Another 2020 Covid weekend and the holiday couldn't keep us indoors. We practically lived outdoors all weekend with our friends and family, social distancing. No selfies, but lots of delicious food. My contributions included Sun Dried Tomato Mediteranean Zucchini Noodle Salad. I love spiraled zucchini noodles and the sun dried tomatoes packed a lot of flavor. Lots of depth of flavors with the artichoke hearts, olives, parmesan....The vegetarians in the family loved it!
https://wholeandheavenlyoven.com/2016/05/16/easy-mediterranean-zucchini-noodle-salad/
(No photos taken, but it was lovely).
The next picnic was a winner with Vietnamese Banh Mi sandwiches. I have to admit, one of our friends cannot eat pork so I improvised and combined a few recipes (below) and used chicken instead. The biggest part of Banh Mi is really good bread, lots of pickled veges and well seasoned meat. They were the perfect picnic food and a huge hit.
https://www.bhg.com/recipe/pack-and-go-hoagies/ (The idea...)
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/187342/banh-mi/ (The pickling juice)
https://www.food.com/recipe/grilled-chicken-banh-mi-436310 (The chicken marinade)
We did proceed the sandwiches with the most delicious spring rolls with a yummy almond sauce. I had never had an almond sauce, but think I prefer it to the peanut sauce. Super fresh and bright. I will need to find out if one of my devices can julienne cut because we could eat these every day except that the amount of work to cut all the veges is outrageous. I added shrimp, but either with or without would be fine.
https://www.bhg.com/recipe/veggie-spring-rolls-with-almond-sauce/
(I think this is the sauce; I forgot to copy it originally, but if not here is another recipe I use a lot from Cookie and Kate....
https://cookieandkate.com/fresh-spring-rolls-recipe/
I love her recipes and this one is a home run exactly as is....
For greens I did a lovely mixed green salad with dried tart cherries, red onion, toasted pecans, parmesan and a lovely Balsamic vinaigrette. Super yummy.
The final recipe was a trendy summer holiday dessert...Whoopie Pies. I made the chocolate and the lemon ones. Both super yummy and another big hit.
https://www.bhg.com/recipe/cream-pie-whoopie-pies/
Covid can't keep us down. And who doesn't love a good picnic???? 2020 recipes #49-53.
