Picnical

It has been the perfect Picnic Weather lately, so it's been my mission to plan a picnic with friends. I am still deciding on the when and the where, but it's definitely something I want to do soon. I love sitting on a nice blanket outside in the sun, eating yummy food. We have a croquet set, so I will probably set that up too. I know one of the things I want to make is my "A" Salad.

The other night we went to a potluck, and everyone had to bring something starting with the letter A. My friend Lauren and I went shopping for ingredients to concoct our A-themed dishes. I ended up with Apples, Arugula and Almonds as my A ingredients. Lauren had the great idea to bread some chicken strips with the almond, and it turned out soooo good. Here's the recipe if you want to give it a whirl.

Ingredients:
-Arugula/Spinach mix (the Spinach cuts through the spicy flavor of the Arugula)
-Two types of Apples (i used Granny Smith and Gala)
-Almonds
-Chicken Breast
-Lemon Juice
-Breadcrumbs
-1 Egg
-Golden Raisins
-Rosemary Lemon Dressing (if you don't have it - just mix plain yogurt with lemon juice, honey, olive oil, white pepper, rosemary and a bit of salt)

Directions:
-Put the almonds in a ziplock bag and pound it until it's tiny little granules. Mix with breadcrumbs at ratio of 1:2 (almonds being the most)
-Whisk egg with some drops of lemon juice
-Cut chicken breast into strips and then dip pieces into the egg mix
-Then cover the now egg-sticky chicken strips into your almond-breadcrumb mix
-Pan fry chicken until cooked
-Mix everything in a salad bowl and only add the apple (thinly sliced) a few minutes before serving (since the apple tends to brown)
*if you need to put in the apple straight away, dip it in lemon juice, it slows down the browning.



What food do you like to bring on picnics? Any suggestions?
And I wouldn't mind having Jessica's lovely illustration as a picnic blanket design!