Sunday PIcnic

Last week I was looking so forward to my Sunday picnic and enjoying the beautiful weather we have been blessed with, but sure enough, Sunday rolled around and it was cloudy and kinda cold. Well, cold for me...in the 60s. Not really the ideal picnic weather! I was pretty upset inside, but after all my planning and preparing I was determined to make it work, so we conducted our picnic indoors. Thanks to my sister and Matt

I have the cutest plaid dishes to complete my indoor picnic theme.

Menu

Panzanella Salad

Curried Chicken Wraps

Strawberry Cake Jars

All the beautiful vegetables that went into the panzanella salad

Curried Chicken Salad

Even though my picnic didn't work out exactly how I planned, it was still an enjoyable, relaxing day with my husband with great food! I will make my outdoor picnic happen sometime soon! What is your favorite Sunday activity?

Spring in a Jar

The weather has been so nice here in Orange County lately that I have been contemplating having a nice picnic outside for a while now. I have been envisioning a nice Sunday afternoon spent outside enjoying nature, away from Television, Computers, iPhone....just relaxing outside. Hearing the birds chirp and stuff like that.

I saw a recipe for Strawberry Layer Cake and it just seemed like the perfect inspiration for my Spring picnic. I am not an advanced picnic planner or anything, but I do know that a cake is not that portable. Stubbornness took over and I came up with the idea of making mini layered desserts with the cake in jars. Seemed like the perfect answer because there is no way Brian and I alone could eat a whole cake. I ended up with enough little jars to give to people and freeze a few for a rainy day!

Ingredients for Dessert in a Jar:

Small Wide Mouth Jars

Large Plastic Ziplock Bag or Piping Bag

Round Cookie Cutters

1 pint Strawberries, cleaned and sliced, stems removed

1. Make the cake as directed. Let cool completely. Find the appropriate size round cookie cutter to fit the bottom of the jar and cut out the cake to fit. You will only need one of this size per jar. Then find a slightly bigger size cookie cutter to fit higher up in the jar and cut out one of this size for each jar.

2. Once you have cut out all your cake pieces, place a small one in the bottom

of each of your jars.

3. Pour all your frosting into your plastic bag (or piping bag) and push it all to one corner in the bottom of the bag. Do not zip the top closed there will be too much air inside.

Twist the top of the bag gently and pipe a little frosting on top of each cake round.

4. Arrange a layer of sliced strawberries over the first layer of frosting.

Top with the second (larger) cake round.

5. Pipe another layer of frosting.

6. Top with sliced strawberries.

You are done! Aren't they cute?! Stay tuned for a Pie version!

Take me to Italy

I was pretty impressed when I tried this gelato at Bristol Farms the other day. I am not a fan of ice cream, but who doesn't like gelato? It is heavenly. Never have I tried a gelato out of a container at the store that tastes right though. I was in shock when I tasted this and had to bring some home so Brian could try it also. I was thrilled to find out they had our favorite flavor from our honeymoon which this company calls, "Carmel Cookie Crunch"!

They also make a line of sorbetto which is really wonderful also. I have tried the Roman Raspberry and the Blood Orange which are both really good. I have yet to find the Peach Champagne and I am starting to get discouraged. You can find these products at a ton of retailers though, I checked their website! Try this out...you will love it!

Sweet Endings

I love dessert. There is nothing like a bite of something sweet after dinner, but if I ate dessert every night after dinner I would have to spend at least another hour working out every day to keep off the extra 50 pounds I would most likely gain. Brian on the other hand does not feel the same way as me and complains every night about our dessert selection, which mostly consists of a variety of beautiful fruit.

Fruit is wonderful, naturally sweet and juicy and healthy!

Brian is less than thrilled. I don't really get it, but I have been trying to come up with some ways to give him the dessert he wants without adding another 400-800 calories to our daily intake. That is why this really easy Strawberry Sauce I concocted is perfect! I picked up some Angel Food Cake at the store on my way home and put this whole thing together in 15 minutes. The sauce is beautiful and tastes like you spent a lot more time on it than you did!

Super Simple Strawberry Sauce

Ingredients:

1 Pint Strawberries

2 Tablespoons Lemon Juice

1/3 cup Sugar

Directions:

Wash Strawberries, cut off stems and quarter.

Combine all ingredients in a medium size saucepan and simmer over medium heat for about 5 or 6 minutes. Basically until the sugar has turned a ruby red color and the strawberries are soft. I recommend stirring them often and mushing (I know, really technical) with your spoon while they are cooking to let the sugar absorb some of the juices.

Let the sauce cool down a bit and then pour into a blender or food processor. Pulse a couple times or until the sauce has become the consistency you want. I prefer mine different textures depending on the final usage.

Strawberries Simmering Away

About to be pulsed into the final product

Final sauce! Consistency is smooth with bits of fresh strawberries throughout

How beautiful is that for 15 minutes of effortless work? Not bad, not bad at all! I think you could use this sauce in so many ways and with Summer coming up, I always have a ton of strawberries I never know what to do with! Try some of these suggestions:

-Drizzled over waffles or pancakes in the morning

-Served with your favorite ice cream or frozen yogurt

-Use this instead of Chocolate Sauce or Creme Anglais on your Souffle

-Stir into your Lemonade to make Strawberry Lemonade

-Drizzle on top of Cheesecake

-Freezes well to have strawberry sauce anytime you like

Enjoy and have a sweet day!