Picnic appetizers can be casual or fancy depending on the crowd and the occasion. Especially for children and occasions where there are a lot of activities, finger foods are best. Even for a more formal group, napkins may be the only utensils necessary. Remember to keep the appetizers light and not too filling-you don’t want everybody to be too full to eat the real food.
The most colorful way to serve a dip for chips or vegetable dippers is to use colored bell peppers and purple and white onions for the containers. Buy two or three orange, red, or green peppers that are symmetrical and will sit up straight. Slice off the stem end and remove the seeds. Pour dip in-voila, your container is finished. For onions remove the dry outside layers. Slice off the top and bottom of the onion so that it will sit level. With a melon baller, remove the inside of the onion to within ½ inch of the side of the onion. Be careful to leave the bottom solid so that it will not leak. Pour in the dip. Reserve the inside of the onion for another use.
Chips come in a huge variety, but if you want something unique, make your own. Use a package of tortillas-you may use either corn or flour, but for this, I prefer flour. They can be left whole or cut in triangles or any shape you like. Bake in a slow oven 275 º until crisp. The taste is superior to bought ones. You may also brush them with butter and sprinkle them with any seasoning you like before baking.
Try new vegetable dippers. Raw rutabagas, turnips, or jicama, peeled and sliced are pretty and crisp for picnic appetizers. Grape tomatoes, carrot sticks, cauliflower, and broccoli are always popular. To give the table a new look, use purple or green cabbage leaves on a tray for containers. The leaves make large, sturdy cups and hold small pieces like tomatoes or cheese squares to prevent scattering on the table. Any of the summer fruit will make good dippers too. Grapes are good since all you have to do is rinse them. Peaches, apricots, mango, kiwi, bananas, and pineapple are better for this than apples which discolor after they are cut. Serve them with picks to make dipping in the cream cheese dip easy.
Roma tomatoes are perfect for stuffing with tuna or chicken salad for appetizers. Cut them in half and scoop out the seeds and pulp. A large tablespoon of the salad will fill the halves. Top with a pickle or olive for a perfect picnic appetizer. To ease the work load, buy the tuna or chicken salad in the deli.
I used to own a catering business, and we found that assembling things after you arrive at the site really makes sense. Bring the dips in the plastic containers they came in or mix them at home and return them to the jars or containers. Anything you can seal gives you assurance it will be edible when you get there. If you don’t have a sealed container, the tomatoes could even be taken to the picnic halved and seeded and the salad added when you set up your table.
Appetizer shish ka bobs are easy and pretty. Use long toothpicks to assemble pickles, tomatoes, olives, cheese squares, melon balls, apple wedges, pineapple, and anything else you like. Mix flavors and colors. Cut a pineapple in half from top to bottom. Lay the cut side down of one half on a platter and stick the point of the picks in the pineapple.
Take a trash bags with you for the cleanup. Hang them around your space for convenient use to keep the area free of trash and insects. Ants always seem to find that sticky napkin or slice of fruit. Picnic appetizers may be the easiest part of the day to make. Make yours wonderful!
