Very little rivals the nutritious scrumptiousness of a freshly picked strawberry! Raw or cooked, they are simply yummy! By request, I just made a strawberry-rhubarb pie for hubby… a favorite of his. (He actually wanted it for Christmas, but I was unable to get rhubarb till now.) Another favorite of ours was a dessert offering at a former restaurant in Manchester, NH. Locals will likely remember Spatt’s on the Massabesic Traffic Circle. We’d go there for their fabulous prime rib and king crab legs, but if we had room, the “Strawberry Blossoms” were a must for dessert! (No, not the flowers.) Naturally, (back in 2008) I had to create my own recipe in tribute. Enjoy!
Super Simple Stuffed Strawberry Blossoms a la Spatt’s
3 oz cream cheese (plain or strawberry), softened to room temperature
2 T confectioner’s sugar (or Splenda-type substitute)
1 T sour cream
12 large, fresh strawberries, hulled; berry tips cut partway thru for “petals”
½ c semi-sweet chocolate chips (or some chocolate syrup)
12 large, fresh blueberries
Fresh mint leaves, torn into 12 mini leaf bits
Beat cream cheese, sugar & sour cream together till light. Spoon into a plastic food storage bag, pressing into one corner; snip off the tip of the filled corner with scissors, forming a pastry bag. Push that tip down into the center of each strawberry & squeeze out some cheese filling, so it shows between the “petals.”
Melt the chocolate with 1 T water in the microwave; stir. With a spoon, drizzle chocolate over the blossoms. Top each with a blueberry and add a bit of mint by each berry. Chill till serving time. Makes 1 dozen blossoms.
Notes: A fun twist is adding 1-2 T of a favorite liquor, such as Peachtree or Amaretto to the cheese mixture. You can also make these even easier by replacing cheese mixture with whipped cream straight out of the can.
“Having a vision for your life allows you to live out of hope, rather than out of your fears.”
Okay! It’s Friday… Date Night! For us that has often meant a trip to Home Depot, where we find ourselves so often, the staff calls us by our first names. We can do better for a Date Night…. For example, even when we must go to Home Depot, we can plan a little out-do-dinner stop afterward… or even just grab an ice cream cone.
“Before you can be creative, you must be courageous. Creativity is the destination, but courage is the journey.”
“Whenever a fellow tells me he is bipartisan, I know he’s going to vote against me.”
This is a day to celebrate brunch’s favorite adult beverage… a simple drink made from equal parts of champagne and orange juice. While variations abound, it was named “Mimosa” as the color closely resembles the flowers of the plant bearing the same name. I liked a Mimosa… UNTIL I tasted Italy’s counterpart.
The Bellini was created in 1948 by Giuseppe Cipriani at the famous 1930s haunt known as Harry’s Bar in Venice, Italy. He named the drink for Venice’s Renaissance artist, Giovanni Bellini. The cocktail’s recipe is a simple combination of 2-parts Prosecco Spumante and 1-part white peach puree. (“Back in the day” one full-time employee’s sole task was pureeing the white peaches!) Plus, they add one SECRET ingredient: a touch of raspberry puree (sans seeds). This imparts a luscious rosy glow to the cocktail AND balances out what can be varying degrees of sweetness in the peaches. (In a pinch, my Super Simple substitute for raspberry puree is a tablespoon of raspberry sorbet.) The Bellini at Harry’s Bar became a favorite cocktail of many celebrities, including American novelist Ernest Hemingway.
“We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done.”
Okayyyyyyy! Go for the oxymoron and enjoy some crispy, cold jumbo shrimp cocktail with a zesty horseradish dipping sauce. Or simply grill some beauties in garlic butter and sprinkle with some favorite herbs. For extreme decadence, bake some colossal shrimp with lobster-crab stuffing.
“Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being.”
“Humans need a lot of reinforcement… loving, gentle encouragement.”
What better way to celebrate both these days than with a warm, chewy oatmeal raisin cookie! So, here is my 1980 spin on my mother’s classic 1950s Oatmeal Icebox Cookies. Primarily, I used less sugar and more nuts and fruit. I still prefer cooking them for just 8-10 minutes to get an irresistibly chewy, rather than crispy, cookie. In recent years, I have replaced sugar with granulated monk fruit. (More on that after the recipe.)
Ron Martin, Babe, Sir Ronald… This is the man who dared to invite me into his life as his wife and stepmother for his children. He is my lover, my partner, and my best friend. He gives me strength and challenges me to be my best. I always endeavor to treat him with kindness, respect, and love. On this National Husband Appreciation Day (always the 3rd Saturday in April), I am proud to keep reminding him of how deeply he is appreciated, too. I am an especially grateful person. Thank you!
Because April is National Humor Month, this is a perfect time to pause to recall and/or share something that gave you that moment of laugh-out-loud joy or a little chuckle when you needed it.
April 13th is the birthday of Poughkeepsie, New York Architect Alfred Mosher Butts (1899-1993), inventor of the Scrabble game in 1931. Originally called “Criss Cross,” he based it on both the crossword puzzle and anagrams.