CABANA BOY COOKS: It's Picnic Season Again.

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

It's Picnic Season Again.

Hard Day's Work!

As you can see in the photo, I'm working my assistant to hard. Actually, I'd really like to have joined her for the nap. Even Daniel Tiger is napping with her. I guess she is just worn out. I'd still love to have half her energy.

We're into summer and that means it's "Picnic Time." There are all kinds of events going on throughout the summer which call for picnic fare. Everyone has their favorite side dish to bring to a potluck picnic. If you don't, you need to get one.

Make sure it is a dish that you enjoy making and eating to begin with or it will never become your signature dish. Your dish can be a basic staple for picnics or something a little different. It seems everyone has a potato salad, pasta salad, cole slaw or fruit salad that are quite tasty but are traditional dishes.

There is nothing wrong with traditional side dishes for picnics. But maybe you want to jazz them up a little. You could change out an ingredient or two. Maybe you can find blue potatoes for that potato salad, use Napa cabbage instead of the regular green cabbage for a cole slaw or a unique pasta in a your pasta salad. Your only limited by your imagination and ingredients available.

Don't forget about fresh corn during the summer too. All kinds of possibilities there for you with corn salads. Grilling the corn gives you a different result then if you boil or microwave it as well.

This week's recipes are a little different take on your usual potato and pasta salads. Wednesday's recipe is for "Sweet Potato Salad" and is just enough different to still be a big hit at your picnic. The "Orzo Salad with Carrot Dressing" on Thursday is another tasty recipe to try.

It's all about using your favorite ingredients in some fashion for a dish that will have many people asking for that secret recipe of yours. If you are worried about making an original recipe, don't. Just take a recipe you like or fits your need and personalize it with some different flavors and foods.

Have fun experimenting as that's half the experience in developing a recipe. Until next week, "Happy Cooking" and give this week's recipes a try.

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About the Blog

Cabana Boy Cooks is a food blog that gives a little insight and help on Tuesdays. That is followed by recipes on Wednesdays and Thursdays each week. This blog is for all who enjoy cooking but is geared towards new & inexperienced cooks.

This food blog came about because I wrote a cookbook for new and inexperienced individuals wishing to learn their way around the kitchen. It is an extension of that cookbook and offers more than 600 recipes here. The cookbook has an additional 125 recipes plus helpful instruction and advise..

I try to offer recipes that cover all aspects of cooking. You'll see on the tabs above that the recipes are broke into categories. Gluten-Free and Vegetarian recipes are marked behind them with a (GF) or (V) sign. Many of the other recipes can be adopted to meet gluten-free or vegetarian by making minor changes.

Please, don't hesitate to contact me through the comments section of the blog with questions or concerns.

Remember to share my link with family, friends and co-workers.

Thank you for following my food blog and "Happy Cooking."

My Cookbook

More Than Your First Cookbook

Every year, thousands of young people graduate high school or college and find themselves on their own for the first time. Amid all the excitement and freedom that comes with this fresh start, many of these newly independent people will find themselves out of their comfort zone when it comes to one critically important area--food.

This cookbook helps those people establish a new comfort zone in the "Kitchen" and learn to enjoy being creative in their culinary pursuit.

The cookbook draws on all the years of my life to collect the recipes, tips, anecdotes and life advice that will help everyone. From safety and sanitation to menu planning and budgeting, I walk new cooks through all the basics of food preparation. A great gift for children or grandchildren just beginning to cook for themselves and a useful reference for more experienced cooks, this cookbook offers readers 125 mouthwatering recipes to match all tastes and abilities. I believe that cooking should be fun and personal, so all the recipes leave room for experimentation. There are even tips on how to make a few of the dishes fit into a vegetarian diet.

Breakfast, soups, salads, sandwiches, entrees, sides and desserts are all covered, along with a few odds and ends. Whether you're looking for the right way to set the table for a formal dinner, you want to take your grilling to the next level or you just want to figure out how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon, The cookbook will help you find the answer.

GLUTEN-FREE Recipes and Information

A few years ago, my granddaughter discovered she has Celiac and needs to be Gluten-Free. I started doing a special week of Gluten-Free information and recipes on this blog then and they appear every four (4) weeks. So if you happen to be on a Gluten-Free diet or know someone that could this help, please check it out.

There is a recipe tab above that holds all the GF recipes (in alphabetical order). It also holds the information posts in the order they have been posted.

All Gluten-Free recipes have this (GF) mark behind the titles. There are many other recipes on this blog that are or can be easily adapted to be Gluten-Free. So you may want to check other recipes too.

I also try and mark VEGETARIAN recipes with a (V) behind the titles as well. I hope these features help many of you that want or need these options for your lifestyle.

About the Blog's Author

I spend over 40 years in the food industry doing everything from pot scrubber/dishwasher to managing around 250 employees. In 2009 I retired from my career to start a new adventure. That adventure was to write and publish a cookbook for new and inexperienced cooks. Many of my years in the industry involved working in "Higher Education." I saw a need for such a cookbook as I watched college students move on to a life on their own. So it has become a mission of mine to help anyone that wants to improve their cooking skills and learn to enjoy being in the kitchen.

In April of 2011 I started my food blog "Cabana Boy Cooks" as a continuation of the cookbook. The blog covers many areas and topics. It also offers at least two (2) recipes a week not found in the cookbook. There is now over 200 recipes for you on this food blog.

Once a month, I write a food column under "Cabana Boy Cooks" in the weekly newspaper, Nodaway News Leader in Maryville, MO that includes a recipe. Some of the recipes are from this food blog and others come from my cookbook "More Than Your First Cookbook"