September 6 Picnic by the River

We had another lovely evening for our picnic by the river on Wednesday on the way to church. All day the weather had seemed to threaten rain, but by evening things were clearing and quite pleasant.

This week’s menu was Caesar Chicken Wrap sandwiches and Broccoli Salad. The plan had been to have an Artichoke Bean Salad (made with kidney beans) but I had some broccoli that needed to be used, so we went that route. The only problem that created was that everything on our plates was basically green, since I had used spinach wraps for our sandwiches. But it all tasted yummy anyway, and it was relaxing to just sit by the river and enjoy a few tranquil moments as we enjoyed our supper.

I’ve shared the broccoli salad recipe in a previous post, so will just share the wrap recipe here. It came from a QUICK COOKING magazine, but I made a couple of changes to suit our tastes and to use what I had on hand. (I often change recipes, even the first time I prepare them, so it’s best if I write the changes down somewhere before I forget what I did. If you’d like to try the original recipe, I suggest you check out TASTE OF HOME’s online Recipe Finder.)

CAESAR CHICKEN WRAPS

1/2 cup Caesar salad dressing (I used the fat-free variety, from Kraft)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 pkg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened (I use the lower-fat Neufchatel)
3 cups shredded romaine (I just shredded up a medium head of romaine; didn’t measure it)
1/2 cup salad olives, drained*
1 3/4 cubed cooked chicken
5 spinach sandwich wraps
Additional Parmesan if desired

In a measuring cup combine the first 4 ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add half of the salad dressing mixture and mix well; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the romaine, olives and chicken. Add the remaining salad dressing mixture and toss to coat. Spread about 1/5 of the cream cheese mixture on each wrap. Top with about 1/5 of the romaine mixture. Sprinkle with more Parmesan if desired. Roll up; cut in half to serve. Yield: 5 servings.

* The recipe called for 1/2 cup diced red pepper and a small can of sliced ripe olives, drained. I had neither on hand, but I did have salad olives in the fridge and they worked admirably. I think these would be good either way.

To picnic on these wraps, I wrapped each sandwich tightly in plastic wrap and took along a small cutting board and a sharp knife. They were really delicious and I will be making them again. We had enough left over for lunch the next day, too!