Low-Fat Picnic Food Ideas

Low-Fat Picnic Food Ideas

When you hear the word picnic, your mind probably conjures up visions of thick steaks, juicy hamburgers, and roasted hotdogs on a smoky grill, with plenty of side items to go with them. While this image looks and sounds absolutely delicious, it also sounds absolutely fattening. The truth is, a lot of people do not eat very healthy while on a picnic. If you are concerned about eating healthy, even on a picnic, then this article is for you. These low-fat picnic food ideas will show you that you can have a picnic and eat right at the same time.

Low-Fat Picnic Food Ideas: Grilled Lime Chicken

Chicken in and of itself is a lean meat, which means it does not have a lot of fat in it (especially when compared to beef). Grilling chicken helps with this even further because it burns away any excess fat and doesn’t involve fattening oils or other additions. This recipe for grilled lime chicken will give you a low-fat alternative for your picnic.

- Chicken breast
- 1 1/4 cup of lime juice
- A dash of salt
- Cracked black pepper
- Cilantro, minced
- 2 teaspoons of paprika

Take the lime juice, salt, paprika, and cracked black pepper and mix in a bowl. Remove approximately 1/3 of the liquid and set aside. Then, add 2/3 of the minced cilantro to the mix. Add the remaining 1/3 of cilantro to the 1/3 of liquid that you set aside. Let your chicken breasts marinate in this sauce in the refrigerator for at least three hours. Then, grill them as usual, making sure that the meat is tender, juicy, and pure white on the inside (no pink). Brush the mixture that you set aside on the chicken as you turn it over. This will keep your chicken from drying out on the inside. This dish has 3 grams of fat per your average-sized chicken breast.

Low-Fat Picnic Food Ideas:Strawberry Sorbet
If you want to cool off after some hot grilled chicken, then make yourself some strawberry sorbet. You will need:

- 2/3 cup of white sugar
- 2/3 cup of water
- 5-6 cups of fresh strawberries
- 1 3/4 tablespoons of lemon juice (or lime for a sweeter taste)

In a saucepan, dissolve the sugar into the water on low heat. Bring this mixture to a rolling boil. Then, remove and let cool. It will take 30-45 minutes. When it has cooled, set the container in the refrigerator. Then, hull your strawberries (take the stems off) and blend them. Take this strawberry mix and pour it through a sieve into a bowl. Then, add the lemon juice. Mix these two together, then let it chill for about an hour. Mix the strawberry mix and the water/sugar syrup together, pour into a baking pan, cover with plastic wrap and freeze for around 3-3 ½ hours. Remove; take off the plastic wrap, run the mix through a blender (to make a puree), then freeze again for another 3 hours. There are only 0.6 grams of fat in this dish.