Picnic Options

For some reason, coming up with picnic ideas is always a challenge for me, probably because I don't really care for the normal tuna or ham sandwiches. So, here are some of the things we've tried this year. They've all actually been quite delicious.

Beef, Cheddar and Chutney Sandwiches
The inspiration for these came from here. We had some shredded, cooked brisket and I was looking for a way to serve it cold. Mixed with some mayonnaise, mustard and mango chutney, it was something new and different, and we liked it.

Chicken Salad with Roasted Red Peppers

We needed some roasted red peppers for Wayne's recipe the other day, and the only jar we found was super-sized - way more than we needed. So when picnic time rolled around, I looked for a sandwich recipe using red peppers. Adding them to regular chicken salad (cooked chicken and mayonnaise) along with some celery, black olives and feta cheese turned out deliciously well. I had mine on a languishing piece of flat bread, but Wayne used a regular sandwich bun. We might use the remainder of the peppers in Elizabeth's sandwich spread.

Turkey Wraps

This is something we have fairly frequently, and they're quite simple to make and easily transportable. Place some turkey, chopped tomatoes, lettuce, possibly some cheese, drizzle with Ranch dressing and roll up. Then wrap in some plastic wrap until ready to eat.

Quinoa Salad

Combine cooked quinoa with whatever you want! This time I mixed it with some cooked chicken, pinto beans, chopped hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes and black olives, seasoned with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, and salt and pepper. It turned out well.

Grilled Peaches

I imagine the better your peaches are to begin with, the better they'll taste after being grilled, but even though these weren't the best tasting peaches, we still enjoyed them and it was a great change from our normal picnic fare. Just brush cut peaches with a bit of oil, place on grill for 4-5 minutes, then fill center with a bit of cinnamon-sugar-butter. Yummy!

Maybe I should change the post title to Barbecue/Picnic options, because here's another grilled lunch that we enjoyed. We've had shrimp and vegie shish kebabs before, but this time we served them with grilled polenta. 

The polenta kind of fell apart, but it was still delicious. We tried it again at home using my new grill pan, and it still fell apart. It stuck to the ridges of the grill and was difficult to turn. 

Maybe it just needs a better spatula or more oil to prevent the sticking. (Here's the marinade we used on the shrimps and scallops.) Someday we'll have to try it again.

And here's the marinade I used on the pork chops and  mushrooms we grilled this weekend.

1/4 cup olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon steak seasoning

I thought I had some steak seasoning, but couldn't find it, so I used some poultry seasoning instead, along with a dash of red pepper flakes. This site has a recipe for do-it-yourself steak seasoning that we may try some time.