It’s picnic season again!  Have you checked out my picnic ideas and recipes?

Just to be clear, I’m not talking about spreading a checkered blanket on the ground and spending the afternoon searching for cloud pictures in the sky.

I’m talking about portable meals that we can eat while watching my boys play baseball.

These chicken and bacon subs are SO easy.

They are based upon a recipe from the eMeals plan I’ve been using for a while now, but I changed them up a little.

Ingredients:

2 to 3 chicken breasts

Package of six deli rolls

One package of “real” bacon bits

Shredded Mozzarella Cheese

Optional:

Sliced Avocado

Ranch Dressing

Instructions:

The original recipe from eMeals says to cook salt-and-peppered chicken strips in a skillet. I did that the first time I made these, but this time I used pre-cooked chicken breasts that I had baked and frozen in bulk from my recent Zaycon order.

Using the pre-cooked chicken made this an assembly-only recipe.

Separate the deli rolls, and lay them on a cookie sheet.

Cover the bottom halves with a single layer of sliced, cooked chicken.

Spread the bacon bits on top of the chicken.

Cover with shredded mozzarella.

Put in a pre-heated 400-degree oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Optional:

Add sliced avocado and/or spread ranch dressing on the top bun.

Wrap in foil and head out the door!

These did great wrapped in foil, and my older son’s sandwich was still warm when he ate it during the second game after 8 p.m.  (I made them at 5:15.

I put together individual bags of chips, and it was a great and filling supper.

Now to decide what to make for this week’s suppertime game.  I’m thinking either pizza snowballs or tacos in a bag.

What’s your favorite picnic meal?

This recipe came from the (affiliate link coming up now) Aldi Classic Family Meal Plan that I’ve been using from eMeals since January. E-meals provided me with a subscription, and I have been really surprised at how much I’ve enjoyed using it.

I intended to post this recipe during the 31 Days of Lame Excuses series.  I was going to title it, “But Veggies Don’t Fill Me Up . . . ”

But I didn’t post it.  I could come up with an excuse for why I didn’t . . . .

Anyway, this is a recipe that I created while we were on our two-weeks-of-veggies-only diet a few months ago.

It’s good.  And it’s filling. 

Here’s what I found: Veggies don’t fill me up when I’m totally addicted to sugar. 

When I’ve eliminated sugar, somehow fruits and vegetables are ever-so-much-more satisfying.

It’s not as fun to say that now as it was when I was rocking the veggies thing.

Y’know, since I’ve been sneaking Halloween candy for the past five days.

But the principle is still true.

And really, this was the most filling recipe we tried.

Ingredients:

2 Cans Black beans

Garlic (to taste)

Onions (to taste)

Cumin (to taste)

Large lettuce leaves (whatever kind you like)

Fresh Guacamole

Instructions:

Put onions and garlic in a skillet with a little olive oil over medium heat.

Drain and rinse the black beans, and then mash them with a potato masher right in the skillet.

Season with salt and cumin.  If the beans are too dry, add water, salsa or chicken stock.

When the beans taste right to you and are warmed through, serve them by wrapping in a lettuce leaf with fresh guacamole.  I like to roll mine tightly, so they’re pretty-looking . . . but Hubby doesn’t worry about that.

Yum.  Seriously.  And not just yum-because-you-can’t-eat-anything-else-on-this-diet. Even my 9yo loved these and has requested them again.

Our menu plan for this week:

Monday – Crockpot chicken teriyaki with broccoli

Tuesday – Jambalaya

Wednesday - Faux Alfredo

Thursday -Chicken fried rice

Friday – Out to eat!

Saturday – Homemade pizzas

I’ll be linking this up over at Menu Plan Monday!