Summer is almost halfway through! (Once again, very quickly.) If you haven’t had a picnic yet, what are you waiting for?
Enjoying a relaxing meal between trees and birds, maybe next to the water, is a happy way to enjoy a summer day. (Or evening!) Food has even better taste al fresco, don’t you think?
But typical picnic foods are not always the best for your heart. Deli meats, sandwiches, pasta groceries, potato chips … These foods are good casual, but the meal in your basket can be much more!
What happens if you could put together a picnic spread that popped up with color and tasty food so that instead of saying “well that was healthy anyway”, people said, “this was fantastic! What a wonderful meal”. This is my goal here.
We will look at ideas for sandwiches, salads, snacks and sip on the “Sweet Spot” of the picnic-Heart-Healthy and Delicious, as well as portable, beautiful and fast to prepare. We want to prepare the food and go out, right?
Principles for a heart picnic menu
First, in short, these are the general principles of nutrition that focus on heart health:
- Abundant and a variety of vegetables and fruits
- Other plant foods for fiber and protein: whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds
- Other proteins such as fish, dairy products, eggs and/or poultry if you eat them
- Food made with more olive oil and other healthy fats, less butter
- Limited processed meat, refined granules and additional sugar, especially in drinks
In addition, foods made with love are eaten with loved ones or love to eat is the heart healthy. Sometimes love things come into conflict with eating things, and then you can find the right balance for you.
But you can ideally satisfy both! That’s what I mean by “Sweet Spot”.
Keep it simple
There are many ideas and beautiful photos here for inspiration, but you don’t have to spend the whole day making seven dishes to be successful with it. If you go to the park with a brie round, a bunch of grapes, and a good whole grain bread, this is still a healthy picnic heart!
Add one or two of the following items whether or not you want. Or organize a potluck. Never let the food be a source (heart-stroke) anxiety.
Satisfactorily
What makes a healthy heart sandwich?
First, design the protein.
Instead of ham, deli turkey, or hot dogs, what about one of them?
- Tone, salmon or egg salad – Mix with Mayo if you like it (they are mainly healthy fat), excellent virgin olive oil and/or simple Greek yogurt. Then you become creative! Add crunchy celery to cubes or apple, pieces of creamy avocado, or chopped sharp red onion.
- Chicken – Did you know that Rotisserie chicken usually has less than half of the sodium turkey slices than deli? In addition, about 3 kg of meat per bird. Sandwich for everyone!
- Peanut butter -Banana is the classic sidekick, but you can also overcome this protein rich, healthy fats with slices, strawberries or grapes. (Sunflower butter has a similar diet if you need a walnut -free choice.)
- Other vegetarian proteins – If you want a vegetarian vegetable sandwich you can get protein from Hummus (a little), cheese (more) and/or sliced, marinatedPan-fried tofu (most). Many options.
Then load the vegetables.
The lettuce and tomato are good, but we can make it more fun than it! What about carrot shavings? If you have baked a bunch of shredded peppers or eggplants, you can place them for a gourmet inflammation. Or in cucumber slices, or a handful of rocket pepper.
Finally, put it on good whole grains.
Multigrain, sprouted grain, 27-grain … it’s all right! Just look for the word “whole” in the first ingredient. Use a grocery bread or figure in something separate from a bakery.
(Related: The review of my non -Ponsored Cobs if you are close to one of them.)
For a change, use whole grain tortillas (low glycemic index!), Buns or bagels. Whole granules such as triscuits go beautifully with tuna salad or eggs if your picnic is more snack than the sandwich.
Worthy salads
A rich, vibrant salad with granules or legumes travels well and can satisfy for hours. Some favorites:
- Lentils and salad (Julie van rosendaal) – Cholesterol and blood -friendly lentils and barley thrown with tomatoes, spinach, red onion, slice and vinaigrette.
- Crunchy peanut cabbage salad – I created this after writing about keeping a capius in your budget of your fruits and vegetables. It has a sweet and salty dress, Mandarin orange slices, and a rich Farro, a satisfactory chewing ancient set of grains.
- Caviar It is a classic bean salad that goes well with durable tortilla chips. Tomatoes, peppers, corn, avocado – you get the idea. If you can’t find peas with black eyes, look for Pinto beans.
(If you want more salad ideas like this, see my 10 tasty-laminate salads without lettuce.)
Snacks and sides
He is not a picnic without dealing with. Bring whatever fresh fruit is in the season and it looks good – sweet nectarines, pieces of watermelon or juicy cherries that are never ignored.
Grocery’s veggie discs often pass, but something of the usual tomatoes, colorful slices or crunchy peas can be more popular. Most people like the ranch and if that means eating more vegetables, we will call it a victory. Again, mainly healthy fats, though hummus is even better.
In addition to fresh fruits and vegetables, think of one of them:
- Chips and salsa – People don’t give enough credit to Salsa. They are basically all vegetables! Make yourself and you can use ripe tomatoes and easily go to salt, creating a taste of jalapenos, lime juice and fresh coral. Or make …
- Guakamol anti. So good. Did you know that if an avocado had a nutrition label would say 36% for the fiber? This is very much! So enjoy your Guacamole.
- Roasted red pepper Hummus – Hummus makes a big dip for carrots, celery or fancy crackers. Simple or with roasted red peppers, in every way it is large. Again, if you can do it yourself, even better.
- An interesting cheese This is new to you – although saturated fat in cheese is concerned about some, elements of cheese and heart health leans more in favor of cheese than against.
- Homemade chocolate With the slices of apple or pear – it looks like a nutella, but they are mostly cashew butter instead of being mainly sugar. If you like black chocolate, you will probably like it.
Heart-Healthy Sips
Lemonade, frozen tea, foam juice. I hate to say it, but these thirst summer are usually full of sugar and regular consumption of sugar beverages has been linked to heart disease risk factors much more than sugar foods.
Other options:
- Infused with water with frozen raspberries, sliced cucumber or one of those 23 creative ideas.
- Cold tea – Mint or chamomile is as refreshing when it is cold as it relaxes when it is hot.
- Flavored faint water like Buttons or Truncheon.
- Wine or beer without alcohol – If you like a cold beer or frozen Chardonnay on a hot day, but not the effects of alcohol, these are better than one would expect.
I love fresh lemonade on an inflatable day, but if you get one of these drinks from the fridge, people would probably be just as happy.
Just make your taste good
A key strategy for producing heart-lacking nutrition changes, and even during summer, vacation and holidays, is to experiment until you find foods that you really enjoy. I hope this post will give you some fresh ideas in the summer entertainment section.
And I hope you are excited to be planning a picnic now, before the summer is over. And when you do, the food is so appetizing that no one observes that it is good for them. This is the sweet way!
What are your favorite healthy foods for picnic? Join the conversation on Facebook Group. The new members are always welcome. 😊*
As always, this post is not funded! Any reference to specific products is to help you, not for financial profit.
