Friday, May 2, 2008

Grandparent's Day Picnic

Each year my son's school has a Grandparents Day, when Grandparents come to the school to see the classroom, watch performances by the kids and share a picnic lunch.  My husband's parents are attending this year's event and this is the picnic I prepared for them:

Basil Asiago Chicken Salad over mixed greens (the chicken is organic, free range and the greens are from Full Belly Farm); organic strawberries with lemon cream (we ate all of the quark and it isn't available at my local co-op, so I made some lemon cream with lemon yogurt, sour cream and meyer lemon - -the result was decent, but it is no lemon quark!); organic Santa Barbara kalamata olives; ciabbata bread with olive oil and balsamic dip; Santa Cruz sparkling lemonade and Pellegrino sparkling water; (grape tomatoes and jersey jack cheddar chunks not pictured, but tossed in as a second thought for Aidan who probably will not like the very garlicky chicken salad).  All packed in frigoverre glass containers (small tupperware container for the lemon cream) and placed in a softsided cooler that I picked up  never used at a yardsale several years ago.  The frigoverre is a bit heavy to pack, but it travels very well and is hearty enough to withstand a bit of traveling.  The bread was wrapped in the napkin shown.

waste generated: Too much!  Plastic water bottle; 2 aluminum cans; 4 paper napkins (not shown above, but packed because I ran out of space to pack my cloth napkins, which are much bulkier than the paper)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi. I love reading your blog. Would you mind posting the recipe to the basil asiago chicken salad? Looks so yummy!

Jeanine said...

Hi and thank for reading my blog! Here is the recipe for the Basil Asiago Chicken Salad, but I have to warn you that I don't have any precise measurements . . . I originally stole the recipe from a salad that is popular at my local co-op and change it according to what I have on hand. Hopefully, you can make sense of this:

To make the dressing:

Start with about 1/3 cp. of Canola Mayonnaise
Whisk in:
lemon juice (I usually use 1/2 of a juicy Meyer lemon)
lemon zest (1 t. or so)
dijon mustard (2 - 5 t. to taste)
grated asiago cheese (2- 3 T.)
olive oil and canola oil (I use olive oil for flavor, and then add canola for consistency - -you want it to be a bit liquidy)
finely minced young green garlic or green onion (about 1 1/2 T.)
salt & pepper

What's in the salad:

Chicken Breast & Mushrooms (cube the chicken or cut into in large pieces and tear into smaller pieces after being cooked) You should start with a little more mushrooms than chicken, but the mushrooms will cook down (You can also use leftover chicken and just briefly stir fry some mushrooms).

Briefly marinate the chicken in a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper - - when no leftovers were available). Stir Fry until cooked through with sliced crimini mushrooms.

Pasta: penne or rotelle

Sundried tomatoes: marinated in oil (I marinate mine by soaking them in hot water until soft then transferring them to a bowl with olive oil and Italian spices - -allow to sit for at least a couple of hours)

Chopped Basil

Grape Tomatoes, halfed

Toss it all together!!!

Aubrey West @ Healthy School Lunch Ideas said...

I am also curious about the recipe. Thanks for posting it. It really looks yummy and healthy.