It's A Beautiful Day

Who knew we could go from having snow on the first day of spring to an 80 degree day on the first of April?? Weird, but we're enjoying it!! The kids and I are on spring break from homeschooling this week and have been enjoying the lack of schedule. We went through all of their bedrooms and made piles to donate and piles of things to sell at our garage sale. It felt great to clean everything out!!

This afternoon we went out for ice cream and a little bike ride. Lulu is a bit apprehensive of her little bike with the training wheels, but I have a feeling she'll get the hang of it soon enough. Abby is an old pro and will probably be needing a bigger set of wheels soon. Ethan has taken to skateboarding thanks to Uncle Ben's generous donation of his old skateboard. He's pretty decent!!!







We're looking forward to Easter with our families in our home town this weekend. I am in charge of appetizers this time which is cool. I think appetizers and snacky stuff is my fave - besides dessert of course! I decided to make Roast Beef Roll-Ups and Bacon Lettuce and Tomato Dip. Both recipes are from the Pampered Chef 'Celebrations' cookbook. Here's a shady looking picture I took of the cookbook picture!!



Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Dip

8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup ranch salad dressing
1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
6 bacon slices, crisped and chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
1 tsp sugar
Lettuce leaves
Pita Chips for dipping

Mix cream cheese and ranch dressing together in large bowl. Remove seeds from tomato and dice. Reserve 1 Tbsp for garnish. Chop bacon and celery and add to cream cheese mixture along with tomato. Add sugar and mix well. Cover and refridgerate at least 3 hours to allow flavors to blend. To serve, line bowl with lettuce leaves and fill with dip. Garnish with reserved tomato. Serve with pita chips.

Roast Beef Roll-Ups

1 (8 oz) container cream cheese spread
3-4 Tbsp prepared horseradish
6 plum tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 small cucumber, thinly sliced
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
8 (6-7 inch) flour tortillas
1/2 lb thinly sliced deli roast beef (8 slices)

Combine cream cheese and horseradish in small bowl; mix well. Spread each tortilla evenly with 2 Tbsp cream cheese mixture. Top each tortilla with 5 tomato slices, 5 cucumber slices, 3 red onion rings and 1 roast beef slice. Roll tortillas up tightly. Wrap filled tortillas individually in plastic wrap. Refridgerate, seam side down, for 30 minutes. To serve, cut each roll crosswise into thirds. Place on lettuce-lined platter.

Happy Easter!!!!!