Rainy Day Picnic

A few weeks ago, we had tickets to Symphony on the Prairie; but just about the time we should have been leaving the house, the sky opened and we considered ark building instead. I’m not kidding you, there was so much rain that all of the neighbors’ yards were under water. The street was even under water a little ways down from us, and that never happens. The amount of water was crazy!

Of course I had already packed a fabulous picnic dinner, so we were forced to have a picnic on the living room floor instead. (It’s probably for the good of the blog that the concert was rained out because it didn’t occur to me to take pictures of the food until I was plating it on boring old plates to eat in our boring old living room.)

But just for you…

Most of our picnic fare on regular old plates!
Goat Cheese & Tomato Salad Wraps, Lemon & Quinoa Salad, and a simple Spinach Salad with Raspberries and a Red Wine Vinaigrette. (We had a few other things, like berries in spiced yogurt and peach lemonade, but I didn’t take pictures of either so I’m not going to post those recipes right now.)

Quick Lemon and Garlic Quinoa Salad
Serves 4 – 6.2 ww points per serving (But you’ll get in your healthy oil for the day!)

This recipe originally came from my good friend Ginny, but I tweaked it just a little to make it easier.

Salad

1 cup dry quinoa (Rinse in a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the bitter coating that quinoa sometimes has.)

2 cups water

1 pinch salt

1/2 cup carrot, chopped

1/3 cup parsley, minced

1/4 cup sunflower seed

Dressing

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons soy sauce (I used part Tamari and part Braggs Liquid Aminos.)

1. Throw the quinoa, water, and pinch of salt in a 3 qt. microwavable container with lid. Microwave on high for 10-12 minutes or until the water is almost entirely gone.
2. When the water is gone–stir, re-cover, and let sit for five more minutes.
3. Prepare dressing in a small bowl.
4. Add carrots, seeds, parsley, to the cooked quinoa, and toss well.
5. Pour dressing over the top, and stir until well combined.

Simple Spinach Salad with Raspberries and Red Wine Vinaigrette
The Dressing makes 14 (1 Tbs.) servings and has 2.3 ww points per tbs.

My sister Dawn first made a version of this for me about 20 years ago, but I think her version had sliced strawberries and some other salad toppings. I had just gotten the spinach and fresh raspberries from my friend, Costco; and I wanted to keep the rest pretty simple for travel.

Salad

fresh baby spinach

fresh raspberries

Dressing

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup (scant) sugar

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1. Combine dressing ingredients
2. Arrange and serve

Goat’s Cheese and Tomato Salad Wraps

Serves 4 – 4 ww points per wrap

4 1/2 oz goat’s cheese, crumbled

1 1/3 cups tomatoes, seeded & diced (I used one red and one yellow for color.)

1 1/3 cups cucumbers, seeded & diced (I also peeled mine.)

5/8 cup green onions, chopped

2 1/16 tsp extra virgin olive oil

2 1/16 tsp balsamic vinegar

4 flour tortillas — about 25 cm (Nuke them for a few seconds to soften before rolling if necessary)

1. In a bowl, combine all ingredients except tortillas.
2. Divide mixture evenly between the 4 wraps, and enjoy!

(Here’s my hint for wrapping—Put the filling in a little line along one side of the tortilla. Fold the short side over and then fold the ends over. After that, fold the sides of the long side over by just a little—maybe half an inch. Then roll it the rest of the way up. It you do it that way, the filling won’t fall out.)

Chik’n and Apple Curry (Vegan)

Yesterday was my mom’s 76th birthday, so we brought her over from the nursing home. We also invited my eldest sister and her fiancé to join us for dinner. I had asked Mom what she wanted for her birthday dinner; but she couldn’t think of anything but chocolate cake so I had to think for her. I tried to make all of her favorites; so I made bbq ribs, my great-grandmother’s recipe for German potato salad (that has a lot of bacon and bacon grease), fried green tomatoes, sliced cantaloupe, and of course–chocolate cake. (Not the healthiest, but she gets so sick of the institution food at the nursing home, and I gave her a really good salad earlier in the week.)

After all of that heavy food last night, I’ve felt like I’ve had rocks in my stomach. I decided that for lunch today I’d make something much lighter and meat free. I didn’t actually figure out that it was potentially vegan until I was figuring out the nutrition information so I could calculate the WW points.

I found the original version of this on an internet recipe site, but decided today that I wanted to make it meat free. It turned out really well, if I say so myself! This is another one of those recipes that I can usually make from food I already have no hand. (I LOVE recipes that don’t require an extra trip to the grocery!!)

Chik’n and Apple Curry

4 Servings – 10 WW Points per serving

1 tbs olive oil

8 oz. Chik’n Strips (I used Morningstar Farms Meal Starter Chik’n Strips)

2 tbs butter (To make this vegan, replace with another oil.)

2 ribs celery , chopped fine

1 large onion, chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 granny smith apples, cored and chopped

1 red bell pepper, chopped

2 tsp curry powder (or to taste)

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cumin

2 tbs flour

14 oz vegetable broth (I used Kroger brand canned broth.)

4 cups cooked basmati rice

1. Heat oil over medium heat, then throw in chik’n strips and stir fry until golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside.
2. Add 2 Tbs of butter (or other oil if you’re going vegan) and cook celery and onion over medium low heat until softened.
3. Add the garlic and apples and cook 5 minutes more.
4. Add bell pepper, curry, cinnamon and cumin and cook 1 minute.
5. Stir in flour and cook over moderate heat 3 minutes.
6. Add broth and simmer for 15 minutes, then increase heat and boil sauce 3-5 minutes, or until thickened slightly.
7. Add the chik’n strips and taste. Add salt and pepper if required. (Be sure to taste first because there’s a lot of sodium in the fake chicken and in the broth.)
8. Serve over rice. (Garnish with chopped fresh parsley if you have some. I didn’t.)