Yesterday was perfect in every way! The Paige clan gathered at my aunt’s house to celebrate a couple of special birthdays. My cousins are 1 year + 364 days apart. It was a day to celebrate them! The weather was perfect, the food was delicious, the conversation was fun and funny! I am extremely tight with the fam, so I love every occasion when we’re all together.
I knew I would get super hungry if i tried to wait for our late lunch, so I had a healthy snack at home before leaving.
Butternut squash – sliced, seasoned, baked! These fries don’t require any oil. I sprinkled them with cinnamon and popped them in the oven at 425* for 20 minutes. A perfect, crispy snack. You won’t even realize you’re eating your veggies!
When we arrived at my aunt’s we were greeted by her lovely eats.
She always has the most beautiful, photogenic fruit platters at parties. Copious amounts of fruit were eaten yesterday! I brought a batch of fruit salsa for snacking – see my recipe below.
In between snack bites, I drank plenty of water. It was a scorcher! I needed to stay hydrated.
By late afternoon, we fired up the grill. I made a plate of everything I was craving.
Everything tasted so good – grilled chicken, salad in a champagne vinaigrette, and sour cream and onion chips. Yum!
Of course, I also took part in the birthday celebration – not just the singing – the cake!
My favorite…ice cream cake! I had a tiny piece of regular cake and nice cold, creamy square of ice cream cake. When I was a kid, I always chose ice cream cake for my birthday. In fact, my whole family enjoys ice cream cake more than regular cake. There’s something about those chocolate crunchies in the middle that I just can’t get enough of!
Thanks, Auntie Beth, for hosting the family and showing us a great time! Happy Birthday, Allison and Andrew!
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Fruit Salsa
We all crave refreshing summer fruit on hot days, so I contributed Fruit Salsa to yesterday’s feast. There really is no official recipe – variations can be found on the internet – so I just combine the fruits that look tastiest on any given day!
My Fruit Salsa ingredients:
- 1/2 cantaloupe
- 1/2 pt. fresh blueberries
- 1 lb. fresh strawberries
- 1 Granny Smith apple
- 1 kiwi
- 1 T. honey – or your favorite sweetener.
- 2 T. Polaner All Fruit Strawberry – or your favorite fruit spread/jam/jelly.
Directions:
- Chop all fruits into small pieces.
- Combine in a large bowl.
- Add sweetener and jam.
- Mix well.
- Refrigerate until serving.
I served the salsa with Stacy’s Cinnamon Sugar pita chips. It was a hit! The family blazed through the chips and salsa – and loved it! This is so easy to bring to parties. It’s less expensive to prepare than a large fruit salad and just as pleasing to the guests!
Have you made/eaten fruit salsa? I’d love to hear what fruits were used!
I hope everyone is enjoying their weekend! ‘Tis glorious!
I think BBQ’s would have to be one of my top 3 favorite things about summer.
The fruit salsa looks awesome! I might do that for the 4th. I also reallyreally need to try butternut suqash fries!!