Friday in the Garden
It's late for us, but it's concert time. We are the ultimate concert whores and would go to one every night if we could afford to.
Tuesday we saw Paul McCartney, wonderful. I grew up on the Beatles, it brought back so many memories such as February 9, 1964 the Ed Sullivan show, my Mom, hands on hips, sternly saying, "No Mary you cannot watch those long haired hippies on television. Your sisters are older, but I'm going to make sure they don't see anything they shouldn't." Later after I'm supposed to be in my bed, my sister's are glued to the grainy black and white image, and Mom's complaining about the noise.
I'm on my tummy in the hall peeking around the door frame to catch a glimpse. Oh my gosh... Paul... my heart drummed against the sage green carpet and good thing I wasn't standing because my legs wouldn't have held me up. I was in love!
The concert was in the REAL Soccer stadium so no outside food or drink were allowed inside. And yes we were in the nosebleed section, but it was still awesome.
Since we were going to another concert on Wednesday where we could take food, I planned for two meals when I made dinner before we left for the stadium on Tuesday.
On Wednesday we saw Lyle Lovett and his large band. They were great!
I thought I'd tell you what I did with my two meal plan. It's something I like to do for a picnic when the outdoor venue allows you to take your own food and beverage. This is how Red Butte Gardens concerts are. (If you look up at the template on my blog in front of that waterfall is a bridge and down the path and on the other side is this concert venue.)
In this economy I'm always cutting corners, what I wanted for our concert picnic was Chicken Wraps but I didn't need as much chicken as I usually use for a dinner. Tuesday I thawed two large boneless chicken breasts. One I cut into 1/2 inch pieces and the other I left whole. The large one I put in the pan first. I used a little olive oil, coarse ground pepper and 3 chopped cloves of Garlic (you can never have too much garlic) and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. When it was about half done, I put in the chicken pieces. When the large piece was done, I removed and saved in the fridge for the next day.
I let the small pieces continue to simmer, I added some crushed chili pepper and some more olive oil. I served over angel haired pasta. I had some Garlic cheese toast, the kind you take straight from the freezer and bake, to serve on the side. Then it was off to see Paul.
Wednesday afternoon it was time to prepare our picnic:
I sliced the following:
Chicken Breast from the day before
Cucumber
Lettuce
Onion
I poured 1 tbsp of South West Ranch dressing (it's good with any type of dressing) onto a flour tortilla, added some cold sliced chicken. Then layered the cucumber, tomatoes and lettuce. Sprinkle julienne carrots over the top and added another tbsp of dressing. Rolled the wrap up in Saran wrap and placed in something to protect it from the melting ice.
We took chips and red grapes to have on the side. We also had Voigneir wine that I had bought because Caroline had suggested it the other day, it complimented the chicken wraps to perfection. We added some cheese and crackers to the cooler--last minute thought!
And there you have your perfect picnic for an outdoor concert.
I'm on my tummy in the hall peeking around the door frame to catch a glimpse. Oh my gosh... Paul... my heart drummed against the sage green carpet and good thing I wasn't standing because my legs wouldn't have held me up. I was in love!
The concert was in the REAL Soccer stadium so no outside food or drink were allowed inside. And yes we were in the nosebleed section, but it was still awesome.
Since we were going to another concert on Wednesday where we could take food, I planned for two meals when I made dinner before we left for the stadium on Tuesday.
I thought I'd tell you what I did with my two meal plan. It's something I like to do for a picnic when the outdoor venue allows you to take your own food and beverage. This is how Red Butte Gardens concerts are. (If you look up at the template on my blog in front of that waterfall is a bridge and down the path and on the other side is this concert venue.)
In this economy I'm always cutting corners, what I wanted for our concert picnic was Chicken Wraps but I didn't need as much chicken as I usually use for a dinner. Tuesday I thawed two large boneless chicken breasts. One I cut into 1/2 inch pieces and the other I left whole. The large one I put in the pan first. I used a little olive oil, coarse ground pepper and 3 chopped cloves of Garlic (you can never have too much garlic) and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. When it was about half done, I put in the chicken pieces. When the large piece was done, I removed and saved in the fridge for the next day.
I let the small pieces continue to simmer, I added some crushed chili pepper and some more olive oil. I served over angel haired pasta. I had some Garlic cheese toast, the kind you take straight from the freezer and bake, to serve on the side. Then it was off to see Paul.
Wednesday afternoon it was time to prepare our picnic:
I sliced the following:
Chicken Breast from the day before
Cucumber
Lettuce
Onion
I poured 1 tbsp of South West Ranch dressing (it's good with any type of dressing) onto a flour tortilla, added some cold sliced chicken. Then layered the cucumber, tomatoes and lettuce. Sprinkle julienne carrots over the top and added another tbsp of dressing. Rolled the wrap up in Saran wrap and placed in something to protect it from the melting ice.
We took chips and red grapes to have on the side. We also had Voigneir wine that I had bought because Caroline had suggested it the other day, it complimented the chicken wraps to perfection. We added some cheese and crackers to the cooler--last minute thought!
And there you have your perfect picnic for an outdoor concert.
Comments
Salmon would call for a bold wine