Healthy Recipes and Essentials for your Summer Picnic

One of my favorite things to do in the summertime is picnic. Whether it’s by myself on a lunch break at the park or sitting down on a blanket with my friends, family and a jug of sun tea, I love picnics. Here are a few ideas to make your picnic fun and healthy this summer.

1. When packing your basket, make sure you are packing smart. Glass containers are an environmentally friendly alternative to plastic Tupperware and while they are a bit heavier, you can’t beat the earth friendly factor. Plus, when packed with a few ice packs, they keep their cool better than plastic.
2. Stand-up spreads. We all love creamy spinach dip, but don’t always love the calories. Try this healthy alternative (and believe me, you won’t even know there’s tofu in it):

Healthy Spinach Spread

11 oz.    Silken Tofu (one package)
6 oz.       Neufatchel Low Fat Cream Cheese
2 Tbsp.  Reduced Fat Ranch Dressing
1 ea.      Garlic Clove
10 oz.    Frozen Chopped Spinach, thawed and well drained (one package)
½ tsp.    Black Pepper
1 Tbsp.  Lemon Juice
¼ cup    Green Onions, sliced

In a food processor, blend the tofu, cream cheese dressing and garlic clove until creamy. Add the spinach, lemon juice and black pepper and blend until everything is combined. Pour into a container or a whole wheat bread bowl and top with green onions. Serve with pita chips or a whole wheat bread.

3. Fresh lemonade may seem silly when you can either buy lemonade or make it from a powder, but taking the time to make it fresh is always worth it and you are able to control the amount of sugar. I bet you even have a bunch of friends with way too many lemons that would be glad to give you a few.

4. Blankets are obviously a necessity, but don’t even consider leaving pillows out of your picnic. Better yet, fill a bud vase with a few foraged blossoms, set them on a small cutting board next to your pillows and you basically have a living room in your favorite park.

5. Dessert is my favorite part of a picnic! Serve fresh peaches with fresh raspberry sauce and vanilla Greek yogurt and you have a super-healthy Peach Melba.

Fresh Raspberry Sauce

2 pints   Fresh Raspberries, rinsed
1 Tbsp.  Sugar
1 Tbsp.  Honey
Juice of ½ a lemon
¼ cup of water

In a blender, blend all of the ingredients until all of the sugar has dissolved. Strain out the seeds with a sieve into a container and chill. Pour raspberry sauce over sliced peaches and top with vanilla flavored Greek yogurt. Go ahead and crumb a few ginger cookies right over top.

Pack cutlery, napkins and a dish towel and have yourself a fun, healthy little picnic in the sun. Don’t forget to always wear sunscreen and drink plenty of water too.

Mariel, MagicKitchen.com blogger
Read my blog, Original Cinn Desserts