Monday, September 24, 2007

Family Night: Old Fashioned Picnic

For two months, I've been trying to plan an old-fashioned picnic at a local historic site we love. Something has come up every time to make us change our plans - most often, the weather! This past Friday was no exception and I was determined to go ahead and have our old-fashioned picnic meal whether we went anywhere or not!

I had initially planned to have this as a picnic on our porch, but we've all been sick and it's taking its toll. So, we ate at our table just like every other night, but we were together and that is the point after all!

Our dinner included a free box of frozen fried chicken and these yummy cheese muffins. I'm obviously not a true Southerner because I cannot seem to make a good batch of fried chicken and I have tried. I am willing to just pass that over to someone else and move on to other things!

The cheese muffins were a recipe I found after we went out to dinner with some friends. These were delicious!

For dessert, I wanted to make an apple pie! But, with two adults and two little ladies - honestly we cannot eat a whole pie before it needs to be finished! So, many times I have simply made something else - but it just seemed the perfect dessert, so I started thinking.

I decided to make individual fruit crisps in jelly size canning jars - they turned out great! I made half of an 8x8 pan recipe and it worked out perfect! It was hard to eat out of the jars, so we ended up dumping each serving into a bowl, but it was tasty and just the right amount with no leftovers!

15 comments:

Jenn said...

What a simple but lovely idea, the apple crisp in little jars is genius....hehehe Gotta love those jars! their usefulness never does end!

~katie~ said...

I was just looking for some yummy apple desserts - this looks delicious! :-) I love picnics too - how fun even at home!! (Maybe especially at home!) :-)

I hope you and the family are feeling better and can start the week fresh.

By the way, I was just reading some of your posts, and I'm very impressed at your neighborly visit idea - how rewarding to do something so kind and "out-of-the-ordinary" for our society today. Great job! Inspiring!

If you have any more fun apple ideas, I would love to hear about them!

Blessings!
~Katie

Anonymous said...

I hope you and your family are better soon. I love your blog it is one of my very favorites. Thanks for takin time to share your lovely fun ideas. From a fellow southerner--my husband fries the chicken :}.tammy p

Anonymous said...

Good morning, Monica -- hope you are all feeling better! Glad you went ahead and enjoyed your picnic anyway! I wouldn't be too upset about frying chicken -- I quit doing it years ago because it makes such a big mess! When we are in the mood for fried chicken, I'm happy to let KFC do it for me!
Love you lots, Mom

Christi said...

Sounds like fun! I love the idea of the individual apple crisps. So cute!

*carrie* said...

Mo,

Hope you're feeling better!

Love the individual fruit crisps--I've made them once before in ramekins and they were so cute!

Katy said...

oh wow! That looks wonderful! Great idea!!!

Angela - Life w/ Two Busy Boys said...

The jar presentation of the apple crisp does look so precious!

Anonymous said...

I am so glad you got to go on your picnic. We love picnics here and try to fit in as many as we can.

Rose of Sharon said...

I hope you and your family will get better soon. I like your "sticktoitness" to do the picnic anyway! Have you ever had a picnic on a blanket with a picnic basket inside the house? That is always fun and thrilling for little ones! I love your idea of the fruit crisp in the jars!

Blessings ~ Sharon

Anonymous said...

Creative idea for the apple dessert! Recipe???

Wendi said...

Your apple crisp looks so cute in the jars. You know I love those jars! Hope all of you are feeling well soon.

Lisa said...

Okay, so we made these cheese muffins tonight and they were VERY delicious. My husband said, "you should make these again" and my kids said, "these are the best I ever had!". Thanks for sharing this recipe. It has become a family favorite. So simple to make, yet so much taste to it. We also made some of the honey butter to put on it. Yummy.

Monica Wilkinson said...

Jen! Yes, you know how much I love canning jars! :)

Katie - All my apple ideas will be coming up this Friday with pictures of canning and links to all the apple recipes I've ever posted! So, stay tuned!

I loved all the encouragement to not worry about frying the chicken! :) Thanks!

Yes, we've had picnics on the floor! I love that too - but, with our girls ages right now, it is not so carpet-friendly! hee hee

Stacey - Yes! I'll post the recipe this afternoon!

Lisa! I'm so glad you tried the muffins and that everyone enjoyed them. Isn't that the best feeling to have such great reviews from your family?!

Amy said...

I love the individual apple crisps! Your family night looks like a blast!