The Verdict

on the homemade “ice cream” is that it is super duper yummy. Now I’m thinking about lots of other desserts that I can make in my freezer this summer….like this coconut mango semifreddo. It looks delicious.

Speaking of good food ideas, this is a brilliant idea for a mason jar picnic. It looks so pretty and easy and adaptable for different family members and their preferences. I want to try that pesto pasta salad and the white wine sangria. I’ll just confess it — I need picnic help. It seems like every time I pack a picnic for my boys, it ends up taking up half the cargo area of the car. I don’t know how my mother used to do it. We would go on long car journeys when I was a little girl and everywhere we went we had delightful little picnics. She is the queen of picnics, truly. It was funny, while she was the queen of picnics, my dad, Papa Joe, was the king of eating food while driving. He could make a perfect cup with his right hand while driving with his left. We in the back seat would fill his hand with pound cake, mini Snickers, peanut M&Ms….he never dropped a morsel, talented man.

Finally, I’m this close to making some freezer strawberry jam. My mom, Mama Suzie, usually makes the most wonderful strawberry jam every summer and she very generously makes a bunch of it just for my family. But this year was rough for strawberries in Alabama (really the strawberries were the least of it for so many down there with all the terrible destruction) and, for some reason, my Aldi has organic strawberries for 99 cents a pound. What? I couldn’t believe it…I think that I must have read the carton 5 times out of disbelief. I almost loaded my entire cart full but managed to keep myself to 3 pounds. For now. Hmmmmm, maybe Saturday will be a jam day here in the Barlow house.

We shall see.

Happy Thursday, y’all!