Picnic Fun - Tips and Recipes

Romantic Spring Picnic Meal Ideas & Recipes

Each season has its unique romantic qualities that make for fun, memorable dates – but spring is especially well suited for couples’ picnics because of the mild weather and beautiful scenery.  As the birds sing and the flowers bloom, it’s a great time to get out and enjoy a meal in the fresh air.  Make sure you’ve got a pretty picnic basket fit for the season and then get inspired with these fresh, delicious romantic spring picnic recipes and meal ideas.  Love is in the air – take advantage of it!

Click on the links within each menu below for recipes.

Romantic Italian Picnic Menu

Panini with your choice of ingredients (here’s a list of ideas!)
Antipasto salad
Grapes
Tiramisu (purchase at the store, or make your own)
Coffee and cream (packed in a coffee and tea set) or wine

Simple Classics

These items can be picked up at the market, packed into your picnic basket or wine and cheese set and enjoyed immediately – no cooking or preparation required!

French baguette
Rotisserie chicken
Block of cheese
Baby carrots with hummus or vegetable dip
Strawberries
Bottle of champagne or wine

Elegant Gourmet Spread

Roast Beef and Avocado Finger Sandwiches 
Red Potato and Green Bean Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette
Fig and Goat Cheese Crostini
Raspberry-Apricot Shortbread   
Basil Lime Spritzer

Wondering what else you should bring along, in addition to food and beverages?  Check out our previous post, ‘What to Pack for a Romantic Date’.

Celebrate Spring with a Garden Party

Welcome the arrival of the season of renewal with a chic, stylish garden party.  Garden parties are a fun way to enjoy the newly blooming flowers and greenery in your backyard, show off your host/hostess skills and savor a delectable meal in the company of your nearest and dearest.  You may not have the party planning talents of Martha Stewart, but you’ll be surprised at how easy it can be to create a menu and décor scheme that looks fresh and pulled together. 

Location - If you don’t have a backyard or feel that yours won’t work, ask a friend or neighbor to co-host the party with you (this will also save you money!) or hold your garden party at a public park, botanical gardens or other inspiring setting that will give you permission. 

Colors - For your color scheme, take a cue from nature.  Various shades of green, blue, yellow and pink can work beautifully and don’t have to be sickly-pastel to work.  Vivid leaf green against a bright cheerful deep reddish-pink or robin’s egg blue evokes spring without looking too ‘Easter egg’.  Bring your chosen color scheme into most of your decorative elements including the table linens and centerpieces. 

Décor - Keep the décor fresh and modern by not going overboard with cutesy accents.  Use a colored solid or patterned tablecloth as an eye-catching backdrop.  You can simply roll up white cloth napkins and tie them with some ribbon for easy elegance and contrast against the tablecloth.  For centerpieces, you could use simple accents such as floating votive candles in clear glass bowls, blue robin’s egg Easter candies in grapevine birds nests (purchase at your local craft store) or cut some blooming branches from your yard and place them in tall narrow vases.  Hang a few paper lanterns from shepherd’s hooks, and perhaps place a garden fountain nearby for relaxing ambiance.

Tableware – Depending on whether you’d like your garden party to be more formal or a relaxed, casual affair, you could either use all white plates and bowls for a uniform look or intentionally mismatched dishes in cheerful colors.  Check thrift stores if you decide to go with the latter option – you may luck out with a few great finds.

Menu – Your choice of food should mesh well with the overall level of formality you’d like to achieve for your party.  Go all out and serve a five course feast, recreate royal English afternoon tea or have a relaxed BBQ – it’s up to you.  Take some cues from Oprah, Bon Appetit Magazine and Sunset for creative meal ideas that will really impress your guests.

For a wide selection of beautiful, high quality picnic and outdoor entertaining products, check out PicnicFun.com.

Welcome Spring with a Delicious Easter Picnic Brunch

What better way to celebrate Easter with your family than a relaxing picnic brunch in the open air, surrounded by the sights and sounds of newly blooming spring?  Enjoy an abundance of fresh dishes inspired by the season as you soak up the sunshine in a local park, botanical gardens, at the beach or in your own backyard.  At PicnicFun.com, you can find a wide variety of beautiful picnic baskets perfect for your Easter outing including hand made willow baskets, traditional English-style picnic baskets and new modern designs with bright colors and designer patterns.  You can also shop the Easter Sale, where you’ll find a handpicked assortment of beautiful spring products at up to 25% off. 

Here are a couple of our favorite ‘Easter baskets’, and an Easter brunch picnic menu featuring tried-and-true brunch favorites with a spring twist.

Brittany Cottage Garden Casual Basket– Take this gorgeous basket along on your picnic to tote your meal, or let the kiddies use it to gather treats on an Easter egg hunt.  The lovely pink and green colors in the high quality designer cloth linens and hand-painted plates are perfect for the season.  Inside you’ll find all the tableware you need as well as napkins, a cruet set, corkscrew and insulated food cooler for either two or four people.

Rumba Willow Picnic Basket for 2 – Share a romantic picnic meal with someone special this spring with this beautifully designed picnic basket.  Playful yet sophisticated stripes adorn the lining and cloth linens, and it comes packed with plates, silverware, salt & pepper shakers, napkins, glasses and a corkscrew.

Easter Picnic Brunch Menu

Baked Asparagus and Yellow Pepper Fritatta
Ham and Yukon Gold Potato Cakes
Fruit Platter with Raspberry Dip
Mini Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Glaze
Champagne Lemonade

Find more Easter Brunch recipes at Epicurious.com, FoodNetwork.com or AllRecipes.com.

Fresh Picnic Recipes for Spring!

Have a sunny, breezy meal inspired by the season

It’s nearing mid-March, and signs of spring’s impending arrival are beginning to appear all over the country.  Whether you’re seeing the cherry blossoms bloom in San Francisco, already enjoying spring-like temperatures and greenery in Florida or just dreaming of warm spring weather as it continues to snow in Maine, you’re well on your way to long days in the sunshine with tender green buds sprouting up all around.   Start planning some light, fresh picnic meals now so you’ll have plenty to choose from when you start getting out and enjoying the season.  Here are some of our recent favorites.

Tarragon Shallot Egg Salad Sandwiches
Source: Gourmet Magazine April 2003 via Epicurious.com

Ingredients:

For egg salad
8 large eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
3 tablespoons finely chopped shallot
1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh tarragon, or to taste
2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar or white-wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or to taste

For sandwiches
Mayonnaise for spreading on bread (optional)
12 slices seedless rye bread or 6 kaiser rolls
3 cups tender pea shoots (3 oz) or shredded lettuce

Instructions:

Make egg salad:
Cover eggs with cold water by 1 inch in a 2-quart heavy saucepan and bring to a rolling boil, partially covered. Reduce heat to low and cook eggs, covered completely, 30 seconds. Remove pan from heat and let eggs stand in hot water, covered, 15 minutes. Transfer eggs with a slotted spoon to a bowl of ice and cold water and let stand 5 minutes (to cool). Peel eggs and finely chop.

Stir together eggs and remaining salad ingredients in a bowl with a fork.

Make sandwiches:
Spread some mayonnaise (if using) on bread and make sandwiches with egg salad and pea shoots.

Cooks' note:
• Egg salad can be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Arugula Salad with Blood Orange Vinaigrette
Source: Emeril Lagasse, FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup fresh porcini, thinly sliced
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
2 cups arugula leaves, washed
1 cup red dandelion greens, washed
1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
1 blood orange, segmented
Blood Orange Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Instructions:

Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add porcini, season with salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper, and saute until tender. Remove from heat.

Combine arugula, red dandelion greens, red onion, and orange segments in a bowl. Toss with vinaigrette to coat. Divide salad among 2 plates and top with porcini mixture. Serve immediately.

Blood Orange Vinaigrette:
1/2 cup blood orange juice
1 tablespoon finely chopped shallots
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon sherry vinegar
1 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Whisk together juice, shallots, mustard, sugar, and vinegar in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil in a steady stream until combined. Season with salt and pepper.

Additional Spring Picnic Recipes:

Tuna and Artichoke Salad on Kalamata Olive Bread
Jill’s Fresh Pear and Maytag Blue Cheese Salad with Toasted Walnut Vinaigrette
Layered White Beans, Tuna and Vegetable Dip
Lemon-Blueberry Chess Squares
Spring Fruit Pudding