routine and a great way to feed visiting family while we were on the run.

We are finishing as we began, with a yummy soup. I’m pretty proud of myself for limiting the soup recipes to only half of those put forward.

To recap – A week’s worth of slow cooker recipes:

Wild Rice and Shredded Chicken Soup

Balsamic-Dijon Glazed Baby Back Ribs with Great Northern Beans

Lemony Turkey Meatball and Orzo Soup

Ropa Vieja

Mississippi Pot Roast

And here is todays…

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I have complete faith that my Arizona Cardinals will win the George Halas Trophy in the NFC Championship Game game today – along with their ticket to Super Bowl 50!

Just like I have faith that this soup can help cure, or at least bring relief to, the flu.  The flu is traveling like wildfire and now Dave has it.  I made this soup for him last night and he’s on the mend today, in time for the big game.

I found the version of the recipe when a friend posted it on Facebook. It sounded like the perfect remedy, especially after giving it a few healthier tweaks. Now it’s ready to share with you.  Round up the ingredients, pop it all in a slow-cooker and it’ll be ready for kickoff at 4:40 PM!

It is soul-soothing and absolutely fabulous, just like the Cards! #riseupredsea #birdgang

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This soup is a lifesaver. It has single-handily helped ease the pain from my head cold!

The recipe comes from Barbara Fenzl’s Les Gourmettes cooking class. I enjoyed it after the class on Wednesday night and then again for breakfast yesterday morning. I also brought home some leftover asparagus, so I chopped that up and added it to the soup. Soup may not be your typical breakfast, but it works for me!

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Marissa’s childhood friend, Lindsey, is getting married in March.

Marissa and Lindsey’s other bridesmaids and maid of honor threw Lindsey’s bridal shower here at our house on Saturday.

The girls (Abigail, Kaley, Alyse, and Marissa) did a fabulous job! The shower was a huge hit!

Lindsey and all her guests were rightly impressed.

We set up the “savory” station consisting of cheeses …

… Italian meats…

… breads, crackers, and salads.

Then there were the wonderful Essence Bakery desserts! Oh my!

We set up the bar down in the pool kitchen.

We used my vintage milk bottles – along with the necessary signs to keep guests from being scared off by the beat-up bottles.

Yesterday, I made dinner for the first time in more than a week, to the delight of my family. It had been an unusual, difficult, and busy week. The recipe follows.

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This is another of the recipes I made for the bridal party lunch on my niece’s wedding day. The lunch was served in the Presidential Suite at the Hyatt Magnificent Mile, which is where we all stayed in downtown Chicago. Maureen and her bridesmaids were in the suite having their hair and make-up done. The girls had been there since 9:15 and the wedding was at 4:00, so they needed nourishment in the middle of that time.

Photo

How beautiful is she?!?

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This summer, when we were out of town, my full-size freezer in the laundry room was accidentally left open for a day.

It wasn’t all the “openers” fault.

Although the freezer is only a few years old, the seal had come loose and instead of figuring out how to fix it, I used duct tape to keep it closed.

Additionally, I had a little chalkboard chef on the front of the freezer who told “would be openers” this:

“Do NOT OPEN! It is next to impossible to re-shut and keep shut.”

Unfortunately, the “opener” did not see or heed the chalkboard chef’s warning.

Even though I knew of the “freezer breach” immediately upon my return home, I avoided the freezer and refused to open it and face the music until two months later.

Nearly everything was a loss; homemade chicken and beef stocks, frozen citrus juices, handmade puff pastry, lobster broth, homemade mole, demi-glace, frost-burnt cookies and brownies, and quite a bit of meat. I threw out more chicken breast and chicken thighs than I’d care to mention.

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