Pastrami Pesto Picnic Sammich

As I mentioned in the previous post, we tried to keep our costs down during our recent Colorado trip by fixing our own food. But we couldn't just fix cereal and ham and cheese, it needed to be something yummy! Our Egg & Avocado on Toast was perfect for breakfast and this delicious sammie was perfect for our on-the-go picnics.

On Sat, we explored Bear Creek Lake Park in Lakewood, CO. It was breath-taking to say the least. Bear Creek Lake Park has so much to offer any outdoors person. They have several lakes for kayaking and boating, a campground, tons of hiking trails, and a huge bike path. We saw more cyclist here than we've ever seen before. Literally, like, a hundred cyclist, probably.

The park also offer some pretty awesome picnic locations all throughout the park. Each picnic table was covered, which I was very happy to see. A little known fact about Colorado to those of us who don't live there is that the sun is fierce! So covered picnic tables were an awesome sight for this lily-white girl! 

We even spotted a coyote on our way out!

Above is what our lunch looked like. We grabbed a fruit platter from the store and ate on that for breakfast, lunch, and some snacking. We also grabbed some Boulder Canyon Chips. OMG! We LOVE Boulder Canyon Chips! We grabbed some of these two years ago when we were visiting Boulder, CO and have been craving them ever since.

The view from where we sat at one of the picnic shelters was beautiful. While we were eating lunch in roughly 75 degree weather, there were these light fluffy seeds that were seemingly floating around everywhere we went. It made it look like it was snowing! Very beautiful, but unfortunately I wasn't able to really capture it with my camera.

This sandwich was partially inspired by the Italian Compressed Sandwich we did a couple of months ago. This one however is a simpler version that is quick to make and just as delicious to eat! Give it a shot for lunch tomorrow or on your next picnic!

Pan Bagnat

Here in G-Vegas, our downtown offers a free outdoor movie once a week throughout the month of May & Sept. It's a great excuse for a picnic in my opinion. We loaded up this amazing little sammie and a bottle of wine and met a friend out there for a moonlight movie.

This sandwich was a huge hit and one we'll definitely be repeating soon. The flavors are so good! We added some yummy sardines to ours but you could also add good quality can tuna. The dressing seeps into the bread and the affect is pretty delicious!

Pan Bagnat is a classic french tuna sandwich that means "wet bread". Very popular lunch time sandwich that is sold in Nice, France in the markets and cafe's. What's interesting about the town of Nice is that it is around 18 miles from Italy's border, which means there is some Italian mingling going on in their cuisine!

I'm hoping to try a few more recipes from Nice very soon. I really like the Italian/French fusion that this town is known for!

Picnic Menu - Italian Compressed Sandwich

For The Other Williams' birthday she requested a trip to Atlanta to visit the High Museum of Art's current exhibit "Picaso to Warhol". The weather couldn't have been more lovely for a picnic so I decided to surprise her with one. We were traveling a bit to get there so I needed something pretty sturdy and this menu did the trick!

I love fun food on picnic's and anything on a stick is fun! I skewered organic grapes onto a bamboo skewer. I also did a caprese salad on a stick by layering small mozzarella balls, grape tomatoes, and basil leaves onto a skewer. I brought along a small container of balsamic vinegar for our dipping pleasure.

The Italian compressed sandwich was amazing and burst with flavor from the pesto, meats, and smoky cheese! This sandwich should be made a day a head but 6-8 hours ahead would be fine also.

The picnic was a hit and the weather was gorgeous as we relaxed in Centennial Park while people watching. We hit the art museum will tummies filled with love! The exhibit was awesome and we made plans to return before summer's heat turned Atlanta into Hotlanta!

Fall Picnic - BBLT

 For our fall trip recently I packed a delicious Italian Sausage Soup and this fabulous BBLT panini! What's BBLT?

Brie, Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato!

I used a ciabatta roll for the bread and my trusty grill pan to press the sandwich before we left. I wrapped it in some wax paper and it was good to go by the time we had our picnic!

The combination of this panini is just delicious. All my favorites are in play! Really smooth-earthy brie cheese, smoky bacon, peppery arugula, spicy Dijon, and sweet tomato. Yea, it's going to blow your socks off!

Italian Sausage Hamburger with Garlicky Spinach

We've started doing Hamburger Fridays at our house when ever possible and we're trying out all kinds of burger recipes.

This burger is so delicious on so many levels. The sausage, the garlicky spinach and the sun-dried tomato pesto spread all add something spectacular to this burger. We're talking restaurant-style gourmet burger here!

We used 1/4 pound of local Italian-style sausage, which was about 1 link a piece. Don't skimp on the sausage, get the best you can find. So far this is my favorite burger yet!

Chilled Cucumber Soup with Shrimp & Mini BLT

It's been getting just ridiculously hot recently and we found the perfect recipe to cool down with! Normally I'm not a big chilled soup person but this chilled cucumber soup  really hit the spot for me.

I love a good fresh summer cucumber. There is just something so clean and fresh about the favor in this little vegetable. Pair that with lemon and dill and wow!

We added a little agave to the recipe to balance out the tartness of the greek yogurt. And you want to use a good Greek yogurt. The shrimp on top was like icing on the cake and went beautifully with the soup.

We paired this lunchtime soup with a mini BLT. We used a potato roll (any dinner roll would be fine), thick cut bacon, fresh garden tomatoes, and arugula. I also prepared some dill mayo by using some of the dill and lemon juice leftover from the soup and mixing it into store bought mayo. It made the sammie a little extra special.

 

 I hope you'll try this one with your garden cucumbers. It's a delicious light, healthy, and filling lunch.

Power Breakfast Panini

We've been getting into panini's lately. The way the bread gets all sweet and toasted really makes me feel like I'm sitting down in a cafe somewhere. This panini is one The Other Williams made for breakfast the other day.

We call it the power breakfast Panini because its loaded with good stuff for you! We're talking lots of protein, carbs, and greens! So this is excellent for a weekend when you'll be working in the yard, or cycling, running, or hiking. This sandwich will stay with you and provide you with the energy needed for an active day.

But don't think it's just for special occasions. This would be a great lunch also!