During the spring and summer, we picnic quite a bit. Between evenings at the baseball field and days and dinners at the beach, we’ve refined our ability to be ready for a picnic quickly.

Tips to being picnic ready

Being ready really is the key. The difference between a successful picnic and a challenging meal outside can be as small as having a dry place to sit and a napkin. To that end, we get a bag ready at the beginning of baseball season, and keep it ready every day through the summer.

• Dedicate a bag or two.
  We have one large canvas bag for most of our picnic supplies and one for transporting the bulk of the food. The supplies bag should be ready and conveniently located – and I often fold the food bag and put it in the supplies bag so I know where it is at all times. Then I carry it up from the basement all together, open the food bag and start filling it.
• Don’t forget the cooler.
  Although I try to keep items requiring chilling to a minimum, you always need a cooler. Ours is medium-sized and perfect for waters, yogurt, boxed milks and the occasional bottle of white wine.
• Reclosable, stackable plastic containers are your friend.
  Putting your food in plastic containers makes organizing your food bag easy, and helps keep the food bag clean. Stack, stack, stack.
• Acquire a waterproof picnic blanket/spread.
  These are available many places but you can even make your own by sewing together some sheet plastic and a sturdy material such as canvas. The waterproof element makes a huge difference.
• Invest in reusable items just for picnicing.
  I have a set of melamine plates and bowls and plastic cups that stay with the picnic bag (aside from cleaning). I have enough for two meals for our family – and often use them all if we picnic on the beach with guests. I also have inexpensive cutlery in a handled caddy, and I have a rotating stash of fabric napkins.
• Don’t forget the details.
  Even though we have fabric napkins, we always seem to need paper towels, so I keep a roll in the bag. If the meal is messy, I moisten several and keep them in a reclosable plastic bag for instant “wipes.” I also keep three plastic grocery bags in the canvas bag – one for recyclables, one for garbage, and one for the dirty dishes and cutlery so I can transport them home without mucking up the canvas bag. If you have bottles of any kind with your picnic, be sure you have a way to open them. Keep a bottle opener and/or a corkscrew with the cutlery caddy. And don’t forget the utensils you might need to serve food — trying to portion out chicken salad with a teaspoon doesn’t quite cut it.
• Do it all over again.
  As soon as you get home from your picnic, wash the bits that need to be washed immediately and replace them in the supplies bag, rotate out dirty fabric napkins and reorganize the bag to be ready for your next picnic. A couple of times a season, I wash the picnic bags, but get them ready again quickly.

With this simple planning, I can get all the elements into the car and ready to go very quickly.

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A few of years ago I went through a phase where I refused to buy and bring into the house any food products with ingredients I couldn’t easily pronounce. The tub of soft margarine was included in this. I figured if we wanted to butter our bread, we could use the real stuff.

I know there are debates around saturated versus hydrogenated versus trans fats, and every variation in between, but unless you have a specific health issue you are trying to address and provided you have a balanced diet generally and don’t go overboard in any one direction, I prefer food items as close to “natural” as possible. Luckily, I think we do manage the mostly balanced diet and not overdoing any direction requirement.

All butter is not created equal

If I am going to bake or make a nice meal, I think good butter makes a difference in the quality of the final product. I’ve tried various butters from store brands to well-known national brands to imports from Ireland and France, and I have developed favorites for specific purposes. Flavors vary according to the diet of the cows from which the milk comes from, and this also affects the color. For baking, I buy unsalted butter from a national brand, and watch for it on sale. For special meals, I’ll pick up a French unsalted butter at Trader Joe’s, and for spreading on a good piece of bread from the local bakery, it’s a regional brand. Specifically, Kate’s Homemade Butter from Maine, Sea Salted. It’s so tasty.

On vacation a couple of years ago, I bought a handmade ceramic butter bell, sometimes called a French butter dish, and this has also added to our butter enjoyment. In all seasons except the hottest part of the summer, we can keep our butter at room temperature for easier spreading. You press your butter into the cavity in the lid and fill the bowl half way or so with water. Then invert the lid
10000 temperature.

In addition to the simplicity of buttered bread there are other things I like to do with good butter. For example, I found some silicone ice trays in fun shapes at the local discount shop. I have been known to press soft butter into them instead of filling them with water, refrigerate, then press out butter penguins when we have guests.

Butter for better living!

• I like to brown butter to put over broccoli. The browning adds an extra nuttiness that is a nice complement. I prefer to use unsalted butter and sprinkle a little kosher salt, too.

• “Finish” stock based sauces with butter. My favorite chicken piccata recipe adds a tablespoon or so of butter to the final bit of sauce before spooning over the chicken and serving, and it makes all the difference.

• Make compound butter and honey butter for special occasions. Nothing beats honey butter on fresh cornbread.

• Make buttercream frosting for cakes. Is there anything that can compare to fresh, fluffy buttercream on cupcakes or cakes? I don’t think there is.

• Make butter cookies and, on very special occasions, shortbread. They melt in your mouth. Mmmmm.

Whether you use the real stuff everyday or only on special occasions, butter is one of those luxuries of life that can quickly become a necessity. Enjoy.

I love pasta, but I don’t usually have a lot of variations - most of my creations are some combination of noodles, ground beef, red sauce and cheese. Sometimes I’ll get crazy and alfredo it up. I’m a busy working mom. I love to cook, but I just don’t have enough time or energy to play in the kitchen. Besides, my family is picky and they don’t want to try new foods.

Isn’t that lame? Because, really, there is no excuse! Going (somewhat) vegetarian has forced me out of my comfort zone with food and I’m finding it’s incredibly fast and easy to discover new recipes. We’ve had a couple flops, but we’ve also had some interesting successes. I’ve been impressed by how my family has taken to this culinary adventure.

This week so far we’ve tried two new pasta dishes.

Garlicky White Beans, Sage and Orecchiette

[Click for recipe]

This recipe would have been a direct hit, but I screwed it up a little. Because I was cooking for the WHOLE family (which includes 3 girls ages 8-12 and one 15 year old boy, plus one hungry daddy and one always-ravenous nursing mama), I made TWO packages of the orecchiette. That was all well and good, but I only doubled the bean mixture portion of the recipe and I probably should have tripled it. It didn’t quite stretch and it needed to.

With that said, however, the beans had a wonderful flavor and everyone enjoyed this dish! It was fast, unusual and filling. As a bonus, it’s a “pantry recipe,” meaning that you can have no idea what the heck you’re going to have for dinner tonight and make the decision about this recipe 30 minutes before dinnertime without any emergency run out to the grocery store. (Don’t have orecchiette? Use whatever pasta you DO have. Don’t have fresh sage on hand? Dried is fine.)

By the way, when cooking this up, the aroma was divine. I love recipes that start off with garlic and herbs sauted in olive oil. Add the white wine and a simple beans-and-noodles dish goes gourmet.

The funny thing is, this meal was as fast and simple as making hot dogs and Kraft macaroni and cheese - yet so much tastier and a million times healthier!

Kids in the kitchen: My 12 year old drained and rinsed the canned beans, chopped the red and yellow peppers and set the table while I did the rest of the preparation.

Whole-Wheat Pasta with Broccolini and Feta

[Click for recipe]

Wow. Just wow. This was another simple recipe, but the flavors - feta and orange vinaigrette - were so intense and complex. You can serve this up hot, room temperature - or cold as a pasta salad. We had it warm and I loved the texture and flavor of the melt-y feta on the pasta.

One slight variation I made… no shallots on hand, so I threw some thinly sliced sweet onion into the pot when I blanched the radish slices. I think you also couldn’t go wrong with a handful of pine nuts tossed in.

And let’s talk about the radishes - I eat them VERY rarely; usually just a few raw slices in a salad mix. I’m surprised this recipe even appealed to me because of the radishes, but they had a wonderful mild flavor and tenderness when slightly blanched. Even the kids liked the radishes!

On the side: We had raw red pepper slices and orange segments (my husband peeled and segmented the orange I had used for the zest).

Family review: The verdict? Well, I loved it! My husband was skeptical, but decided he really liked it after a few bites - he took it to work next day as a cold dish, too. My 12 year old mostly liked it. I think the flavor overwhelmed her about halfway through, however. My 8 year old LOVED it. My 10 year old was completely not interested. She opted to reheat some leftovers for her dinner. Because of that, I probably won’t make it frequently as a family meal where it is the primary course.

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