For the past couple of weeks, the weather god has been showing us what our summer is going to feel like, and, well… we are going to melt again this year—it’s going to be HOT.

But they have been a bit kind in the transition. We have gotten sunny days in the high 90s, with the bonus of breeze days and very little humidity—those perfect summer days when all you want to do is sit under a canopy of trees and just be.

So, it was a no-brainer that when my monthly Chica Brunch came around, I told my girls we were going on a picnic. The challenge for me was finding the right spot that conveyed what I wanted the day to feel.

Relaxing, peaceful, and full of nature’s great eye candy, easy food, and light drinks.

I don’t love many things about the city I live in, but I have to say it has the best-hidden parks. There are little pockets of nature goodness in the most unlikely places. I mean, is that not a perfect little spot to soak up some much-needed sunshine?

It was the perfect Sunday afternoon picnic by the river. The menu was simple: I asked everyone to bring something we could eat with our hands and to think in picnic mode.

My girls did not disappoint. We had these amazing salami sandwiches and a Greek-inspired tapa bar filled with veggies, olive tapenade, hummus, tabbouleh, and sun-toasted pita slices. My all-time favorite picnic fare was fried chicken. To satisfy our sweet craving, we had the yummiest, sweetest seasonal fruit kabobs; all washed down with ice-cold lemonade.

I opted to take my nonna Franca’s (maternal grandmother) Caponata Pie Squares (recipe soon to follow), and I had some help from my friends over at Nature’s Bakery, who sent me some of their Fig Bars to share.

Nature’s Bakery's principle is to offer all-natural, nutritious, and deliciously wholesome snack foods to support balanced, healthy, everyday lifestyles. And these bunches of girls were all about healthy snacks. We had our option of Apple Cinnamon, Blueberry and whole-wheat Fig bars.

I’m not going to lie; I’m not a fig bar kind of girl. They are not my favorite type of bars – you all know how I feel about anything with cooked fruit. But, when I’m in the mood for them, I get a sweet spot for fig. So, these called out to me, and I got to say they were extremely good. Right away, you can tell these were all natural and fresh – the moment you open the package, the sweet aroma of the fig hits you as well, and the ingredients complement that particular flavor.

You can read more about them here. You can also find your nearest retail store to stock up for the summer.

Disclosure of Material Connection: This is a “sponsored post.” The company that sponsored it compensated me via free products. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will benefit my readers and my family.