Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop

Welcome - it's day 1 of the Hero Hostess Summer Picnic Blog Hop!  When the hostesses hopped in January with new 2013 Hero Arts stamps, we had so much fun we decided to do a summer hop in July.  How time flies - before we knew it, we were planning our virtual picnic!!  Each day this week, at least 4 hostesses will share a project and a recipe!  Today's line-up:

Deborah Nolan

Emily Leiphart

Sarah Moerman

Linda Wetterlin (you are here)

Kathy Racoosin

 If you're following the hop in order, you should have arrived from the fabulous Sarah's blog.  You may have begun the hop at the Hero Arts Blog; if not, be sure to visit there.  If you encounter any broken links, please contact blog@heroarts.com to report it.  Hero Arts will award prizes from randomly drawn comments made on ANY of the stops on the participating blogs (including the Hero Arts Blog) ANY day this week.  The more comments you leave, the better your chance of winning!

 

When I think of a picnic I think of a colorful checked tablecloth and ANTS!  Where there's food, ants follow (despite what our banner says - LOL)!!  So, I created a card with a tablecloth background using a fun new brush stroke image from Hero Arts' new Stamp Your Story line.  Several sets have a brush stroke but I used the clear one in CL696 Notebook Essentials, one of my favorite sets in the new line.  It was super simple to create a full line by stamping from one side, then flipping the stamp and connecting it to the other side.  I cut the ants on my Silhouette SD using Design ID 12134 by Hero Arts.  The sentiment is from CL695 My Words - I just love the variety of words and images in this set (also from Stamp Your Story).  The speech bubble is from CG523 Psst! which has 6 bubbles and 3 sentiments.  The paper for the ants is from Basic Grey - I added some googly craft eyes from Michael's using Glossy Accents and popped them up with foam tape.

 





A Perfect Day for a Picnic!!

 

My recipe came from Dad's sister, my Aunt Jeanette.  Our family loves this salad and it's perfect for a picnic.  When I make this salad, I leave the dressing off - that way people can add as much as they wish and the leftovers stay crisp.

 

 Crunchy Salad - Serves 6

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 4 Tablespoons sugar
• 2 Tablespoons vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Accent (optional - it's a brand of flavor enhancer containing MSG)

Salad:

• 1 head of iceberg lettuce
• 6 ounces sliced almonds
• 4 Tablespoons sesame seeds (I buy the jarred ones in the spice section)
• 5-6 pieces of bacon
• 1 cup chow mein noodles (the crunchy ones)

Directions:

• Combine dressing ingredients in a jar or other shaker, cover and shake vigorously to mix well.   Set aside. 
• Chop lettuce and place in large bowl.
• Fry bacon until crumbly, drain well and crumble over the lettuce.
• Toast the sesame seeds and almonds until golden brown (do them separately as the sesame seeds cook a lot faster than the almonds - I know this from experience!!).  Add both to the lettuce and bacon.
•  Add chow mein noodles to salad bowl just before serving so they don't get soggy. 
• Add dressing and toss well just before serving, or leave the dressing off for people to pour onto their own serving and just toss the other ingredients.  Some dieters may prefer a low-cal option so I usually bring along a ranch or fat-free French dressing - both taste yummy with this crunchy creation.

Hope your picnic doesn't have any ants - just hungry guests! In addition to being entered into the Hero Arts drawing, if you leave me a comment (one per visitor please) by midnight PDT on 7/26/13, you will also have a chance to win a Hero Arts limited stock Brush Strokes cling set and a Basic Grey 6x6 Carte Postale paper pad from me. I will do a random draw on 7/27 and post the results. 

Your last stop on today's hop is the amazing Kathy Racoosin's blog.  Kathy always impresses with her coloring skills and I can't wait to see what she's created for our picnic! 

Thanks for hopping with us today and remember to stop by the Hero Arts Blog for more Hostess Hopping tomorrow through Friday.  Have a wonderful day!!