Fruit Salad with Vanilla Honey Citrus Dressing

Summertime means salads to me. 

I'm enamored with the fresh seasonal ingredients at the height of their nutrients and flavor.  I especially enjoy sampling new salads at summertime get-togethers and BBQs, and oft times simple wins big. 

So here's my version of simple.  A medley of fresh vibrant fruits tossed in lightly sweetened juices with the perfect hint of vanilla. 

Lovely!      

Perfect Chocolate Buttercream

I made this and spread it upon a reeeaaallly good chocolate cake- recipe to follow soon, it was snarfed up by family members before I could document it's greatness- as a belated Father's day dessert for my beloved P-Man.

He's an exceptional Dad to his girls.

We're all darn lucky to have him.  

I'm sorry to have to say this, but I was raised in a family that could take or leave chocolate. 

Yes people like that really exist. 

We prefer fruity desserts over double-chocolate-chunk-ganache-fudge-cocoa-smothered whatevers...  It's a genetic thing I'm sure.  But my choc-aholic husband has gradually eroded my ways and today I find myself sitting somewhere in the middle. 

I do like and even crave chocolate occasionally now.  Quite the evolution.

This frosting really was divine.  My P-Man's say on the matter was that he normally scrapes off the cloyingly sweet frosting and just eats the cake, but this frosting was in his words perfect.   

Roasted Sweet Italian Sausage and Vegetables (a one-pan dinner!)

I really like Pam Anderson. 

No, not that Pam Anderson, but Pam of Three Many Cooks.  She's the inspiration behind this recipe and my new preoccupation with one-dish dinners.  Her new cook book Perfect One-Dish Dinners: All You Need for Easy Get-Togethers  is an absolute revelation.      

A work of utter genius.         

Easy Cream Cheese Wontons

I'm an appetizer girl. 

When dining out, if given my druthers, I'd almost always pass on the sweets and opt for the savory. 

I'm odd and I know this. 

But there's just something about the miniaturization of ordinary eatables that has me utterly smitten.  And I can't seem to outgrow it.  Parties boasting of heavy hors d'oeuvres are the shindigs worth showin' up for. 

Guuuuyyys... they make me happy.  Yin to my yang.  

From Scratch Baby Food

My third baby girl Gigi was just starting on baby food a few months back, when my kid sister Caley came to visit with her own baby girl.  She watched me pulling out the over-priced little jars of baby food and kindly told me that I needed to wise up and make my own. 

What?  Make my own? 

I vaguely recalled attempting it once before, yearrrrs ago.  I had saved a couple thousand of the little glass jars and for some reason thought that I needed to find a way to refill them. 

Disastrous results ensued.  It was tedious, slow, and extremely messy trying to spoon food back into the little jars.  Not fun.  Also all those jars took up way too much freezer space and were annoying to defrost.  

I never tried it again.  The convenience of the store-bought baby food prevailed.  Big time.  

Well my wise sister shared with me a much smarter approach to homemade baby food, and I love it so much that I now deeply regret not doing so with my two elder daughters.    

Balsamic Strawberry Shortcake Sugar Cookies



Perhaps using the word "shortcake" is being a bit liberal with the term, but it just felt right.

Aren't they lovely? 

Almost too darling to eat?  Maybe that's what I said before two or three disappeared. 

I'm still perplexed as to how that happened.  Ahem.

To be honest, the first time I laid eyes upon the marriage of balsamic vinegar and strawberries, I can't say that it seemed too appealing.

An initial eewww may have crossed my mind. 

But for some reason the idea lingered and kept nagging at me for a few weeks.  Weeks! 

So finally I grabbed a carton of berries and mustered up the gumption to give them a try.  I cringed a little as I poured the vinegar over the freshly sliced berries and with my P-Man casting more than a few unsubtle doubtful glances my way... The mood was tense.

And then I dusted on the black pepper.  And that's when P-Man had to just leave the room.

But there's a happy ending to this story.  When I spooned a dollop of lightly sweetened cream onto a perfectly soft melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookie and topped it all off with those marinated berries, the result was glorious. 

bite. moan. bite.

Continued in that order.

Instead of overpowering the natural flavor of the strawberries it only enhanced and brightened their flavor, and color too.  Oh the possibilities.  I'm already diabolically plotting for future mind-blowing balsamic/strawberry concoctions.  And I'm a dork.
      

Memorial Day is a comin' my friends, and these eye and mouth candy treats will impress your BBQ crowd.  Try them.  Love them.  And you're welcome.  



Balsamic Strawberry Shortcake Sugar Cookies

Recipe by Bliss From Scratch  | Printable Version

• 2 dozen sugar cookies, recipe here.  (You may not need this many, it just depends upon how much topping that you pile on 'em.)
• 4 cups whipped cream, lightly sweetened

For the berries:

• 16 oz. fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and gently stir.  Cover, and allow to marinate for about an hour. 

Spoon the fresh whipped cream onto the sugar cookies and top with the marinated strawberries.  Serve immediately.  Enjoy.

Soft melt-in-your-mouth Sugar Cookies

Everyone needs a killer sugar cookie recipe in their dessert arsenal.   

Here's mine. 

The oooper doooper secret for fabulous sugar cookies?  Sour cream.  That's right.  They're soft, moist and perfect for use with cookie cutters.  You'll never need another recipe, trrrust me.

Creamy Spinach, Feta and Bacon Quiche Cups

What happened and where have I been for the last month?  Or two. 

You may have noticed that I've been doing some dramatic remodeling.  New blog name being a major change, new logo, layout... and I'm far from being done. 

Big changes to come and I'm rawwwther excited about it. 

I'm taking myself pretty seriously these days.