Beach Cooking

Some kind of cold pasta salad would work well. I love greek pasta salad. Its just noodles, black olives, feta cheese, tomatoes and spanish or green olives. Then you mix in your favorite Greek salad dressing.

I have a really good recipe for a cold spaghetti salad, it always goes over really well when i make it for potlucks and what not. You can also make like a veggie pizza the night before and it will def hold well in a cooler…

here are my recipes for both:
Spag salad…boil desired amount of noodles place in large bowl, use Kraft Zesty Italian Dressing, rougly 1-2 cups for every pound of noodles, dice some green peppers, tomatoes, and black olives, (other veggies if wanted) finally, salad supreme seasoning, about 1/8 to 1/4 cup for every pound of noodles. Mix all up, and chill.

Veggie Pizza:
get some of those pre-made crescent roll things, and roll them flat onto a cookie tray, and bake. Once baked, let it cool, and spread some softened cream cheese over it. Take brocolli and olilves, (any desired veggies and lay on top on the cream cheese. Once all put together, cut into squares and sprinkle lightly with papreka for oregano, or your favorite spice. But lightly is the key, too much spice will ruin it. If you unsure how much spice to use, then just don’t use any. Wrap it up, and chill it, thats it!

Very easy recipes, completely vegetarian, and very portable.

Pasta salad, rice salad, lentil salad — anything that can be made ahead of time. Keep the dressing in a bottle with a secure lid in the cooler as well, and pour it on and toss well just before serving. Or serve this one, which is supposed to marinate in the dressing overnight:

Rice and Lentil Salad with Pimento-Stuffed Olives

1 cup dried lentils
4 cups water, plus 2 1/2 cups
1 small onion, quartered
2 bay leaves
1 cup rice
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon canola oil
salt
pepper
1 cup pimento-stuffed olives
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 peeled shallots (or 1/2 small onion), minced

Bring the 4 cups of water to a boil, add the quartered onion, the bay leaves, and the lentils. Bring back to a boil, then lower to a gentle simmer and cook until the lentils are tender, about 25 minutes. Drain and remove onion and bay leaves.

Cook the rice in the 2 1/2 cups of water with the garlic, the canola oil, and a little salt and pepper.

Whisk together the olive oil, vinegar, mustard, thyme, shallots, and salt and pepper to taste. Cool the lentils and rice, then pour combine and add the dressing. Toss gently, but thoroughly. Refrigerate for several hours or overnight and bring to room temperature before serving.

Everyone loves the recipe, it doubles or triples easily, and it’s such a good make-ahead-of-time. Enjoy your camping picnic!