Picnic Time!

You know what? I like picnics. The more the I think about it, the more I enjoy its memories, present and past. Daydream about future picnic adventures too I suppose.

I love the idea that you have so much in one. There are so many fun elements to enjoy as part of the one. I love that you can never have too many, that it brings friends and family alike closer together. That it just brings a huge grin to your face in anticipation (at least, it does mine!)

It is definitely for summer, though as always, I seem to break the rules and eat it in winter.

Sorry, what? I am eating  a picnic? Oh you are so funny. You thought I was talking about the grassy park, swings, cricket match and barbecue picnic? Hahahaha, I was talking about this kind of Picnic. Cadbury’s Picnic. In your mouth

Post massacre

It does after all

1. Feature many elements – wafers, nougat, crushed biscuits with milk chocolate? 4-in1 goodness much
2. Have the ability to be addictive – do not even try to guess how many ‘crumbs’ I ate while making this treat (it will shock you)
3. Bring family and friends together – ok, so we may bond over our shared love for this overload chocolate bar but when it comes to sharing, I think we are all too close for our own good (with claws out all round )
4. Make you smile – One bite and you have fallen. Legit.

Funnily enough, I did make this one-bite-picnic bar-dessert for a… picnic. Yes, the barbecue, open park, skipping ropes and play equipment style one.
You see, at school, we have a peer support program which I am part of with a ton of friends. Us big, scary, know-all year 11s (since the even bigger and scarier year 12s are too busy ending school) take the small, cute lil baby year 7s under our wing to teach them how:

• To make friends
• To enjoy the school atmosphere
• To respect their teachers, study and fellow students

This is what we really do

• Keep them from getting detention
• Give them a map to the toilets
• Warn them off the… teachers devoid of sympathy, empathy, compassion etc.
• Help them not get squished in the canteen line

After teaching the basic survival skills needed in our jungle that is high school *biggest cliche metaphor EVER!* , we celebrate their achievements to not be bowled over with their mega sized backpacks at a huge picnic.

There are games (The group I am in are in charge of doing Limbo so sing with me, limbo limbo lim-BO, limbo limbo lim-BO), activities, laughter, (usually) sunshine and tonnes of food sharing. I wanted to help out in every part of the atmosphere right, get into the spirit no?

A milky bar? However did that get there?

So I kind of went over the top (again though I suppose by now you are more than used to it ) and made picnic bar slices. Literally, a slice made out of picnic bars. Melted, ooey, gooey picnic bars

What am I thinking? Bringing chocolate overload to lil kids whose sugar rush temperament is a little…. life threatening to those in their vicinity. But I couldn’t help myself. Because I have dying to make these for so long (as in for a month, ever since I got a pack of Picnic bars – are you not proud of my control? )

Now listen, because here is where things get important, twisted and round-eye worthy.
One. Slice. Goes. A. Long. Way.

I am a girl who puts 6 sources of chocolate in ONE muffin, eats a giant Nutella fudge cookie with marmalade and has the ability to polish off the leaning tower of pancakes gone Victoria Sponge style.

When I say one slice makes you buzz, I MEAN IT!

There is so much delicious goodness in one bite of this slice, you feel like you are sitting on cloud nine. The crunch from the extra chocolate-y coco pops (which instead you could use rice bubbles if you wanted to make a touch less rich like in the original recipe) mingles with the melted nougat goodness of the picnic bars. There are surprise wafer and biscuit crunches scattered throughout, all topped off by the buttery silky richness of milk chocolate. How can it get any better?

The original recipe was for this amazing Mars Bar slice, something I thing every child with a… childhood… has consumed at least once. Now I am questioning as to which one I like better, honestly, because if you added caramel to this feature, I think swooning will be in order

Never the less I managed to sneak-eat 3 or… maybe 4 but whose counting? (they would not fit in the box, what could I do?)

The original Mars Bar slice was incredible, I made it maybe 2 or 3 years ago. Now its Picnic bar cousin has come along to join the party – what next, Snickers? Hmmm, I can imagine it melting in my mouth already…

But for now, these are the changes I made to this original recipe:

• I used Picnic Bars… duh…
  
• I used Coco Pops
  
• I used half milk and half dark chocolate in the icing (because I think my teeth would otherwise literally be falling out by now)
• I decorated the top with crushed peanuts because crushed peanuts are cool

No bake, no heartache, no pain but gain, this slice should be calling out your names

Thick, crunchy, perfect

Warning: Will cause severe tantrum, trampoline action and shenanigans for 80 and under

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In other news, I have very exciting news

1. C.J. from Food Stories awarded me her new award, the Food Stories Award for Excellence in Storytelling! So exciting
Food Stories is an amazing, up and coming blog and it is a pleasure to read and get to know C.J. – thank you my friend very much!

Rules of this award are:

1. The nominee should visit the award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/food-stories-award/) and leave a comment indicating that they have been nominated and by whom. (This step is so important because it’s the only way our judges will know who is being considered for the monthly presentation).
2. The Nominee should thank the person that nominated them by posting & including a link to their blog.
3. Share one random thing about yourself in your blog post.
4. Select at least five other bloggers that you enjoy reading their stories and nominate them for the award.
5. Notify your  nominees by leaving a comment on their blog, including a link to the award site (http://foodstoriesblog.com/food-stories-award/).

Ok, so random thing about myself?

My next most important news, I won a competition over at Not Quite Nigella! That’s right, a double pass to see a documentary based on the national treasure of Japan, the talented, 86 year old Sushi extraordinaire, Jiro Ono! The oldest Michelin chef ever and who only seats 10 diners at one time, his story, passion and commitment will be wonderful to see! Thanks Lorraine so much for this

Check out this YouTube trailer for it

Back to the award now, congrats to these nominees

• Veronica @ Veronica’s Cornucopia
• Juliana @ Simple Recipes
• Julie @ Tastefully Julie
• Ramona @ Curry And Comfort
• California Living

I guess that is all for now, till the weekend my friends (where I hope there will be a first time for many different things )

Rich, rich and more rich

Enjoy your weeks mes amis! And to those amis who I am meeting on Friday, do not eat breakfast

P.S. I remade these super healthy sugarless muesli bars to compensate – They were just as super delicious as last time
Different ingredients used (for fun): Original cheerios, dried cranberries, craisins and vanilla yoghurt!