Picnics are great fun; do you usually pop into a super market and buy a load of pre-packed sandwiches, some crisps and a bottle of wine?

What would happen if you did a bit if planning ahead and created an amazingly healthy and tasty picnic for your friends and family?

Here are some ideas which Nutritional Therapist Julie Deeks has recently tried…

Ideas:

Finger food:

Spanish tortilla, really easy to make and a great picnic food.  If you don’t like to cook you can buy them in local delis and supermarkets ready to eat, hummous is also readily available and lovely with carrots and cucumber sticks, and take some olives and baby plum tomatoes and fresh bread.

Fruit jars:

I used old jam jars (washed and nicely clean) to transport chopped strawberries and blueberries, neat idea if you don’t have a kitchen full of portable containers, they look really cool too.  Of course you could use grapes, apple, cherries etc…  You can also buy ready made fruit cups in delis and supermarkets.

Salads, you can use the jam jar idea again.  Use one per person:

Here is a salad I put together, but of course you can add your favourites

  • Cooked chicken (any part of the chicken is fine) veggies could use chopped egg or bean salad
  • Avocado 1/2 each
  • Baby Spinach large handful each
  • Cooked long green beans (pre-cooked the night before because you planned to do this)
  • Cooked egg pasta (or use gluten free pasta, brown rice or quinoa, used brown rice again pre-cook these the night before) less than 1/4 of the jar
  • Baby tomatoes sliced in half (4 each)
  • Cucumber into small quarters two inches each
  • Toasted sunflower and pumpkin seeds (sprinkle on at the picnic)

Take the clean jar and add the cooked pasta, followed by the cucumber, tomatoes and avocado, finishing off with the chicken, so its layered and full to the top, squash everything down. Close the lid.

Dressing:  you can use your own favourite, but mine is so simple take a bottle of olive oil and a lemon and use this to dress the salad.  Some cracked pepper and hey presto so simple.  You can use the olive oil for bread dipping too.

Drinks:

Summer cooler:

  • 1/4 water melon
  • 4 strawberries (is used frozen)
  • Coconut water (as mush as you need around 1/2 litre
  • Fresh mint leaves
  • Ice

Blend all the ingredients together and add more ice and take in a portable bottle or decant into individual jars.  I save my jars and didn’t think of using them for drinks or salads, its a great way to recycle, you can take them home and wash them or send them to be recycled.

Remember to take a few forks, bottle opener for the wine and napkins, no paper plates required!  You could even use the fruit jars for the wine/drinks.

Why wouldn’t you?

 

If you’d like to book in to see Julie, please give us a call on 020 8332 6184 or email us at info@theforgeclinic.com to check her availability.