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Who doesn’t love a summer picnic? A few weeks ago we met up for one with our dear friend Shelly in Bloomington, IN, home of both Shelly and our alma mater. It’s where Alex and I met for the first time as college freshmen 14 years ago, where he first asked me out on a date (I said no, of course), and where he first proposed (yes, there’s more to that story, maybe for another time). This time, we were back for a quick meal with a friend and a picnic seemed like a lovely, no-fuss excuse for putting together some good eats.
We did end up doing some kitchen prep before we left, preparing some crispy white beans (similar to the crispy chickpeas below) and the simple syrup for the spritzer. After packing everything into a cooler, we met Shelly in Bloomington at a grocery and picked up our remaining ingredients for the cucumber toasts, some cheese, and fancy dark chocolate. In hindsight, I would have grabbed some fresh veggies as well, which I’ve added to the menu below; you could even add a prepared dip or this homemade one.
Below are a few tips for organizing a picnic and our menu. Like all of our menu posts, we’ve provided it not so much for the recipes themselves but as inspiration for your own picnic. We hope you’re able to share an outdoor meal with friends or family this summer as well!
Picnicking Tips
Summer Picnic Menu
Lavender Lime Spritzer with Strawberries
Assorted Cheeses and Crackers
Fresh Vegetables
Cherries
Chocolate
Are you all breakfast people? This is not rhetorical: we’re actually wondering — as in, let us know if you are! Since we typically go simple for breakfast (think peanut butter toast), the breakfast category here on A Couple Cooks has been slimmer than others. In fact, we don’t even have a category called Breakfast; everything is filed under Brunch, since in my early cooking days I couldn’t justify expending the effort cooking on a meal that didn’t involve guests.
But lately, we’ve posted several breakfast-y items (below) and are truly enjoying creative weekend breakfast/brunches…which do we eat closer to noontime than when we wake up, but that’s just us. We’d love to hear your morning time routines — do you cook breakfast on weekdays? On weekends? Do you pile a bowl high with yogurt, granola and berries? Do you stay simple with PB toast?
This recipe is so simple it could almost work for a weekday breakfast, except it’s not often that we have time in the morning before running into the office so we save this for weekends. We’ve been working with a green tea powder company to come up with some creative savory uses for the green stuff, since it’s generally used in sweet concoctions like this smoothie. Believe it or not, green tea + eggs actually works! The tea has a subtle aromatic flavor that works wonderfully with the richness of the eggs. If you try it, don’t totally coat the eggs in green, but use enough so that you can taste it. The other surprise ingredient, which you’ve likely noticed in this post title, is lime. I know, it sounds a little weird, but hear us out: adding citrus brightens the flavors of the egg and elevates the dish to a whole new level. You’ll just have to trust us on this one.
If you’re interested in the nutritional benefits of matcha, check out this post for a brief description and a link for more information. And if you’re an Indy-dweller, in this recipe we used local eggs from Schacht Farm and green onions from Full Hand Farm, both purchased at Broad Ripple Farmer’s Market.
Our Latest in the Breakfast/Brunch Vein…
Dippy Eggs with Cheese Fried Toast Soldiers
Strawberry Rhubarb Hazelnut Muffins
Soft Scrambled Eggs with Goat Cheese and Asparagus
Breakfast Parfait with Roasted Strawberries
This recipe was developed for Aiya Matcha.