Looking for an easy picnic snack?

Use ordinary ingredients
but liven up with quick additions

The recipes below begin with ordinary ingredients and then you can liven them up with fresh herbs, toasted nuts and other quick additions.

Then you’ll always be ready for the words “let’s have a picnic”.

This tangy combination of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavours makes a great picnic snack, served with toasted pitta breads, or mini bagels and some juicy olives:

- 410 gram (235 drained weight) can of cannelloni beans
- 110 grams of Feta cheese
- 150 gram tub of Greek yoghurt (I like the 2% fat one from Total)
- a tablespoon or two of lemon juice
- a handful of dill (or other fresh herb of your choice)

Add all the ingredients, except the herbs, and puree in a food processor until smooth. (Add the herbs if you like but they will colour the dip instead of flecking it with colour). Then chop the herbs finely by hand and add, to taste, with a seasoning of salt and pepper.

Store in the fridge (keeps for up to a week) or keep in a cool box until you reach your picnic site.

Check out healthy dips for more easy picnic snack ideas like this one.

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Crunchy Veggie Wraps can have meat added to them if you wish. It makes the wraps more filling:

- 8 soft flour tortillas of any variety
- a bunch of coriander
- a small packet of fresh bean sprouts
- a couple of carrots cut into julienne strips
- half a cucumber cut into strips
- an avocado, pitted, peeled and sliced
- half an ice-berg or small romaine lettuce
- optional – Chinese barbecued pork or cooked chicken

Mix ingredients together – except the wraps! Lay each wrap on a flat surface and place 3 – 4 tablespoons of filling in the centre. Fold over the ends and wrap the tortilla tightly around the filling. Wrap in cling film.

Serve with a dipping sauce:

- 4 tablespoons of hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoons of cold water

Check out It's a Wrap! for more ideas like this one.

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A variation of coronation chicken salad is refreshing and satisfying with its light curry flavour.

For a quick and easy picnic snack, divide this layered salad into 4 individual plastic tubs. They then become complete meals, with the lettuce staying crisp on the top. The creamy dressing sits in the bottom of the tub, to be mixed in just before eating.

- 2 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts, cooked and sliced
- 2 stalks of celery, sliced thinly
- 2 tablespoons of roasted cashew nuts - 2 tablespoons of sultanas or golden raisins
- 1 apple (Granny Smith or similar), cored and diced
- 2 carrots, sliced thinly
- half an iceberg lettuce, chopped small

the dressing:

- 250 ml of salad cream or mayonnaise
- 75 ml of cold water
- half a teaspoon of Worcester sauce
- half – one teaspoon of curry powder or paste to taste
- salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the dressing ingredients together and divide between the 4 containers. Then layer the other ingredients on top of the dressing, in the order listed. Leave a little room at the top so that you can toss or at least mix the salad when you are ready to eat.

Refrigerate for up to 24 hours and keep cool until you are ready to eat this picnic snack. Remember to take a fork and napkin.

Have fun making and eating your own layered salads, using cooked pasta, tinned tuna, salad onions, tomatoes, peppers etc.

Check out other salad recipes for picnics too.

Add some liquid refreshment, load up the cool box with your picnic snack and off you go!

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