Liquid sunshine!   On a sunny spring or hot summer day, nothing screams relaxation more than a tall glass of fresh homemade, icy/slushy Raspberry Lemonade! 

​Doctors Note: Enjoy this with your honey on a shady summer porch swing for additional benefits!

One of my favorite memories is the wonderful little teas, baby showers and bridal showers that my Mom would hostess.  She always made the "fancy little things" that she thought that the girls would all love.  And one of the things that everyone ADORED was this Cranberry Almond Poppyseed Chicken Salad.

​She used it as a filling for her famous "Party Sandwich Loaf", which was a thing to behold.  Five layers of bread sliced thing horizontally, with a different sandwich filling between each layer of bread - always a chicken salad, egg salad, deviled ham, and tuna salad combination.  The entire loaf was then carefully "frosted" with cream cheese and decorated with fresh herbs.  Sliced into vertical slices for serving, it was always a beautiful thing to behold!  Although she used different recipes for chicken salad, this was one of our favorites - and we always hoped there would be leftovers!

Who knew that April 16th was National Eggs Benedict Day?  But more importantly, who doesn't love Eggs Benedict?

You can't hardly go wrong with a toasted English Muffin or fresh croissant, topped with a tender slice of ham or Canadian Bacon - slide a Perfect Poached Egg on top and drizzle with rich and creamy Hollandaise Sauce - probably the most PERFECT breakfast ever!  All you need is a Peach Mimosa, and the day will start off perfectly!

Everyone always gets so nervous about Hollandaise sauce....it's one of the five "mother sauces" in French cuisine, but probably one of the most basic to make!  If you take your time and follow the directions, it is not time consuming, but requires some skill as you'll be defying mother nature to combine oil and water. 

With a LOT OF WHISKING and a little care, you will combine egg yolks, heavy cream, Dijon mustard and fresh lemon juice over gently boiling water, and slowly add melted butter to emulsify seamlessly into a velvety sauce!

​And before you know it, you'll be impressing everyone by how easily you make this rich and creamy sauce!

Is there anything more wonderful than a perfect poached egg?  The perfect start to a morning with some buttered toast, or perfect on Eggs Benedict for a lazy morning start. 

​And once you have mastered the technique - these are so easy to make and enjoy!

For our Easter Brunch this year I served fresh Strawberry Chocolate Muffins, and they were wildly popular!  If you like chocolate-covered strawberries, you are going to ADORE these!

​Fresh, juicy strawberries, with little bits of chocolate in the batter, and drizzled with just a touch of dark chocolate - beautiful to behold, but even better to munch on - crumb after delicious moist crumb!

And a weekend later, here I am making these again!  I have a sneaking suspicion that we'll be enjoying these on many other weekends in the future!

We LOVE blueberries….big, fresh, juicy, sweet blueberries!  And next to just rinsing them and eating fresh out of a bowl, these delicious fresh Blueberry Muffins are the next best thing!

​For a little something special, sprinkle with some sparkling sugar - SO GOOD!