Strawberry spinach salad

A friend of mine told me of this wonderful olive oil & balsamic shop in our area called Bella Vita. I finally got a chance to go & I kid you not, I thought I went for a wine tasting. It was marvelous! The customer service was phenomenal as she took us through to taste everything. Even Ash got a few samples. If you're lucky enough to have one in your area I highly recommend visiting or go to their site. http://www.bvoliveoil.com
The woman there had us try apricot balsamic with lemon oil. Talk about a flavor explosion! I had to have it so a salad was born.

Strawberry spinach salad

Strawberries, sliced
Fresh spinach
Apricot balsamic
Lemon olive oil

Lay your spinach on your plate. Slice some strawberries on top. Combine the oil & vinegar. I found that a little more of the apricot made a better mix. Then just pour over salad. It's so flavorful, you really don't need much.

Strawberry Muffins

I love strawberries any way that I can get them. It's all too often that I can't find decent strawberries at the store so for this recipe I used frozen ones. I do try, but just like my blueberry muffins, I can never seem to keep my muffins from getting dyed from the juice. You can add some cinnamon for some extra flavor or even try swapping whole wheat flour instead of all purpose.

 

 

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup white sugar

1 3/4 cups flour

1 cup chopped strawberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a small bowl, combine oil, milk, and egg. Beat lightly. In a large bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and sugar. Toss in chopped strawberries and stir to coat with flour. Pour in milk mixture and stir together.
Fill muffin cups. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, or until the tops bounce back from the touch. Cool 10 minutes and remove from pans.

 

Onion & cheese roll ups

I had these for my husbands birthday party over the weekend & they were a huge hit! I found a garlic & lime salsa verde by Pace that goes perfect with this. You can make changes where you like. Add a slice of ham or serve warm with sautéed onions!

1 cup sour cream
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
Scallions sliced. Amount to taste.
1 tbsp lime juice
10 (6 inch) flour tortillas
1 jar of salsa or salsa verde


Mix sour cream, cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, green onions, & lime juice.
Spread one side of each tortilla with the sour cream mixture. Tightly roll each tortilla. Place rolled tortillas on serving dish and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator at least 1 hour.
Slice tortillas in half. Serve with salsa.

Happy Easter!

  Easter was so exciting this year with Ash being a little bit older. For one thing, he didn't have chickenpox this year. We made him a little basket....errrr, maybe not so little. And then so did his grandparents & his aunt. haha Spoiled rotten! Just a little bit of candy but a lot of art things & toys. Don't mind momma & daddy's basket.

  Chris & I decided to get him a nice suit for the occasion. He was so handsome! I still just can't get over how big my baby is getting. It truly goes by too fast & I want to make sure I don't miss any of it.
We went over to my parents house for Easter for our family day. Immediately wanting to go outside, he began to spot the eggs right away. haha He knew exactly what to do for the hunt! We had to hold him off until his aunt came so that we could do pictures.

  He ran around the yard finding them all & putting them in his basket. Then he had a blast getting them all open to see what was inside.
  A wonderful meal. A wonderful family. Just a perfect day!