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Easy and Healthy Summer Picnic Recipes with Katie Kimball

Posted at 11:38 AM, Jul 01, 2016
and last updated 2016-07-01 11:37:26-04

Your vacation is so close you can almost taste it! Maybe you're planning on spending a lot of time outside or going camping, but do you know what you're going to eat?

With the hassle of planning a camping trip, it's easy to forget about what you're going to feed the kids. You don't want to put too much work into planning meals, but you don't want to resort to eating processed hot dogs and junk food all weekend.

Kitchen Stewardship founder, blogger, and mother Katie Kimball has some great picnic and camping foods that aren't only easy to make and delicious, but healthy for you and the kids!

Katie and the kids came to the studio and showed us how to make homemade potato salad, power bars, and foil packet dinners that you can grill over campfires.

Kitchen Stewardship Power Bars

Cinnamix (Cinnamon Trail Mix)

  1. Grind: 1/3 c. almonds, ¼ c. cashews (also great with pecans or walnuts instead of cashews)
  2. Add: ½ c. pitted dates, ¼ c. raisins
  3. Stream in: 1+ tsp. ground cinnamon

Coco-shew (Date free)

  1. Grind: 1/3 c. cashews
  2. Add: ½ c. raisins, ¼ c. unsweetened coconut
  3. Stream in: ½ tsp. vanilla extract

Sunny Vacation (Nut free)

  1. Grind: ¼ c. sunflower seeds
  2. Add: ½ c. dates, ¼ c. dried apricots
  3. Add: ¼ c. coconut
  4. Stream in: ½ tsp. vanilla + 1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
  5. Add: ½-1 tsp. coconut oil until it holds together

After you've added all the ingredients for your power bars, scrape the mixture into any type of square container and press it firmly into the pan. Store it in the refrigerator until they've hardened, then cut them into bar shapes.

There are a dozen more power bar recipes in her eBook, "Healthy Snacks to Go."

Farmer's Market Foil Packet Dinners

Lay out a large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil for each person (about one foot wide). Fold up the sides a little to keep everything in. Put a little olive oil or butter on the bottom.

Cut your choice of meat and vegetables into one inch chunks and place it into the foil. Add fresh crushed garlic, salt, pepper, and butter on top.

Make a rectangle with the food and bring the two shorter ends of the foil up and around toward the center, then bring the long ends up vertically like you’re making a lunch bag.

Using two hands, touch the foil together in the middle and roll or fold down tightly to seal the package around the food. If you're headed to the campground, put them in plastic bags and pack them in the cooler until they're ready to be cooked.

Cook at the edge of the coals or on a low grate over the campfire until done, usually about 30 minutes, rotating regularly. Can also be made on a grill. Check potatoes with a fork; when they are soft, it’s done.

For more camp-friendly meals, check out Katie's real food plan for camping and her cookbook "The Family Camping Cookbook: Real Food in the Big Woods."

Kids Cook Real Food E-Course

Kitchen Stewardship has opened up a special Kids Cook Real Food E-Course exclusively for Fox 17 Morning Mix viewers!

This online course will teach your kids basic cooking skills with a variety of learning tools like videos, eBooks, and more!

The registration deadline is July 2, so sign up and help teach your kids to cook healthy and delicious meals.

These recipes are owned by Kitchen Stewardship. For more recipes head to http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/.