April 23rd is National Picnic Day and kicks off
the season to pack a basket,
grab a blanket or quilt and head outdoors!
In celebration of picnic season, I packed a post with picnics, portable salads, and menu ideas from the archives!
Click on the links in red to revisit the posts for picnic inspiration and recipes :)
And a handy cookbook with 125 recipes for 29 seasonal menus. . .
Picnic by DeeDee Stovel:
Picnics are fun, casual, and somehow the food just tastes better in a beautiful outdoor setting.
In PICNIC, DeeDee Stovel offers 29 picnic event ideas with more than 125 recipes – packable repasts from an informal Berry Picking Picnic to an elegant Music Festival Picnic. Although PICNIC includes all of the traditional fare, the recipes for the soups, entrées, salads, and desserts are all a cut above the ordinary.
And when lazy summer days turn chilly, enjoy a Sports Booster Picnic, a Fall Foliage in New England Picnic, and an Après-Ski Picnic. Wine and beer selections accompany each menu. Plus picnic lore, packing to go, the perfect picnic basket, rainy day alternatives, and much more. It’s an all-American feast!
A Picnic with Lavender
Chocolate Lavender Brownies, Lavender Lemonade and Honey-drizzled Goat cheese with French lavender
{Less} Labor Day Picnic
A make-ahead menu with Layered Cornbread-and-Turkey Salad, Antipasto Skewers, Peach-and-Blueberry Parfaits, Citrus infused water
Celebrating the Red, White, and Blue Picnic
Tarragon Chicken and Pasta Salads and Patriotic Berry Trifle
A Jeep Picnic
Blackberry Caprese Skewers and Pasta Salad
An Apple Picnic
Apple Walnut Salad, Apple-Gorgonzola & Thyme Hand Pies, and Redd’s Apple Ale
Pontoon Picnic and Memorial Day from Stem to Stern
Watermelon, Blueberry and Feta Flag and BBQ Sundae
A Caribbean {Floating} Island Picnic
End of summer fun on our Caribbean {Floating} Island, aka pontoon boat, with a Caribbean Cold Rice Salad, Island Shrimp Kabobs, Tropical Fruit Salad with Toasted Coconut
Gone Fishin’ Picnic
Lakeside Fishing Picnic with Apple and Fennel Tuna Salad, Cucumber-Avocado Soup with Tomato Salsa, Fish Eye Pinot Grigio, and Gone Fishin’ Cupcakes with Pretzel Rods and Goldfish Grahams
Breakfast in a Meadow Picnic
Yogurt Parfaits, Sunny Morning Muffins, and Meadow Mimosas
Provençal Picnic
Salade Niçoise, French Soda or a Rosé, Brie and confiture frambroise
Fall Picnic with Pumpkins
Pork Tenderloin Sliders, Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with Bacon Dressing, Pumpkin Spice Cake Trifle and Pumpkin Ale
“A picnic is more than eating a meal,
it’s a pleasurable state of mind.”
~ DeeDee Stovel, Picnic
Happy Picnicking!
Thank you for your visit, sharing with:
Metamorphosis Monday, The Scoop,
Wow Us Wednesdays
So inviting, Mary…makes me want to have a picnic every weekend! Thanks for the links with ideas for successful and relaxing outdoor meals…or just brief pauses in busy lives.
You have inspired me to make sure we do some picnicking this summer!! We haven’t been on a “picnic” in many years..as a child our picnics were very family geared and lots of fun..our picnic food consisted of fried chicken, baked beans, potato salad and an array of pickles, celery & carrots. This was long before anyone in our family knew anything about cooking on a grill, dips, chips, etc. We had lots of homemade desserts too!! Thanks for the great post!! 🍗🍪🏸⛱😎
~ Hi Mary~
All your picnics look wonderful and relaxing !! What a reminder we should all take time to enjoy the simple things in life :)
Have a blessed day
Paula
IN
What an inspirational post of picnics throughout the year, Mary. Oh, how I would love to share a picnic with you, with your yummy food and special settings. What a treat that would be! Hopefully you, your hubby and Chloe and Gracie enjoyed a picnic out on your boat today.
How much fun it is to see all your picnic posts. I’ve only been in blog world for less than a year, so I would have missed them all. My favorite memories of childhood were the huge family picnics out at my grandparents, I mean 100 people huge at their summer cottage.
Thanks for the jaunts down memory lane, I couldn’t pick a favorite, they are all wonderful! Sandi
I hope you all had a wonderful PICNIC today and hopefully on the boat! My favorite of your picnics are the pontoon picnics:) The book sounds wonderful and all of your recipes could keep us fed all summer long! Thanks for this wonderful post!
How fun are these? What an inspiration. Thank You for sharing!
Very nice Mary! It’s starting to warm up here and truly is time to get outdoors… And I mean for a little more than just mowing the lawn:@) Happy Sunday!
Another excellent compilation, Mary – thanks so much! Let me just say this…I would LOVE to get inside your dish and accessories storage if you were to ever purge!! You’d have to keep your eye on me, though…you might find me ransacking in that garden shed, too! Wonderfully styled, all of them!
I think you have inspired me to have a picnic! All so inviting! Have a happy Sunday!😎🌴
Your picnics are so elegant Mary, no simple sandwiches for you! You are a picnic princess, so many wonderful recipe ideas and portable delicacies~ We dined alfresco last night for the first time this year, and that always feels like a stay at home picnic :) fresh sweet corn on the cob too! I love your inspirational round ups, all your posts are so full of goodies, it’s hard to absorb them all at one time- Happy week!
Jenna
Love your many picnic ideas!! Been suffering with tree pollen but when it passes we will have to enjoy a picnic outdoors!!
A good picnic is a favorite for me. You’ve shared some beautiful ideas to make a picnic extra special. I miss having our sailboat for many reasons, but one has to be the wonderful picnics we shared out on the water. Your post is inticing me to plan a picnic soon.
How wonderful it must be that you do not have to go very far to enjoy a most glorious picnic….you just have to step right out your back door…a picnic in the grass, a picnic by the water, and those wonderful picnics on the boat with great food and the most beautiful settings and of course the company of family.
Mary, I’ve enjoyed looking back at all your picnic posts. Each time I think one is my favorite, I read the next one and change my mind! I love them all! You know how much we love to picnic, and there is so much inspiration in your creations. Picnic season is about to arrive here! (I think we need another picnic week.) :) Linda
Mary, I love a picnic! Your round-up is perfect with plenty of inspiration and ideas! Pam @ Everyday Living