A Honken Good Time!

Last week, my bestie Lydia Honken was in town from Colorado with her precious 5 month old, Aida! She had a few friends over to her parent's home in College Hill for a fun-filled evening of laughs...and snuggling! (with Aida, of course ;) ) (Aside: although my baby-doll shirt blowing in the wind would suggest otherwise, I am not pregnant ;) )

Seriously, how adorable is Aida?

Aunt Jenn loves her Aida Ann!



Ellen & Aida

Mama's girl

Mr. & Mrs. V with Ellen's beautiful daffodils! Thanks for hosting us - and for the yummy salmon dinner!

My two besties since middle school...hard to believe we're procreating now ;)

Darling girl...


Linnea (Lyd's sister), Sarah, Mr. V (incognito) and Katie just catching up in the kitchen :)

Aunty Sarah with her pumpkin!


Lyd, it is so wonderful to see you as a mother! It makes my heart glad :) Thank you for your friendship - I look forward to watching Aida grow into a beautiful woman of God...just like her mama.


____



After dinner, Lydia made a FABULOUS dessert which I must have again soon! She posted the recipe on her blog, I'll post it here, too....it's just THAT good :)


*LYDIA'S FRUIT PIZZA w/ PRETZEL CRUST & RASPBERRY SAUCE*

Crust:

3 cups finely crushed pretzels
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups cold butter or margarine


In a bowl, combine pretzels and sugar; mix well. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press into a 9 x 14-in. pizza pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool on a wire rack; refrigerate for 30 minutes. (NOTE: It's a bit hard to predict the saltiness of the crust using regular pretzels. Buying unsalted pretzels and adding coarse salt to taste gives you more control).

Frosting:

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips



In double boiler melt chips and add heavy cream, mix until smooth take off of heat. In mixing bowl cream together sugar and cream cheese until smooth, slowly add chocolate mixture. Mixture will thicken up as the chocolate cools.


Topping:
Any fruit you want! I like fresh berries :)

Sauce:
Frozen raspberries
Sugar to taste
1 -1 1/2 c. Water

Puree desired amount of raspberries while frozen. Add enough water to make a nice thin mixture. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer. Add sugar as mixture cooks till desired sweetness is reached. Simmer about 15 minutes, till thickened. Sauce will thicken more as it cools.

After crust is cooled, top with frosting. I add the berries and sauce to individual slices because leftovers will become soggy overnight if you do it all at once. Whipped cream would be good too :)