Caroline Job is back with a post to keep your princes and princesses smiling all the way to the start of school, have fun and make some cloudy lemonade too.
This year has been a cracker of a year for Great Britain and for celebrating in style! With the Diamond Jubilee we’ve learned more about the Heritage and reign of Queen Elizabeth II and not forgetting the Queen’s favourite sandwiches!
With the London 2012 Olympics just closed this weekend, we’ve learned how truly great Britain has become. I don’t know about you, but we’re feeling pretty patriotic! So whilst the bunting is still up and whilst the summer is lingering on, why not make the most of it, and pack a picnic fit for our little princes and princesses. Even if the picnic’s held in the back garden, or inside if the weather breaks, it can still be a grand affair.
Queen’s favourite sandwiches
Now the picnic would not be grand without including some of the Queen’s favourite sandwiches, and these include:
Jam pennies – jam sandwiches cut with a cutter the size of an old penny, so no crusts, and use your best strawberry jam (or the kid’s favourite jam)
Cucumber sandwiches – absolutely no peel on the cucumber, finely sliced with cream cheese garnished with mint. Remember make sure the sandwiches stay dainty – it’s key. No crusts, no peel on the cucumber and no seeds in the cucumber. Think perfection and think afternoon tea.
Grated cheddar cheese with your finest pickle. Again no crusts on the bread, use your extra fine grater
Salmon and buttered dill
Ham and mustard (or leave out the mustard and just stick to the ham). We sometimes cut these up into tiny squares, like dice size
Remember dainty is the key. You could even pop a little cream cheese on to cheesy biscuits with a tiny bit of tomato to add a bit of colour. For the sweet treats, if you’re not a cook, keep your eyes out in the supermarkets for dainty little biscuits, we love the little iced gems, or miniature cupcakes. There are lots of mini biscuits out there. Or bake up your own.
We’d avoid chocolate on a hot day as it melts so quickly, unless you stagger your little tea party picnic and bring out the biscuits last! And then finish with little bowls of jelly or just little bowls of colourful fruit salad. Ours love the red strawberries quartered with raspberries and blueberries, all mixed up with a squirt of cream and a dainty meringue for afters.
If your little princes and princesses are really little, then why not get out the plastic tea set. We wouldn’t want any breakages. But for the older princes and princesses, that can be careful with the real cups and saucers, use the real crockery.
As a special treat this summer we made our own homemade cloudy lemonade. It is delicious and is really simple to make. You need ice, lemons, sugar and water. And of course the bottle or jug you will serve the lemonade in.
My 11 year old likes to be in charge of making the cloudy lemonade and it’s become a bit of a tradition each summer holidays. Obviously I supervise just to make sure he’s measuring out the quantities right.
Cloudy Lemonade
To make 1 litre you will need:
4 lemons, cut into 8 wedges each
175g sugar
1 litre cold water
Handful of ice cubes
Method:
Blitz the lemon wedges in the food processor with half the sugar, the ice cubes and 500ml of the water. Strain the juice into a jug and set aside.
Tip the lemon pulp back into food processor. Add the rest of the sugar, ice cubes and remaining 500ml water. Blitz again.
Strain this into the jug with the reserved juice. Discard the pulp. Serve with lots of ice and dainty straws.
As an alternative, use oranges instead of the lemons or add lime juice for extra zing!
We’re half way through the summer holidays, with still a few more weeks to go, before our thoughts all turn back to school and the start of the Autumn term. So choose a dry day and have that picnic!
So tell us what you’d put in that picnic to make it perfect for your princes and princesses!
The Lunch Box Lady x
Caroline Job, aka the Lunch Box Lady, set up Lunchbox World back in 2009 following an online searrch for a washable lunch bag for her own kids school packed lunches. Lunchbox World with its one aim to help you put the FUN back into packed lunches http://www.lunchboxworld.co.uk/shop, has become a one stop shop for anything lunch box related, covering tips, hints, recipe ideas for packed lunches, picnics or just lunch for work, school or days out. There’s two blogs with lots of lunch box ideas too – The Lunchbox World Blog http://www.lunchboxworldblog.blogspot.com and 365 Lunch Box Challenge - http://lunchboxworld.wordpress.com, where every post is a new lunch idea. You can follow her @lunchboxworld on twitter or why not like her facebook page and keep up to date with all the latest. You can share your lunch on http://www.pinterest.com/lunchboxworld/ and this summer starts the new My Lunch Box Linky, so do join in the fun!
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Thanks for the cool and tasty sandwich recipe, Caroline! I think you’d be interested in the Japanese technique of Furoshiki, a way to fold blankets to use as bags. We’ve done them with our linen beach towels at Deck Towel. Check out decktowel.com to see how it’s done!