Second trip on the Orient Express was great fun!

We had a great time with the 40 ladies in our second weekend retreat in Branson. We made scrapbook pages, mini-albums, cards, and other projects, and managed to find time to eat and talk and laugh! Thanks so much to the 80 scrapbookers who attended our retreats this fall. We had a wonderful time, and hope you did as well.

The dates for our spring retreats in Branson are the weekends of March 11 and March 18. Registration will open for everyone on December 1.

First place contest winners were Christina Hoffman, Kassie Jarvis, Jamie Gillham, Karon Rapp, and Christa Allgood. (Karon Rapp had three firsts, including Best Overall!)

Second place contest winners are Kassie Jarvis, Nikki Major, Shannon Love, Christina Hoffman, and Jamie Gillham.

This group was at our retreat for the first time, celebrating Diana Boggs' 50th birthday. Kassie, Terri, and Jodi made it a special weekend for the birthday girl with a cake, balloons, and some stylish Snuggies!

Recipes as requested!

For several reasons, after the first retreat, we decided to fix the meals ourselves instead of having the caterer back. The first night, we had delicious pulled pork sandwiches. The meat was smoked by Hucklebuck's in Ava, a new eating spot opened by Steven Bruce, one of my former students! For lunch on Saturday, we had sandwiches and a chicken tortilla soup that everyone seemed to love, and also toffee pie tarts that also got good reviews. Saturday evening, we feasted on a Chinese buffet of cashew chicken, sweet and sour chicken, pepper steak, general chicken, eggs rolls, and crab rangoon. The meal was furnished by Chopstix in Branson West, and we highly recommend it for great food and great service.

Although you'll discover how easy they are to prepare, I promised to share the recipes for a couple of things, so here they are.

Chicken Tortilla Soup

14-1/2 ounce can chicken broth
1 and 1/4 can cream of chicken soup
15-1/2 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
14-ounce can sweet corn and diced peppers, drained
10-ounce can mild Rotel tomatoes with chiles
12-ounce can Swanson chicken breast, drained
8 ounces Velveeta, cubed

Combine all ingredients except cheese in a pan over medium-low heat. When heated through, add cheese, stirring until melted. Makes 7 cups of soup.

Toffee Bits Pie

1 package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup half and half cream
1 carton (8 ounces) Cool Whip, thawed
1 package (8 ounces) milk chocolate English toffee bits, divided
1 graham cracker crust (9 inches) OR 10 individual tart-size graham cracker crusts

In large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in cream until blended. Fold in whipped topping and 1 cup toffee bits. Spoon into crust (or individual tarts). Sprinkle with the remaining toffee bits. Cover and freeze overnight. Remove from the freezer 10 minutes before serving.