Potluck picnic in the park

We celebrated Father's Day with a potluck picnic in the park (say that 3 times fast!)  I made muffins for the picnic that Kevin described as "salad muffins" when he saw all the ingredients laid out on the counter...carrots, zucchini, apples, raisins, walnuts.  They were a hit with the 6 to 60 year old crowd!  I did nothing to this recipe and followed it ingredient for ingredient.  People were asking for the recipe so instead of re-typing it, here is the link.

Morning Glory Muffins from  An Avocado a Day

Banana Oatmeal Chia Seed Muffins

With no brown rice syrup on hand to make my go to energy bars for the week I opted to use some of the bananas that are slowly starting to take over my freezer. Like the Lemon Chia Seed Muffins, I used the Jean Pare Muffins and More cookbook as a starting point. You could doctor these up with nuts, chocolate chips, or raisins. I decided to keep it basic. Like the lemon chia seed muffins, I found that the batter is kind of elastic for lack of a better term and the muffins turn out almost chewy. I think this is a function of the chia seed getting a gelatinous coating around them when introduced to liquid. In addition to adding chia seeds, the other modifications I made were halving the sugar, substituting apple sauce for canola oil, and adding some cinnamon.

Grilled Strawberries and Basil Vanilla Gelato

I started this blog in the depths of winter when I was likely to be found in my "uniform" of track pants and hoody by 6:30 and unlikely to leave the house after that.  The nice weather and longer days have changed that...they always do.  Heading out at 8:00pm seems totally normal and PJ's do not get put on until right before I go to bed.  I just really like to be outside during the spring and summer.  Instead of puttering around my kitchen as I do in the fall and winter, I putter in the garden, talk my dog for, another, stroll around the park, or go for a spin on my bike.