Kid-friendly picnic foods (almost) any kid will love

Since I discovered I was just two degrees separated from Paula Deen, I thought I’d channel her this weekend when I was preparing our picnic lunch. Well, sort of. We had packed all sorts of sports equipment – balls, mitts, Frisbee – and a blanket to sit on. I wanted the food to be just as thought out but without having to really think it out. Make sense? And, I especially didn’t want us just driving through McDonald’s when we had perfectly good, and much more healthy, food we could take to the park with us.

The secret would be making it kid-friendly enough that Truman would actually eat it. I also decided we’d just do finger foods since it was pretty windy out and I didn’t want to chase paper plates.

So for my kid-friendly lunch, the first thing I did is buy a bunch of fruit. Truman loves fruit when he’s in the mood for it. He also begged and screamed at the grocery store for a pineapple – the whole pineapple – and I finally gave in thinking it would be great for our picnic. There’s nothing better than freshly cut pineapple. So to keep his interest, I strung strawberries and pineapple on skewers. He loved it. I think he ate three of those. The grapes – both red and green by request – were kept on the vine since Truman prefers to eat them like a giraffe eats leaves from tall trees.

Then we took an assortment of leftover cheese from the refrigerator. I had bought a variety of godknowswhat varieties a couple weeks ago for a four-cheese baked pasta recipe from Frank Stitt’s new cookbook, Bottega Favorita. Since those hunks were sort of misshapen from previous grating, we joked around about our cheese squares, rectangles, parallelograms and trapezoids. Yeah, move over boring cheese cubes. But even with their fancy shapes, Truman barely touched those.

We also filled a few tiny Dixie cups with orange-pineapple juice and froze them. Since they were so small, they froze in no time. To eat them you just rip the side of the cup. Classy, but Truman loved it.

And then there’s the entrée, which was a gamble whether Truman would actually eat it – and eat it he did! I made my neighbor Pam’s fabulous Chicken Cheeseball and paired it with a variety of crackers. (Truman says Wheat Thins give him a headache, um…, but the Triscuits and melba toasts were big hits.) I also packed a couple of those tiny cheese knives to spread it. I’m not sure how I ended up with so many of them. Anyway, Pam’s Chicken Cheeseball really is fabulous and so easy to make. Many of the other neighbors have started stealing the recipe and when I had it at Bunco Thursday night at Vicki’s house I knew it just might rock Truman’s world. After all, what kid does not like ranch dressing? So, here’s Pam’s Chicken Cheeseball recipe. If your child isn’t too picky with his food, he just might devour this like Truman did. If not, then consider it more for you to eat!

PAM’S CHICKEN CHEESEBALL
1 cup or so of cooked, shredded chicken breast. (Pam and I both boil one bone-in breast and shred that. Just one will do the trick. She says you can also use canned chicken – and lord knows that canned meat lasts forever, but ew.)
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 package Ranch dressing mix
Pecan pieces

Mix together all ingredients except pecans. Form into a ball. (Go ahead and use your hands.) Roll over pecan pieces until covered. Chill if you want. Serve with your favorite crackers.