Happy Birthday To Me!

It's my 28th birthday today and so far it's been pretty great. This morning I was spoiled with presents that totally relate to my love for hiking :) The three things I received were items I'd been looking at for awhile, but never mentioned to my guy. How he knew..I'll never know..i guess he knows me well! I got a camel back, which is a back pack with a bladder you can fill with whatever beverage you would like as you jog or hike. A small 1st aid kit that I thought was a case for my camera that is how small it is. I really wanted one of these since we are hiking with our little guy a lot and you just never know what can happen. I also was given a polar heart rate monitor watch, which is great to keep in me in my target heart rate zone :) All awesome gifts :)

I then went to the spa and used my gift certificate given to me at Christmas for a manicure and pedicure, which was really nice. The best gift though was when I came home and my little guy showed me what he and his daddy had made me...

Maggie's Swirly Tart

You might recognize the ingredients for the crust, which is similar to Ani Phylo's recipe for Lemon Coconut Bars.

(Crust)

1/2 cup of almonds, chopped

3/4 cup of dates
1 vanilla bean

1 tsp sea salt

Zest of 1/2 lemon

Juice of 1/2 lemon (roughly 1 tablespoon of juice)

1/2 cup of dried shredded coconut

In your food processor, chop the almonds and coconut into small pieces. Then put the remaining ingredients in the food processor and blend until it starts creating a dough ball. Press in the base of your pie plate or pan.

(1st & 2nd layer)

3 Kiwis

1-2 Mangoes

The 1st layer is kiwis which you may want to blot the base of them on a cloth before placing them on the crust. This way it helps prevent the crust from going soggy. We didn't have a problem with the crust getting to soft or wet. The 2nd layer is mangoes, be creative and decorate.

(3rd layer)

3 fresh peaches or 1 can of peaches, rinsed (if out of season)

1/4 cup of dates

Blend the peaches and dates in a blender till smooth. Pour the puree over top of the mango layer.

(Fruit Toppings)

6-10 strawberries

2-3 mandarins

Decorate the top layer of your tart any way you like. Get creative and have some fun with it.

Well I'm off to enjoy the rest of my day! Hope you try out my Swirly Tart because it's so delicious! The fresh fruit with the sweet crust and puree is a great spring/summer dessert.

Enjoy!

~Maggie