As I have said before, I work full time and am super busy. I strive to cook three full from-scratch meals per week. But we do not go out the other nights so what is a busy mom to do? I have come up with a night I call: Picnic Style Dinner Night. This dinner requires no real ‘cooking,’ just some popcorn and some creative and fun presentation! You can use your imagination with what you have on hand and ours varies from week to week.
So what do I include in our Picnic Style Dinners?
One thing is constant: the popcorn (get my popcorn recipe here). If you do not eat corn, you can substitute in kale chips (also pictured above)!
Cold meats/cuts. We get ours at a local butcher that makes them traditionally. We love pastrami and dried and fermented chorizo currently but anything will do. Check around your grocery store and try to find grass fed options or find local charcuterie. If you wanted to you can even use cold bacon. Get creative!
Raw grass fed cheese.
Dried fruits – pictured here are dried blueberries and sometimes we eat dates.
Fermented veggies – pictured here are fermented dilly carrots and purple sauerkraut.
Raw veggies – we had some fresh radishes so we used those but I will often use peppers, carrots, broccoli or even cherry tomatoes sometimes.
Some kind of dip. Pictured in the photo at the top of this post is a dip I threw together mixing yogurt cheese with roasted peppers and a dash of salt. Hummus or babaganoush (eggplant dip) are also regulars at this meal. You could also have some ranch dressing on hand for dipping the raw veggies.
What do you make for an quick easy dinner?
Our family loves these picnic-style dinners as well! I just pile up a cutting board with whatever finger-food is around, and we all dig in. And the best part is the lack of clean-up required 😉 I wish I had a butcher like yours, though…I’m jealous!