....a family picnic dinner at the lake, on a perfect summer night like tonight.
"Mommy, do we get to eat at the castle?!" asked G-Bear. "It's just like Belle's castle!"
Of course we can eat at the castle, sweetie.
Look out, Disney World. We have Lake Harriet.
We ate some fabulous grilled pineapple & chicken quesadillas, inspired by Ree's recipe at The Pioneer Woman (sans jalapenos, I am ashamed to admit). Here is her picture...what we ate tasted just as good as this looks.
Did I mention these were perfect? Hot off the grill, wrap the quesadillas together in aluminum foil and then in a few clean dish towels. They were still warm when we arrived at "Belle's castle" for our picnic.
The secret ingredient to these babies are homemade tortillas. Easy. I repeat. EASY. And amazingly delicious. I made my 7th batch in two weeks tonight. I have to thank my friend SnoWhite at Finding Joy in My Kitchen, for posting this grand slam whole wheat tortilla recipe. Four people have asked me for this recipe in the past 2 days, including my very-attractive-and-sweet-but-oh-so-bachelor baby brother. Like I said, amazing?! They are the secret ingredient to making the pineapple quesadillas super-special.
(I have run into a few great recipes lately that I am eager to share....some of which even include pictures. Perhaps I will get to share more later this week.)
Back to the picnic!
We stayed for the summer concert series at the bandshell. You must join us for a summer concert some night soon. You can read the whole summer concert schedule here. There is a concert almost every night of the week, and the kids loved the music. The breeze is perfect off the lake and the lawn next to the seating area is perfect for dancing toddlers.
Before the concerts (which start at 7:30pm on weeknights), stop by the Rose Garden, which is in full bloom right now. Our budding Picasos were entralled by a painter hard at work:
Almost as stunning as the flowers are the fountains...
....like two little puddle ducks with their bottoms up....
...you should have heard the Bears chatting with each other....
And then the band played on. As my Bears danced in the grass.
And as we strolled home from Belle's castle
(bellies full of quesadillas and....ice cream, thanks to Papa)
the view was pretty nice....
...Only surpassed by the ones holding my hands, and my Prince by my side.
What a lovely picnic!! I'm so excited to be near the lakes again. I never thought of the band shell as a castle, but now I will :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so happy you're enjoying the tortilla recipe. We love them.
Oh my goodness. I think you need to devote a post to your bachelor brother and set him up with some nice women! Imagine the social circles you could tap into. ;)
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