Watermelon Lemonade

Today's weather could not have been more perfect.  

The morning spent at the baseball field, our first game of the 2012 season.  My team got their first win.....it's always nice to start the season with a victory.  Go Cardinals!

Then I spent the afternoon gardening: pruning, trimming, planting bulbs and seeds.  While I gardened and worked up a sweat, all I could think of was an ice-cold glass of fresh-squeezed lemonade.

By the time I was done gardening, I felt the need to add some fresh raspberry puree to my fresh-squeezed lemonade.  As usual, this complicated things........I had the ingredients for my lemonade, but I didn't have any raspberries.

So I went to the store, and they didn't have raspberries, either!  But there was some spectacular-looking watermelon.......so I found myself thinking, why not?

I've never even had watermelon lemonade before, much less made it myself, but I decided to give it a go.  I'm happy to say that it went well!

Strawberry Scones with Lemon Curd

It's been a few weeks since I made one of the gazillion recipes that I've been pinning on Pinterest.

Eenie-meanie-miney-moe...........for today's recipe I picked Strawberry Lemonade Scones by Munchkin Munchies.

The recipe says to drizzle them with prepared lemon curd.  I know, you're just. like. me.  You're thinking, "why used prepared lemon curd when I can make my own?"

I'm so glad that we think alike!

Make the lemon curd the day before you make the scones.  It's not difficult at all to make, but you need to give it time to chill before you use it, and chill time takes at least an hour.

Unless you like to get up at an ungodly hour so you can make your homemade lemon curd and give it an hour to chill and then make your homemade scones in time for breakfast.  In which case, we don't think alike at all.

Shrimp & Potato Soup

Will it really reach 90 degrees on Monday as everyone seems to think?

I figured I should take a few pictures of the blooms and blossoms in my yard before they wilt and drop from heat exhaustion.

None of the tulips have opened yet, I'm hoping they can hold on until after the heatwave!

My niece has adopted a puppy.  Meet Milo!

They live about 100 miles away, I'm afraid by the time I meet him in person his puppy days will be behind him.

Fortunately, she's posting lots of pictures of him on her facebook page so I get to "oooh" and aaaaah" over him all day long!

I made this pillow for the bottom of his crate.....puppies should be pampered, don'tcha think?

I decided to pamper myself a bit tonight!  Mr. Terrific and Sean went to the Red Sox game (Go Sox!!), Erin was out with friends, so I only had myself to cook for.  I'm the only seafood lover in this house, so unless I want to listen to a chorus of groans I rarely prepare anything remotely fishy.  

Tonight, I seized the opportunity to get creative in the kitchen without having to worry about pleasing anyone other than myself!

With the warmer weather coming, I figure that my soup-making days will be on hold for the next five months or so. The only seafood I had in the house was some shrimp in my freezer, but I had enough ingredients on hand to put together a really yummy soup!

Chocolate Banana Bread

Lots of baking going on around here in the last couple of days.

Erin's been busy.  First she whipped up a batch of Easter-themed Honey Nut Chex Mix.

Her Easter baking continued, with marshmallow peeps sitting on speckled M&M eggs in their Rice Krispie treat nests.

All of these Easter treats are gone, devoured.

We're not out of baked goods, though..........thanks to a few over-ripe bananas that inspired me to make Chocolate Banana Bread tonight.

Grilled Cheese Panini with Avocado and Prosciutto

Today I decided to snap a few photos of the flowers that are blooming in my yard.  Everything is blooming so early this year, I wonder if it will continue at this early pace?

I snapped this photo a split-second before Gus came and dropped his frisbee on these daffodils and flattened them.

These daffodils were facing downward so I held my camera on the ground to get this shot.

These white daffodils with the pink centers are my favorite.  I'm thinking that I might have to cut them and bring them into the house where I can enjoy them.

The inspiration for today's recipe came about when I was standing in line at the deli yesterday.  The deli clerk was slicing prosciutto di Parma for the woman in front of me.  He was slicing it so thin and perfect.  I bet you could've read a newspaper through the slices, they were so transparent.  It was out of my control.  I had to buy some.

Then, I had to figure out what to do with the prosciutto.  My favorite thing would be prosciutto/mozzarella asparagus wraps , but unfortunately the rest of my family doesn't share my enthusiasm for asparagus.     

So I just started pulling some of my favorite things out of the fridge (fresh mozzarella) and the fruit bowl (avocado.....I'm still obsessed) and the bread box (awesome ciabatta) and decided on panini instead.

It was sooooooooo good.  In fact, it was such a perfect combination of salty/chewy-crunchy/melty-creamy that I made another one just like it today.