Cooking Thursday

Today's recipe is one of the easiest recipes for chicken ever!  It's only 3 ingredients and you can literally get it ready and into the oven in 5 minutes!  The chicken is moist and delicious and it's healthy too!

Salsa Chicken

1 pkg boneless, skinless chicken breast (5 or 6)
1 jar salsa - any type
shredded cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place chicken breasts in shallow baking pan. Pour salsa over and around the chicken.
Cover pan with foil and bake for 45 minutes.
Take out, remove foil and sprinkle cheese over chicken.
Place back into oven for about 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day found us in Ludington, MI.  We had driven past what appeared to be a beautiful old cemetery the day before and thought it would be a good one to explore.  We went on a drive to find it in the morning, although we had to take a little detour to avoid the parade that was about to start!

It was a huge place, and the front of it had a lot of old gravesites, many with stones so old we could no longer read them.  We couldn't help but think of our daughter Heather and our friend Jenny who love to visit old cemeteries, knowing they would have enjoyed walking through it with us.



We enjoyed wandering, admiring some of the old stones.

 They vary in shapes and sizes...

 Some are no longer standing as straight as they once did.

But, they remain elegant after all these years.

 I found this one very touching; the dog is still watching over its masters final resting place.

There was a section dedicated to those who had served in the military; a fitting place for us to pay our respects on this solemn holiday.

There is something very touching about seeing rows of flags decorating these old stones.

I thought this was a poignant scene as well, a stone that has been toppled by a growing tree.

It was a beautiful way for us to spend our morning.
After this we went on our way, enjoying our drive back home.  On the way, we stopped at another lighthouse that is not very far from us, but we had never visited before.

Here you can see it through the trees.

 This is the White River Lighthouse, standing on the shore of Lake Michigan in Whitehall Michigan.
This one was closed so we weren't able to tour the inside, but we were free to wander around the outside.  The wooden piece in the front of the lighthouse is an old rudder from a ship.

Here's the lighthouse from the lake side.  It's not very big but it's full of charm and was well worth the stop to see it.

After this we made our way home, after only one day away, but feeling very rested and rejuvenated!

Weekend getaway...

Bob and I have both been very busy lately and feel like we are often ships passing in the night!  Somehow we both ended up having Memorial Day off, so we decided to get away for one night and spend a little time together.  We left right after church on Sunday and drove to Ludington, Michigan - about 1 1/ hours north of us.
The weather report was not good.  Saturday had been beautiful, but in was supposed to storm starting Sunday afternoon, and then rain through Monday.

This was the view in the car as we were driving.  We both took some books thinking this may be a time to read, and not much time outside!

However, when we arrived it quit raining.  After about an hour the sun came out, so we headed out to explore Ludington.

We were driving along Lake Michigan and visit the beach.  Our beaches are famous for the white sand, fresh water, no sharks!

We decided to visit the Au Sable Lighthouse in Ludington.  You have to park at the Ludington State Park and then walk to the Lighthouse - 2 miles to see it and 2 miles back!

Along the way we saw sand dunes,

and more sand dunes.

It was a nice walking path though.

 There were a few small ponds as we walked too.

 After walking for some time we saw it in the distance!

And then finally arrived.


You can climb the spiral staircase to the top - 130 steps in all.   We had to do that!

 Here's the view from a window close to the top.

 And here are some views from the walkway around the top.  It's 92 feet up and you can see for miles!

This is facing Wisconsin - it's 56 miles across the lake.


After we climbed back down, we explored outside for a while.

Here's the lighthouse from another direction.  You might see Bob on that bench in front of the lighthouse looking out at the lake.


Then it was time for the 2 mile hike back to our car.
When we got back to Ludington, we got some supper and took it out to the beach to eat.

 It was just beautiful!

 While we were there the SS Badger came in.  It's a huge ferry that makes a trip to Wisconsin daily.

It was fun seeing this huge ship make its way into the ferry.


We went back to the hotel for a short time, and then came back to the beach to watch the sunset.

The end of a beautiful day!

Memorial Day

Friday Funny

Cooking Thursday

I made this pretty dessert this weekend.  It's quick and easy to put together, looks impressive and is yummy.  What more could you want?

Cherry White Chocolate Triffle

2 cans fruit pie filling; cherry, strawberry, blueberry... your choice
20 -25 sugar cookies, broken
1 batch white chocolate mousse (below)

White chocolate mouse:
2 cups heavy whipping cream
4 tablespoons sugar
8 ounces cream cheese - softened
6 ounces white chocolate, melted

To make mousse:
Beat cream n bowl until it thickens, add sugar, beat until stiff peaks form.
In another bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add in the white chocolate and beat until smooth.  Stir in the whipped cream mixture.
To assemble the trifle;
Place one can of pie filling in the bottom of a trifle bowl.  Sprinkle half of cookies over top,  then half of cream cheese mix.  Repeat layers.

Wordless Wednesday

It's time to buy the flowers!

Every year around this time, I make a visit to a local greenhouse to buy some flowers.  Actually, Bob and I visit it quite often just to wander the aisles and look at perennials, but the first visit of the year is to buy hanging baskets and a pot of flowers for the front porch.
The name of the place is Countryside Greenhouse, and it is huge!  There is 8 acres of shopping area there, so you have a good chance of finding what you are looking for.  They have flats of flowers, hanging baskets, perennials, shrubs, trees, decorative items, tools, fertilizer...  It's fun to just look around.

 Whenever I go in, I'm always struck by how huge it is.  Racks of flowers for as far as you can see!

The hanging baskets are on a track that moves so the light doesn't always hit them in the same spot.

 There are 6 cats that live there, so you never know where you might see one.  I saw this one hiding under the rows of flowers.

The checkout area is shaded by all the Boston ferns hanging overhead.

Here's my finds; a fuschia, a mixed basket and a pot of various plants that is now on my porch.
I'll be back for more!

Petting Zoo!

The girls spent the night with us Friday night.  Our township library was having a petting zoo on Saturday, so we went and checked out the animals.

We started by petting this huge rabbit.

He was very patient and just laid there while all the kids were touching him.

Then we got to hold the baby bunnies.  They were a little squirmy, but Alaina just loved them.  We went back several times to hold different bunnies.

 Ruby preferred to pet the bunny that Alaina was holding.

There were little goats too.  They were awfully cute!

 Ruby liked holding the little chicks.

 Alaina loved them too.

There was even a duck!

In the middle of holding animals, this little boy started crying.  Ruby immediately knelt down and started patting his head and cheeks.  I think she likes babies more than animals!

 There was even a little calf and a baby horse.  They stayed in their cage, but the kids had fun petting them through the rails.

We ended our time by sitting on the statue in front of the library.  What a fun morning!