The Perfect Summer Picnic *

You all know by now that I don’t mess around when it comes to my food, and I think I’ve found a lovely lady that gives me a run for my money with that! Katy can put on one hell of a spread and feed 10 hungry bloggers without breaking a sweat! She teamed up with Newman’s Own to make us some of the best salads I’ve ever eaten. I headed over to Erica’s garden where I was joined by Charley, Vicky, Jasmin, Viki, Natasha, Laura, Milly, and Claire! a total babe fest right?

The rainy afternoon, yes it totally tipped it down, began with prosecco, flamingo straws and a hell of a lot of photo taking. The whole set up was pretty much made for Instagram so what more did you expect from a bunch of bloggers, aye?!

And when I say prosecco I mean a large bucket load of it, that we soon got through and had to make a shop stop to stock up on some more!

Our first course was something I never thought I’d really enjoy, bruschetta! I’m not a big tomato fan but mixed with the Balsamic Glaze from Newman’s Own it was the perfect summery sharing dish and I shall be recreating at home for sure. And the sun had decided to grace us with its presence by this point too!

Our main course were four different salads all created by Katy and garnished with Newman’s Own dressings. They gave me so much inspiration for lunches to help my weight loss; this picnic came at just the right time!

We all piled our plates up high, even having seconds as they were all so bloody tasty. Girl did good. Each salad was totally different to the last.

First up was the Italian roast vegetable and new potato salad in the Neman’s Own Italian Dressing. I think I will be making this in the winter with some chicken breasts as it would make such a great side dish!

Second up was the Watermelon, Feta, and Rocket Salad with Balsamic Dressing. I have to admit that when I was told there was going to be a salad served with watermelon I was pretty damn sceptical, but I was mega wrong. It was so good; the crunch from the watermelon really complimented the salad.

My favourite was the spinach, pea and bacon pasta salad coated with Newman’s Own Ranch dressing. Since this lovely afternoon, I’ve taken to making my own version of this with lettuce, cucumber, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, mozzarella, chicken with pasta and Ranch dressing for my lunch box.

And last up was the green lettuce, avocado, peach, crunchy breaded parmesan chicken mixed together with Caesar dressing. The breaded chicken was amazing and I will 100% be making this myself as it’s a great lunch time filler.

We finished the afternoon with some darn good brownies, more laughter, a few photoshoots and maybe a little more prosecco. It was such a lovely way to spend a Saturday afternoon, and as I always say ‘Internet friends are the best kind of friends!’