Yesterday I gave you my recipe for Blackberry Lemon Bars.  Well, not only were blackberries on sale, a couple of days later, blueberries were on sale!  Whoot! Lemons and blueberries go together just as well as blackberries and lemons do.  Around my house, we love a nice warm dump cake, and I thought I would just mix it up in the crock pot for a nice rainy day warm dessert.  Here is how I did it, then click on the button for the recipe!  Once again, the zester gets a workout, and this time I used the citrus squeezer.

         This is so fruity, you may be tempted to eat it for breakfast.  I am not judging.  It is just very hard to stop eating it.  The lemon brightness with the blueberries is just perfect!  It is super easy to make, so I hope you give it a try!
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       I have a dear friend who has a tree that is loaded with lemons and she lets me grab some whenever I need a couple.  This past week, blackberries were on sale again and I picked up quite a few.  As you know, I love the combination of blackberries and lemons. In the past,  I came up with a Blackberry-Lemon Marmalade that is so delicious that if you haven't tried it, you should.  This time I came up with the idea of putting together lemons and blackberries into a twist on the traditional lemon bar.  As you can see, they came out so lovely with a tart sweetness that everyone enjoyed.  The color would make them a pretty Valentine's Day treat as well! Here is the recipe! 

        A couple of Fridays ago, I shared on Friday Faves that I love my new zester!  I still do! (Here is one like it.)  I also love this new  little juicer that I got from a Princess House Party recently.  It allows you to measure the juice as you juice it.  Also, the reamer is removable, so it is very easy to clean.

       I couldn't find it on Amazon, but there are similar ones here and here. This type of juicer comes in handy when you only have a couple of lemons to juice and you don't want to pull out the electric juicer.  If I don't need to measure, I use the citrus squeezer, but this kind with the reamer is great when you need to measure a specific amount of juice.
      This recipe calls for the juice of 1 lemon.  But, since lemon sizes vary so much, (these were huge!), you should measure.  This recipe needs about 5 T. of lemon juice, along with the juice of the blackberries. When you mash the berries through the sieve, be sure to reserve some for the garnish.  That means you will only mash about 2/3 of the container. When the pan came out of the oven and after it had cooled a bit, I sprinkled on confectioners sugar, a little more zest and added some blackberries.

Welcome to Edition 3 of Five Friday Faves! 

Today's question?  What is your favorite love song?

       Here is one of my favorite love stories.  One year, after Valentine's Day was over, I had fallen in love with a certain song.  We hadn't done anything special for Valentine's Day that year, when you have lots of kids, sometimes those days go by unnoticed or with just a little kiss and I love you and that is about all you have time for.  But, the song I had fallen in love with was Clint Black's "Something that We Do". I am usually a rock 'n roll girl, but there are some country songs that really speak to me, and this was one of them.  I couldn't get enough of it.  The message was so perfect for my Hallmark movie heart. I mean those lyrics set to that beautiful music is timeless.  "I remember well the day we wed, I see that picture in my head.  I still believe those words we said, Forever will ring true."  "Love isn't someplace that we fall, it's something that we do."
        Well, a couple of days after the holiday, my husband was late getting home and I was beginning to wonder what had happened to him.  When he walked in the door, he had gifts for me, chocolate and that Clint Black CD!  It was the sweetest, most unexpected thing!  I still love that song and I cherish that memory.  That gift told me that he was thinking about me even when we were apart.  He did something to show me and it fit the message of the song.

        This weeks guest choice has Fave #2 and she is  my other DIL, Korina! Since her choice is also a country pick, I thought she should be next on the list.  Korina has a beautiful singing voice and I have heard her sing a lot of love songs.  But, when I asked for her favorite, she went right to  Garth Brooks!  You have got to admit, he has a beautiful voice for a love song.  Korina's favorite is "To Make You Feel My Love".    I had to laugh because this song is written by Bob Dylan, who is one of my least favorite singers, although he has written some really good lyrics.   "There's nothing that I wouldn't do, go to the ends of the earth for you, make you happy, make your dreams come true, to make you feel my........ love"  

         Fave #3 this week comes from Madalynn.  We totally switch gears when it comes to genre.  Her pick comes from the Disney Movie "Tangled".  I have to admit that it is one of my faves, too.  Mandy Moore does a beautiful job singing, "At Last I See the Light". 
"And at last I see the light
And it's like the fog has lifted
And at last I see the light
And it's like the sky is new
And it's warm and real and bright
And the world has somehow shifted
All at once everything looks different
Now that I see you."
          That song reminds you of those feelings of first falling in love! 

        Fave #4 is Alicia's choice, and it goes to show that certain singers and certain songs are timeless! Alicia chose an Elvis song! "Can't Help Falling In Love" is certainly a song that would make your Valentine swoon if you sang it, played it or danced to it this Valentine's Day.  "Take my hand, Take my whole life, too.  For I can't help falling in love with you." Yup, we raised her right, you have just got to love Elvis and his dreamy voice.

       I saved Lindsey for last because she just got married this past year and her love story is fresh and new.  She waited a long time for her Mr. Right (or PH as she calls him) and her song pick is perfect for her story.  She chose another Oldie but goodie. Nat King Cole's "When I Fall in Love".  She had this song sung at her wedding, beautifully done by my SIL Adrian.  (My children and their spouses are all very talented!) She and Austin danced their first dance to it.    It was beautiful!  "When I give my heart, it will be completely, or I'll never give my heart."  Those words describe Lindsey's feelings perfectly.

         Those are our Friday Faves for this week!  Add a little romance to your life with music!  How do you like our picks and what would yours be?  Let us know!  If you want a chance to be a guest picker on Friday Faves, let us know that as well.  I am having so much fun surprising everyone with my questions.  You never know what I will ask next week! 

I'm back with a new recipe! This week is chicken salad! Since PH and I are selling our house it needs to look perfect all the time. This makes me afraid to make anything, because I have to immediately clean everything up afterwards. This chicken salad is the perfect solution because its easy to make and a quick and easy clean up!

When I was younger I was an incredibly picky eater. I drove my mom crazy with my stubborn refusal to eat anything I thought looked gross. This obviously included anything that was coated in anything white, like chicken salad. Therefore I didn't try chicken salad until high school because it always looked gross to me. As with most things I refused to eat as a child, after trying it, I liked it! I wanted to come up with the lightest, tastiest version around. Floating around on the internet are a lot of 21 Day Fix Friendly recipes. If you haven't heard of 21 Day Fix it's an exercise and portion control program available through Beachbody (where I happen to be a coach!) You can find recipes going along with the program all over the internet, and you can guarantee it's always a valiant effort at healthy, tasty, clean eating. I found a 21 Day Fix recipe for Chicken Salad. I liked the idea of using Greek Yogurt like this one here (did you know that you can buy this Greek Yogurt off of Amazon and you'll get a case of 6? Talk about Food Storage Prep!!). I decided on my own concoction, partially based off of what we had in the house.

  I have to admit that I intended on adding red onion, and then I forgot. I still included it in the recipe here because I think it would add the perfect bite to this great chicken salad. Finally, I had bought some great rolls from the bakery at our local grocery store. Unfortunately I made this a week later than I intended, so the bread went bad. Fortunately, PH and I have some baguettes in the freezer. An aside about these baguettes. You may or may not know, I have lived in France. First I lived there during law school for a semester, then I went back after law school as a missionary. The second time around I was there for about 18 months. Baguettes like the ones at the link are a favorite for poor students and missionaries on a budget. As you know, France has the best bread in the world. These baguettes are handy because you pop them in the hot oven for ten minutes and then you have yourself a decent baguette! Crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. Also, it's perfect for a chicken salad sandwich! Finding these and using them has brought me such joy. And you buy this package of bread and can stick it in your freezer so you'll have baguettes for awhile!
Anyway, back to the matter at hand, I cooked two of them and we used that as our sandwich bread. Let me know what type of bread you use, or maybe you'll do a lettuce wrap! (Although I exhort you to buy those baguettes and try them for yourself! You don't have to order them in bulk from France, They are at Costco!)  (Here is another version, also from France.)

I know we normally provide you with a separate recipe button, but I have to admit that there wasn't a lot of formal measuring here.
I can tell you I used 1 lb of chicken breast, and 16 oz of Greek Yogurt. So the recipe goes something like this:

1 lb chicken breast
16 oz Greek Yogurt
1 Apple diced (I used Gala. I think a more tart apple like Fuji or Pink Lady would be fun as well.)
about 2 cups of grapes
about 1 cup of craisins
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 cup pecan halves
about 1/2 a red onion, diced
Salt and Pepper to taste
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Boil the chicken in salt water until thoroughly cooked. Shred chicken with two forks. Place in a mixing bowl. Add in craisins, apples, pecans, grapes, onions and lemon juice. Mix. Stir in half the Greek Yogurt and stir until the Greek yogurt is evenly spread. Then add the rest and stir until evenly coated again.

Bake your baguettes as directed. Once cooled cut in half and slice open. Add some chicken salad and enjoy!