Tea Time

These are my three girls having tea in Molly's room. I was looking for pictures on the Internet to put on this post, when I found these and decided that they are cuter:-)
What is it about tea parties that make girls and ladies feel so special? Why is it that no matter how old we get, we still get as excited about dressing up and eating delicate food and drinking sparkling drinks out of dainty cups, as we did when we were four?
I still find myself collecting pink cups and saucers for that special tea party, even though there is nothing in my dining room or kitchen that lends itself to matching pink.
Still I hold onto these things in the hopes that one of my girls will grow up and have a pink kitchen.
This week we had some dear friends come over for a sort of tea party. The sort of, being because between the two of us Mom's there were six little ones asking for more goldfish and juice boxes and bringing the toy tractors to the table to "show Mom!".
Still we had a wonderful time pretending during the brief moments of quiet, that we were dignified ladies sitting in the parlor, having a quiet luncheon together.
I served strawberry soup, chicken salad, strawberry spinach salad, and sparkling lemonade and if you will allow me to brag, it was most delicious!
I would like to share these recipes with you.

Strawberry Soup
2 cups of milk
1 cup of heavy whipping cream
3 cups of frozen strawberries
1/2 cup of sour cream
3/4 cup of sugar
Pour all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and a lovely shade of pink.
I got this recipe some time ago, but have changed the amounts of strawberries and sugar to my taste. I encourage you to do the same! Once you put your spoon in the blender to try a taste, you will have a hard time staying out of it:-)

Chicken Salad
I have absolutely no measurements for anything in this recipe. I learned how to make it from it my Mom. I boil a three pound bag of chicken a little more than you think you should so that it will shred easily when you stir it into the salad. Then I put in tons of purple seedless grapes and about four stalks of celery chopped very small. (I personally do not care for celery, but find it essential in this salad to give it that wonderful crunch. This explains the "very small".)
Then I sprinkle in pepper and salt and some Lawry's seasoning salt. Then I add enough mayo to make it very creamy but in no way runny. Add a little at a time until you get it the way you like. Then I throw in a small bag of sliced almonds and stir some more. Be sure that you don't stir so hard that you smush your grapes. This salad is excellent on any kind of bread, in a pita, or all by itself.

Strawberry Spinach Salad
This is a very common recipe and more than likely, you've got your own version of it. But just in case this is the way I learned to make it.
Use a bag of fresh spinach, being sure to snap the little stems off. Add as many sliced strawberries as you like. Sprinkle in some sliced almonds and a little feta cheese.
For the dressing, in a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 tsp dry minced onion,
1/4 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp worceshire sauce, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup cider vinegar. Briskly stir together with a fork. Wait to pour on the salad until you are ready to serve it. Toss.

Sparkling Lemonade
Super simple! All you do is use two frozen cans of strawberry lemonade concentrate (or any other frozen drink that you like), pour in a two liter of club soda and add about 3/4 cup of sugar. You won't believe how deliciously refreshing this is!

Hope you enjoy these recipes and that you find your own excuse to have a tea party at your table very soon!

Blogging in the Rain

Today has, in spite of the rain, been a perfectly wonderful day. I got to sleep in this morning until...well let's just say I got to sleep in.
The house is all tidy which is a major accomplishment with my two little hurricanes who run around disguised as boys messing up everything that looks a little too neat.
The laundry for once was not piled higher than my head.
The boys are starting to seem like after three weeks of trying, they might actually get this potty training thing.
The rain is pouring out of the sky as though God has been filling the clouds with a ten million gallon bucket for the last four years, making everything a brilliant shade of green and sending with it, the hope that the flowers will be even more bright than they have ever been before.
I have only ten more days until I load my family up in the old suburban and head down to see my Nonny and Papa who I have not seen in seven years, and then after that, we're heading down to Destin!
Things seem unusually good today, especially after the meltdown I had just about a week ago at this time. I won't describe the day to you so as not to get you down. Just imagine a nightmare of a day, add gloomy weather and twin three year old boys, a disgusting mishap or two, and you'll just about be there.
Just a quick update on things around here. I am officially 21 and 1/2 weeks along in my pregnancy and we found out last week that the newest Jeppsen will be a boy that we will be naming William Dale Jeppsen and calling him "Billy". The Dale is after my Papa and the William is because it's the only name that Jonny and I could agree on and that goes well with Charlie and Danny.
We had a marvelous Easter in spite of the nasty weather. Our church had huge plans of a potluck and Easter egg hunt that got canceled due to the rain. So we just combined our food with a couple of other families food and had a great lunch here at our house. No egg hunt, but fortunately the three youngest seemed to forget about that and no tears were shed.
We let the kids have their Easter baskets the day before Easter for different reasons. The first was to keep the focus of Easter Sunday more on Jesus and less on the Easter bunny. The second being that we simply don't have time to let the kids dig through their Easter baskets along with cooking a big Easter meal, dressing everyone, making sure little nails are painted, and trying to keep the house in order for company coming. And the third reason is that there are simply no child care workers at Great Light that I hate enough to send three sugared up kids into their care. The kids were simply awful that morning after they spent the wee hours of the morning chowing down on chocolate bunnies, lollipops, nerds, and jellybeans.
The computer has been on the fritz for the past couple of months keeping me from being able to update more often, but I will do my very best to get back on here and give you the recipes for my favorite spring tea that some of us ladies will be serving at our mother/daughter luncheon we're having at church the end of June.
Strawberry Soup, Chicken Salad, Quiche, Fresh Fruit, Crusty French Bread, and Iced Tea.
I also need to give you the recipe for Ally's famous Lemonade Cookies. Yes, I will hopefully get back on here in the next day or two. Talk to you soon!!