Picnic in a Glass

With days getting longer and warmer, its time to grab that big outdoor blanket, gather some friends, and head out for an afternoon picnic! There is something about outdoor dining that always seems to bring lots of laughter, smiles and just great company. Whether that's sitting outside on a terrace watching the sun set or enjoying some afternoon beers on the patio with friends while listening to a live band, there's just something about outdoor dining that seems to guarantee a great time!

What I love about picnic'ing is that its all about the excursion � finding the location that you're going to thrown down your big blanket and set up 'camp'. You can be in the middle of a forest or go down to the beach...even find some perfectly manicured lawns, it really is up to you and what you're feeling for the occasion. Picnics can be family-oriented, can be a silly gathering of good friends, it can even be a romantic date � again, its all about the location and of course the company. I just love it!

Another essential component of picnic'ing is of course the fare. Traditional picnic foods can include things like sandwiches or cheese and fruit platters, snacking items like pretzels or chips... again, the options are endless. For me, my favorite picnic food is a hearty salad full of beautiful and bright veggies that in are in season, likely picked up from the local farmers market. I stumbled on this idea of salads in a glass � it at first sounded a little silly, but once you try its actually a really great idea. Its fun and its creative and somehow always seems to please! It kind of reminds me of the idea of canap�s in small shot glasses, just meal-size versions. I think it's a great way to present food especially with this recent trend of mason jars. Don't you just love those things? Its perfect for your next picnic excursion � from salads to curries, even smoothies on the go. You might just end up taking this great picnic idea and using it on a day to day basis � like, taking lunch to work?

This salad in a jar recipe idea is a Southern take on the popular Middle Eastern fattoush salad recipe. This tasty salad recipe can be made ahead of time in the morning for lunches or picnics, so that the flavorful ingredients combine with the pita chips, in turn softening them up. The nice thing about this recipe idea, is that there is no plastic waste to worry about, and you can use a simple wide mouth Weck jar, or any other style of mason jar as the vessel.

This salad recipe is a great way to get some servings of veggies into your day, in a refreshing, and tasty way. Some of the fresh ingredient recipes you will need include chopped flat leaf parsley, chopped fresh mint, chopped radishes, chopped red onions, chopped grape tomatos and chopped cucumbers. You can get a good serving of protein into your salad with the addition of chickpeas, and deli roasted chicken, that is skinned, boned and then shredded. This salad recipe has a healthy yogurt dressing to add flavor.

The My Recipes website is like a one stop place to go for recipe ideas and inspirations. You will find an amazing collection of over 65,000 great tasting, kitchen tested recipes to choose from. There are plenty of other healthy recipe ideas from diabetic recipe, heart healthy recipes, vegetarian recipes, recipes that count calories and superfood recipes. A few examples of healthy recipes are avocado, sprout and cashew spread sandwich; shiitake and sweet potato risotto recipe and wild mushroom farfalle.