No More Boring Picnics

Plant Based Picnic Ideas I do not have a great imagination when it comes to meal preparation. And that includes picnics. You told me picnic before and all I did was prepare the same sandwiches all over. Or when we travelled by car, I used to prepare the same sandwiches all over again.

I have been told my food was boring, and I am sure it was. I used to buy the same rolls, put the same ham and cheese inside and that was the picnic. Maybe I took some fruits with.

So when my daughter came home with a notice for a school picnic I almost panicked. What could I prepare for a picnic, that was starch based, low fat, high carbs and that my kids would eat?

My first reaction was sandwiches, but that was a bit boring and I tried to avoid them, though my son insisted on sandwiches. .

This is what I did:

• A dip with chick peas and roasted red peppers. I think I also added some butter beans. (I am not good at keeping track of my cooking).
  
•  I needed something to dip with. I did not have any fresh vegetable, so I decided to bake my own pita bread (I left out the oil). Unfortunately where I live you do not find nice pita bread. They are usually small and quite thick. I miss the Lebanese bread I used to get. As a matter of fact I grew up on pita bread as I am from Armenian descent, and I really love this bread.So for the first time I tried making my own pita bread, and the results were not perfect but not bad. I used whole-wheat flour. But I think I put a bit too much flour, so the outside of the bread was quite floury. But the bread tasted good. My bread also failed to open in the middle. Yes it did open a bit, but I could not really open it to put any filings inside.

  I was trying to do a sandwich for my son with honey (yes he still eats honey and vegan butter), but I could not open the bread. So I took two pieces of bread and made a sandwich. The bread was thin, so the sandwiches were okay.

• Veggies muffins and I was quite surprised. I left out the flaxseed (I did not have any) and the walnuts. The muffins were delicious and quite moist.  My son liked them. My daughter never tries anything I say is healthy.
  
• Some potato salad. Yes, It was delicious. Don’t tell anyone that it had avocado. The ingredients were: baked potatoes, cucumber, red onion, avocado, lemon and salt. It was yummy.
  
• White  grapes. White seedless grapes are my family favorite, so I took some.
  
• Cherry tomatoes, quite simple to prepare.
• Some plain baked potatoes. I always keep some baked potatoes in the fridge.
  
•  Something sweet. I adapted this brownie recipe, made only with 8 ingredients,  to match the available ingredients,  and this is what I got. It was nice, a bit dry maybe, and it would have been better if I made the cream  on top, but I did not want to add more sugar and I was feeling lazy. I used almonds as the nuts and then peanut butter  instead of hazelnut butter. Maybe that is the reason they were dry. But I certainly ate them.I also find them dry to shape them into brownie shapes,, maybe because of the change in ingredients, so I made them in ball. If I had coconut, I would have sprinkled them with coconut.My son liked them but he did not eat many.
  Oh, ….. I must tell you a little secret…., well I am sort of embarrassed…. The next day after the picnic I had a bad day and that is when I ate the rest myself. That was an emotional reaction. For some reason, that I cannot remember, I got upset, fetch the container form the fridge and sat at my until I finished all of them. yes ALL. Well they were about ten left. That was emotional eating at its best. No wonder I struggle to lose my last kilos.

Coming back to the picnic, the food was delicious. But my children played more than what they ate, But we enjoyed our meal. Now I know I will never have a boring picnic again. Just need to keep trying new recipes.

If you have any great ideas for picnics, please share them in teh comment section.