Picnic Menu Planning

Menu One: Lunch in the Park with Family:

 

Fried Chicken

– click for Alton Brown’s recipe at foodnetwork.com

Potato-Egg Salad

Ingredients:

  • 2 lbs waxy potatoes
  • 1 rib of celery, diced
  • 2 tbsp onion or green onion, minced
  • (¼ parsley, minced)
  • 3 hard boiled eggs, diced
  • 1/3 cup light sour cream
  • 1/3 cup light, real mayonnaise
  • 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
  • (1 tbsp grainy mustard)
  • (1 tbsp sweet pickle relish)
  • Salt, to taste
  • ½ tsp freshly ground pepper, or to taste
  • 3 tbsp chives, chopped

Procedure:

  1. Boil potatoes (with skins on) in salted water until just tender.
  2. Drain, peel if you wish and cut into bite-size pieces.
  3. With all other ingredients, prepare dressing in a large mixing bowl.
  4. Add still warm potatoes to the mixing bowl and toss to combine.
  5. Cover and refrigerate. Serve chilled.

            Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients:

  • 2 ¼ cups white sugar
  • 2/3 cup cocoa
  • 1 ¼ cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking power
  • ¾ cup butter, melted
  • 4 eggs, beaten slightly

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  • 1 (250g) package cream cheese, softened
  • ½ cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp butter, softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 1 tbsp flour
  • Handful of chocolate chips

Procedure:

  1. Brownie base (first group of ingredients)
    1. Preheat oven to 350̊F
    2. Mix dry ingredients
    3. Add butter and eggs and blend well.
    4. Spread in 9 x 13 inch baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.
  1. Cheesecake top (second group of ingredients)
    1. Beat cream cheese, sugar and butter until creamy.
    2. Beat in eggs, milk and flour.
    3. Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
    4. Pour over cooked brownie base and bake at 350̊F for 40 minutes.
    5. Cool completely then drizzle with melted chocolate . Continue reading

Cottage Country Menu Planning

At least once every summer, my husband and I invite all our friends, fill every square inch of our Volkswagen with food, beer and bathing suits and drive the five hours to our cottage. Being the hostess, it is up to me to come up with a menu for the week that is fun, simple, travels well, multiplies easily and is cost effective. This year we will have eight people staying for a full week, which made planning a menu a little difficult. Here is what I came up with: Continue reading