Beef Pate on the Toast.

Beef Liver Pate
This is a quick recipe, prepared in some 10 minutes, cooked in 20.

Ingredients:
1 lb (or about 0.5 kg) beef liver
1 medium onion
1 small clove of garlic
2 tbsp brandy, cognac, or Scotch whisky
unsalted butter (plus extra to cover)
seasoning: salt, black pepper

Note: chop the onion, peel and mash the garlic clove. Use freshly ground black pepper.

Instructions:
Cut the liver into medium sized pieces. Add some butter into the heavy bottom skillet, add onion, sauté for a couple of minutes over medium heat. Add garlic and liver pieces and allow to sauté till liver is browned and tender.

When done, cover with the lid, set aside for several minutes to cool. Process the sautéed products in the food processor till smooth paste forms. Add brandy, oil (or butter) and season with black pepper and salt to taste. You can keep the picnic food (pate) in the fridge for a week or frozen about two month. To keep in the fridge add melted butter as a cover over the pate in the container. Keep the product covered while in the fridge.

Cheese Spread.

Potted Beef Spread
Preparation time less than half an hour, cooking – over 3 hours. Yields: about 5.

Ingredients:
3.5 oz (100g) unsalted butter
0.5 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp grated nutmeg
2 cloves of garlic
10.5 oz (300g) braising steak
seasoning: salt, and black pepper, cayenne pepper
peppercorn topping: 1oz (25g) butter, 4 tsp green peppercorns in brine

Note: use freshly grated nutmeg, peel the garlic cloves, remove fat and sinew off the steak, and drain the peppercorns. Use freshly ground black pepper.

Instructions:
Spread
Have the oven preheated to 300F (150C, Gas Mark 2). Drop the butter into a saucepan (a small one), add salt, ginger, grated nutmeg, garlic cloves (whole), and cayenne. Drizzle black pepper plentifully and put the saucepan over mow heat. Stir the ingredients occasionally till butter melts.

Make 4-5 more or less equal chunks, lay them in a medium oven-proof container. Add the spiced mixture with the melted butter to completely cover the beef. It is recommended to have it covered with the lid.

Cook in the oven center for 2.5-3 hours. Beef should be very soft. Once in the middle turn the beef pieces over. When done, set aside to cool for some 30 mins, then flake the beef apart. Mash the ingredients with a fork or processor fill in a bowl.

Topping
Add the butter in a small saucepan. Place over low heat to allow butter melt slowly. Remove any foams that will form in the butter. Use only the clear butter as there may also be flakes in the bottom. Spread the clarified butter over the beef in the bowl. Then randomly sprinkle with peppercorn. Cover with the lid and you may keep the picnic food in the fridge upto three days.

Serve the picnic food with hot toasts, crusty bread and a spring salad. Bon Appetite!

Tip: We have offered two meat picnic food as starters, however you can have cheese or vegetable spreads as well. For cheese you can mash or melt cheese and mix it with butter and any your favorite spices. As for the vegetable spread, you can use carrot, onion, vegetable marrow, pumpkin, potato, or any other (or a combination of your favorite vegetables). Have the vegetables simmered, add butter or melted cheese, combine well. Season with salt, pepper, and any other spices. Add fresh herbs when spreading over the toast. Also you can use fish fillet in combination with butter. Chicken breasts (or other parts) are also good for pate.

We hope you have found many useful picnic food ideas in the article. Remember that using your imagination and preferences you can always make any cooking even more enjoyable and the meals more delicious! Also it may be great to cook for the picnic in a good company of your friends or a family. Enjoy your al fresco get-togethers!

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Soup with Kreplach (dumplings).

Meat Dumplings with Meat, Cheese, and Potato Fillings
Dumplings in Israel are more commonly known as Kreplach. They can be used as a side dish or dropped in soup or broth. Apart from meat, cheese, and potato, you may fill it with fruits, say, cherries, and have it with cream. With traditional Kreplach you may have different gravies that are best to your taste.

Tip: It is highly recommended to prepare filling before the dough unless you keep it covered by plastic file or wet tea towel. Otherwise it will dry out and most likely become unusable.

Meat Filling
Ingredients:
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion
1 cup ground beef or cooked chopped chicken fillet
1 egg
Seasoning: salt and black pepper
Herbs to taste (optional)

Note: finely chop the onion, beat the egg

Instructions:
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Drizzle oil on the frying pan, put over medium heat. Add onion, saute till golden-brown. Set aside to cool, add to the mixture in the bowl, stir well.

Kreplach (dumplings) With Sour Cream.

Cheese Filling
Ingredients:
1 cup dry cottage cheese
1 egg
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp bread crumbs
Seasoning: salt (to taste)

Instructions:
In a medium bowl combine the ingredients. Use food processor as needed.

Potato Filling
Ingredients:
2 cups mashed potatoes
1 egg
1 medium onion finely chopped onions
vegetable oil, butter, or other fat
Seasoning: salt, and black pepper (to taste)

Instructions:
Finely chop the onion; saute in the oil (or butter) over medium heat till golden-brown; add some salt. Beat the egg. Add 2 tbsp fat or butter to hot mashed potatoes, stir. Add fried onions, salt and black pepper. Cool if needed, add the egg; stir.

Dumpling dough
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1.5 cups flour
0.25 cup water
Seasoning: salt, black pepper (optional)

Instructions:
Beat the eggs. Make dough by mixing water, eggs, flour, and salt. Use hands or a food processor to knead the dough till it gets soft and well combined.

For convenience’s sake divide the dough. Flour the table or other surface you work on. Using a rolling pin finely roll out one piece of dough. Cut into 2 inch squares or make circles pressing glass rim.

Meanwhile, fill a big saucepan (stew pan) half with water, put over high heat to quickly bring to the boil. Add salt.

Continue with dumplings. Add 1 tsp of fillings in each piece, fold to your taste pressing the edges; apply flour where needed to seal well.

As water starts to boil drop dumplings; cook over medium heat about 15 minutes till picnic food raises on top puffed up. Remove with a slotted spoon. You may freeze them till the occasion when needed, add Kreplach in a soup, panfry, or serve in pots with sour cream, sauce, or any other gravy to your taste.

Jewish Style Pot Roast.

Jewish Style Pot Roast
This type of the sweet-and-sour Jewish pot roast commonly is Europe. Yields 6-8 servings. Great picnic food to have in a good company.

Ingredients:
3 lb. boneless beef
6 onions (large)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp dried thyme
boiling water
1 slice stale rye bread
1 lemon (juice only)
0.5 cup honey
seasoning: salt, black pepper

Note: for meat you may use brisket. Quarter the onions; remove crusts of the bread slice. It is recommended to use freshly ground pepper.

Instructions:
Put meat, onions, bay leaf, and thyme into a heavy pot. Add boiling water to cover the ingredients. Put the pot over high heat, bring to the boil. When done, cover with the lid and let the meal simmer on low heat for some 2-2.5 hours. Add boiling water when needed.

Soften the bread with boiling water, mash and add to the meat. Add some boiling water if needed then lemon juice, and honey. Simmer uncovered over low heat continuously stirring for 20 minutes. Season the picnic food with salt and pepper when meat is well tender and brown. Serve hot. As this picnic food idea can be relatively flexible you may add your favorite herbs on top of the pot roast when serving.

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A picnic is a special occasion for the family and especially for their kids. In the nature children run about full of energy and joy. Fresh air stimulated high spirits and good appetite. With so many positive emotions the consumed food indeed becomes wholesome for the entire organism. A picnic can be organized to celebrate special event, holiday, a weekend or just be the family get together. The article provides healthy and quick recipes for kids meals and gives important picnic tips.

You may want to make preparations in advance of the al fresco event however if you do not have time for that you need not worry. Classical (or bagel) sandwiches with cheese, ham and lettuce, as well as biscuits, fruits, crisps will always taste perfect when dining outdoors on a picturesque site. Also you might want to have the barbecue must – the hotdogs, especially, that they are so easy to grill. If you wish to have special meals for the picnic the special and mouthwatering recipes listed below will be a perfect match for the family picnic with focus on kids.

Tortilla Wraps

Quick recipes

Wraps. Fill in tortilla wraps with ham and cheese or tuna. Sweet corn will also go well with it. You may use the spiced precooked chicken meat also known as the “Coronation chicken” as a tasty filling. Apart from tortilla for fillings you may have bagels, croissants, pitta (or pita), or paper thin lavash.

Dressed Apples. Make apple slices or cut it in two halves. Remove the apple core part with seeds. Spread some jelly, honey or peanut butter on each piece.

Best Toffee Sauce for Kids

Ingredients:
1½ oz of brown sugar
1½ oz of butter
1 tbsp of golden syrup
2 oz of corn (unpopped)

Instructions:
Let the butter melt in the pot and on the slow heat. You may wish to slightly heat the tablespoon to let the syrup slide off smoothly. Pour the syrup and sugar into the melted butter. Stirring leave the liquid on the high heat for about 2 minutes. As per the instruction on the popcorn packet pop the corn. Then add the sweet sauce to coat the popcorn well. As it cools for 10 – 15 minutes you may serve it in paper cups.

Tip: to have the popcorn more savory, coat it with melted butter (1 oz) and some sea salt.

Dry Fruits and Nuts

Healthy snacks for kids

Healthy Pitta Pocket. Fill in the pitta bread with shredded lettuce, cooked meat and low-fat grated cheese. Top it either with tomato slices, non-spicy tomato ketchup or a salsa sauce.

Nutritious Trail Mix. This recipe is for the five and above year-old kids. In same proportions mix dried fruits, nuts and crispy (whole wheat) cereal flakes. The dried fruits may include the traditional prunes, raisins, dates, as well as dried peaches, bananas, apples, pears, apricots, figs, cherries, cranberries, kiwifruit, persimmons, pineapples, mangoes, and other. Use airtight bags or paper cups when serving the trail mix to the children.

Picnic / Lunch Box

Picnic Boxes
A very convenient option will be to take the basic picnic food boxes stuffed with ready-to-use food. Nevertheless you should have extra sandwiches, fruits and other products with you as in the open air small kids have big appetites. Preparing the picnic boxes may be enjoyable also for your kids. Do it together, let the children draw on the boxes, decorate them with stickers, etc. According to food preferences or diet you may put names on each box as you stuff it accordingly.

All supermarkets and party shops sell cardboard boxes. Buy the medium size party ones. Decorate them with fruit and vegetables stickers. The picnic box should contain: sandwiches made according to the kids’ tastes and diets, popcorn, crisp, and dried fruits (optional) packets, a box of juice, paper cups, and napkins. Due to that most kids have a sweet tooth you may prefer to serve sweets afterwards so that they will eat the snacks first.

Things to remember when on picnic with children
Take easily transportable food and products.
Have cold and hot food options.
Make sure you have enough of food, drinks (sweet, carbonated), water, plates, cups, cutlery, napkins, bin-liners, wet wipes, and blankets.
When dining out keep sweets and biscuits in plastic boxes or bowls instead of plates.

Important (!): Before offering food made according to our healthy and quick recipes for kids instructions make sure the children do not have allergies or particular diet. You should always read the food packet labels to make sure the product does not contain the allergic ingredients. The list of most common allergy reactions are triggered by: milk, eggs, nuts, fish, and wheat.

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Picnic Food Ideas for Children

Chicken casserole with rich sauce or stir-fried chicken strips with crisp vegetables are great as picnic foods for eaters who like to wipe their plates with bread or have their rice moist and tasty. Of course, whole roast chicken will be perfect to bring along with other picnic goodies such as salads, cheeses, and a bottle of sparkling white wine. Picnic chicken foods need not be fussy and complicated to prepare. There are lots of easy ways to cook chicken recipes here; and some helpful tips on proper ways of packing cooked chicken foods, too.

Fried Chicken

Fried chicken can be prepared and cooked in many ways but the simplest recipe may just include fresh chicken legs and seasoned coating/breading. A deep fryer is not required to fry chicken. To get the chicken legs crispy on the outside and juicy from the inside even when pan-fried, make sure that the pieces being fried are half-submerged in pre-heated oil and not over-crowded in the pan. Three to four pieces per batch is fine. Otherwise, the fried chicken will be soggy and greasy. Oven-baked chicken may not be as crispier but will surely be more preferable by the health-conscious. To keep the fried chicken crisp and hot: cook it a few hours before departure, cool, and arrange in a container lined with several table tissues to absorb excess oil.

Ingredients:

12 chicken legs, washed and drained
1 piece egg, lightly beaten with a pinch of salt
4 cups cooking oil
Breading (ratio: 2 cups flour per ¼ tsp each of ground pepper and fine iodized salt)

How to: Heat oil in a cast iron frying pan. Dip each chicken leg in the egg mixture and coat with breading thoroughly. When smoke starts to appear on the surface, put one chicken piece into the oil with skin-side down. Avoid over-crowding. Use a pair of tongs to prevent the hot oil from splattering. Remove the chicken when the color turned golden brown and arrange on the cooling rack to let the oil drip.

Simple Chicken Casserole

This easy-to-prepare and no-fuss dish can be cooked in a slow cooker. Just throw in all the ingredients and let simmer for about an hour. The recipe is simple yet very satisfying. No need to pack. Just bring the whole pot.

Ingredients:

2 cups rice, uncooked and washed
2 cups water
6 pieces chicken skinless breasts, deboned and cut into chunky cubes then blanched in hot water
2 cans cream of chicken
1 small can sliced mushroom, well-drained
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
1 small can salsa
6 cups cheese, shredded

How to: Divide all ingredients into two parts. Layer the bottom of the pot with the first part of the following: rice, water, chicken cubes, cream of chicken, mushroom, onion, salsa, and cheese. Repeat procedure for the second layer. Optional: Arrange shredded spinach leaves before cheese. Boil and simmer over low heat for about an hour, or until rice is tender and fluffy.

Crunchy Veggie Toppings

Chopped assorted veggies stir-fried in a little olive oil is a tasty alternative to the usual vegetable salad you eat with roasted chicken. Top it on a bowl of steaming rice to make a fulfilling meal. To pack, transfer the stir-fried vegetables in a ceramic pot. Do not cover while steaming to avoid over-cooking veggies due to excess heat.

Ingredients:

3 Tbsp olive oil
1 whole chicken breast, parboiled and shredded to strips
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large green bellpepper, seeded and cut to strips
1 large red bellpepper, seeded and cut to strips
1 stalk celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into strips
1 small cabbage, chopped roughly
Pinch of salt and ground pepper

How to: Heat oil over medium heat. Cook chicken strips and onions until slightly browned. Put the heat to high and throw in all the vegetables along with the salt and ground pepper. Continue stirring to avoid burning. Remove from heat when all vegetables look coated with oil. In a different pot, boil rice in water until cooked. Fluff the rice and transfer to a ceramic bowl with cover.