Spotlight on Summer: Picnic Fare and Quick Cooking

Last week, I posted links to previous blogs that contained recipes for cool and creamy foods.  Today, in part two of the series, I'm doing the same thing, but with foods that are good to take on a picnic or can be prepared on busy summer days with very little effort.  Click the words in bold to go to the page with the recipe.

Picnic Fare:

What better way to celebrate summer than with a picnic?  Picnics are fun, but be sure to keep food safety in mind:  keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold!

Chicken Salad:  This has been my favorite chicken salad recipe for over 20 years!  When I take it on picnics, I serve it just like I do at home:  on a plate with croissants on the side.  If you want to use it for sandwiches, keep the chicken salad in the cooler and assemble the sandwiches when you're ready to eat.  This will keep the sandwiches from getting soggy.

Deviled Eggs:  I like to take chicken salad on a picnic, but my mother liked to take fried chicken.  To accompany the chicken, she always took a batch of deviled eggs.  They're better made the day before so you can pack and go the day of the picnic.  Make sure to leave them in the cooler until you're ready to eat.

Fruit Salad:  My grandmother made this simple salad -- apples, bananas, crushed pineapple and orange juice -- for my mom and her siblings; my mom made it for her kids and now I make it for my family.  It's ideal for a picnic because it doesn't contain mayonnaise, sour cream or Cool Whip. Serve it straight from the cooler as a refreshing fruit salad or as dessert.

Peanut Butter Cookies:  No one will ever guess these cookies only use three ingredients.  They bake in just minutes so you can whip up a batch at the spur of the moment.  They're also easy to pack and mess free since they're not frosted.

Mini Mason Jar Cakes:  Mason jars aren't just for canning anymore.  You can use the four ounce jars to make cute desserts -- cakes, cobblers, pies and crisps -- that are wonderful for a picnic or casual get together.  Don't forget to pack spoons!

Fruit Tea:  Soft drinks and Kool-Aid might be easy to pack for a picnic, but they're not as refreshing as an ice cold glass of fruit tea.  This dressed up sweet tea uses lemon juice, pineapple juice and, the secret ingredient, ginger ale!

Quick Cooking:

Life tends to move a little slower in the summer.  The weather is warmer, days are longer and there's more to do outside.  Who wants to be stuck inside cooking?  These recipes let you put dinner on the table without having to do a lot of work or get the kitchen too hot.

Sauteed Pork Chops:  You won't heat up the kitchen when you cook these pork chops.  They cook in just 11 minutes!  The only thing you need other than the ingredients is a skillet with a lid.

Easy Pork Chops and Apples:  This dish is as easy as they come.  You don't even have to brown the pork chops or cut and peel the apples.  Cook a vegetable separately and you've got a meal that's very easy to prepare.  

Hamburger Macaroni Casserole:  A reader once described this dish as homemade Hamburger Helper, but better.  The macaroni doesn't even have to be cooked separately.  Everything is cooked in the same pan and, from start to finish, takes less than 45 minutes to cook.

Marinated Baked Chicken:  This dish takes very little work, but you do need to plan ahead since the chicken has to be marinated overnight.  The marinade is super easy to mix up:  you use equal parts of Italian salad dressing and soy sauce.  The recipe can easily be doubled or, if necessary, halved.

Broccoli with Lemon:  This recipe starts with fresh steamed broccoli.  If you don't have time to steam the broccoli, microwave a package of fresh broccoli florets that's sold in a microwave-safe bag.  You can mix up the rest of the ingredients while the broccoli is in the microwave.

Potato Salad:  You might not think of this dish as quick, but it can be when you don't have to peel, cut and boil potatoes.  Ore-Ida Steam 'n Mash cut Russet potatoes -- which cook in only 10 minutes in the microwave -- can be substituted for fresh potatoes.  No one will ever taste the difference.

Check back next week for this series finale:  foods that won't heat up the kitchen.

© Margaret's Morsels

Smokin' Hot

Since the 4th of July is next week, I thought I'd share a recipe I first made a couple of years ago for my family's Independence Day celebration.  It's an easy way to add heat to the meal without the fire.

When I think of barbecue, I think of a pulled pork sandwich piled high on a bun and topped with coleslaw.  Or, barbecue spaghetti sauce ladled on a plate of hot cooked spaghetti.  Or, something I make at home, barbecue chicken breasts that have been cooked in the crock-pot.  Barbecue isn't just for entrees though.  It makes a great addition to baked beans.

Barbecue Baked Beans are similar to the Easy Stove Top Beans recipe I posted a couple of years ago.  They use a lot of the same ingredients, but have different cooking methods.

The most notable difference is stove top beans use pork and beans, while barbecue baked beans use baked beans.  Sometimes the terms are used interchangeably, but there is a difference between the two.  Canned pork and beans are lighter in color and are made with white beans, tomato sauce and, surprisingly, very little pork.  Canned baked beans are made with additional ingredients which not only gives them a darker color, but makes them sweeter and thicker too.

Both recipes start by cooking bacon and using the grease to saute chopped onion.  Once the onion is sauteed 

and drained,

the baked beans 

are combined with barbecue sauce (this takes the place of the vinegar and catsup used in the easy stove top beans)

brown sugar,

the sauteed onion 

and crumbled bacon.

Put the mixture in a greased baking dish and bake until heated through, 20 to 30 minutes.

The recipe can be doubled or even tripled, but you might not want to double or triple the barbecue sauce.  It depends on how spicy you want the finished dish.

The barbecue sauce will make the beans smokin' hot.  If that's too much heat for you, check back in a couple of days for a tasty way to cool off your taste buds.

Barbecue Baked Beans

4 Servings

3 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled

2 Tbsp. chopped onion

1 (16 oz.) can baked beans
3/4 cup barbecue sauce

2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

Saute onion in bacon grease; drain.  Thoroughly combine all ingredients. Put mixture in a greased casserole dish.  Bake at 350° until heated through, 20 to 30 minutes.

© Margaret's Morsels

Labor Day Picnic

If Memorial Day marks the start of summer, Labor Day marks the end.  If you're going on a picnic this holiday weekend, here are some recipes that are good picnic fare.  Have fun and remember food safety:  keep hot foods hot; cold foods cold.

Egg Salad Sandwich

Easy Stove Top Beans

Deviled Eggs

Mini Mason Jar Cakes

Fruit Tea

© Margaret's Morsels

Party on the Patio

Memorial Day, the last Monday of May, marks the start of vacation season in America.  It's also the season when cooking and eating move outdoors. Grills are uncovered, picnic baskets come out of storage and the patio table is set for dining al fresco.


Whether you're grilling hot dogs and hamburgers or taking a bucket of chicken on a picnic, baked beans make a great side dish.  Easy Stove Top Beans are a tasty alternative to cooking baked beans in the oven.  The recipe definitely lives up to the name.  The beans are easy to make, cooked on the stove top and done in half the time of traditional baked beans.


Although the ingredients are typical of most baked bean recipes, the cooking method is different to make up for the fact the beans aren't cooked in the oven.  Instead of laying strips of raw bacon on top of the bean mixture before baking, this recipe starts with cooked bacon.  You can cook the bacon on top of the stove or in the microwave, but be sure to save the bacon grease.  When I cook bacon in the microwave, I use a specially designed tray called "Bacon Wave" that catches the bacon grease.

The grease drains from the bacon

and is collected on the tray.

Once the bacon is cooked, saute the chopped onion in the bacon grease. While the onion is sauteing, combine the brown sugar, catsup and vinegar. The original recipe called for two tablespoons of vinegar.  This was too much for us so I reduced the vinegar to one tablespoon.  If you want tangier baked beans, use the two tablespoons of vinegar.

Unless a recipe specifies otherwise, I always use apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is made from apple cider and has a fruitier flavor than white vinegar.  If you've never tried apple cider vinegar, give it a try; you'll notice a difference.

Add the vinegar mixture to the onion, along with the bacon and pork and beans.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the mixture thickens, about 30 minutes.

If you're cooking for a crowd, the recipe can easily be doubled.  If there's any leftover beans, they're just as tasty -- if not tastier -- reheated.  The beans are a good alternative to baked beans and allow you to get out of the kitchen and into the outdoors a lot quicker.

Easy Stove Top Beans

4 to 6 Servings

3 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/2 cup catsup
1 Tbsp. vinegar

2 (11 oz.) cans pork and beans

Cook bacon in a skillet or in the microwave, reserving the bacon grease. Saute the onion in the bacon grease.  Mix the brown sugar, catsup and vinegar until combined.  Add the mixture to the onion, along with the bacon and pork and beans.  Bring mixture to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until mixture thickens, about 30 minutes.

 © Margaret's Morsels

A Tisket, A Tasket, A Gently Used Picnic Basket

Recently, while cleaning out a closet, I found a picnic basket my husband and I received as a wedding present.  We used it a few times, but it's been over a decade since that basket's seen the light of day.  It seems as though there's never time for a picnic.


When I was a kid, we went on picnics at least once a month.  My mother fixed the same meal for every picnic:  fried chicken, deviled eggs, baked beans and bread and butter sandwiches.  The sandwiches were nothing more than butter spread on bread, sandwiched together and cut diagonally, but they sure were good.


I remember those picnics everytime I make a batch of deviled eggs.  I use the same recipe my mother used.  It only uses four ingredients and isn't very fancy, but it's always the first plate of deviled eggs to be devoured at a potluck dinner.  I double the recipe when I'm fixing these for a crowd.


Normally when you cook, you use the freshest ingredients available.  This is counterproductive, though, when it comes to boiled eggs.  Eggs are much easier to peel if you use older eggs.  Egg shells that are easy to peel leave a prettier egg white, which is important when you're using them for deviled eggs.


Everyone has a preferred method for boiling eggs.  It seems as though there are as many ways to boil eggs as there are fillings for deviled eggs! I'm not saying my way is the best way or the right way.  It's the way my mother taught me and I've always had excellent results.  When I boil eggs this way, I don't end up with a green band around the yolks which is a telltale sign of overcooking.


Put the eggs in a saucepan -- make sure you use a pan size appropriate for the number of eggs you're boiling -- and cover the eggs with water.  Put the pan on the stove and turn the burner to high.  When the water comes to a boil, put the lid on the pan and remove the pan from the burner.  Let the eggs sit undisturbed for 15 minutes.  Drain the water and cover the eggs with cold water and ice cubes.  When the ice cubes melt, peel the eggs.

Cooked the way my mother taught me.

Once the eggs are peeled, cut the eggs lengthwise and remove the yolks. Put the yolks in a small bowl and mash them with a fork.  Make sure to mash them thoroughly so the filling doesn't have any lumps.  Mix in the remaining ingredients, blending completely.

My mother always scooped the filling into the egg whites using a spoon, but I use a disposable pastry bag.  The bag is quicker and not as messy.  If you want to make the eggs even prettier, put a cake decorating tip in the pastry bag before you add the filling.  The easiest way to fill a pastry bag is to stand it upright in a clean glass, turning the top down over the edge of the glass like this:

Once the bag is filled and removed from the glass, twist the top of the bag to close it and cut off a small corner at the bottom.  You're now ready to fill the egg whites.  Once the eggs are filled, store them in a covered container in the refrigerator.  It's best to make them a day ahead of time so the flavors have time to blend.

The finished product.

If you take deviled eggs on a picnic, be sure to keep the container in a cooler with ice.  If you want  a really good meal to go with the eggs, add some fried chicken and baked beans.  Don't forget the bread and butter sandwiches.

Deviled Eggs

6 Servings

6 hard-boiled eggs

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1/3 cup mayonnaise

Cut peeled eggs lengthwise in half; remove yolks and mash with a fork. Mix in remaining ingredients.  Fill whites with egg yolk mixture.  Keep refrigerated.

© Margaret's Morsels