Passport to Texas

Angela Shelf Medearis serving a picnic lunch to her family. Photograph by Penny De Los Santos.

Pack a Picnic on Mother's Day and Head to a Park Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

This is Passport to Texas

This Mother’s Day, take mom on a picnic in a Texas state park. Cookbook author, Angela Shelf Medearis, says the key to a stress-free picnic is planning and simplicity.

You don’t have to worry about having to do everything that day. That takes all the fun out of the picnic to me if you’re trying to do all the food prep, and pack everything, and get everybody to the park. So, start your picnic a few days ahead. If I was doing a picnic, I would have something like a really good roast chicken; just cut the pieces up and pack those in there. I do a Carolina Cole Slaw; you toss it up, throw it in the refrigerator – it gets better day-by-day. So, if you want to do that ahead you could. Use a lot of fresh fruits for dessert. The thing about a picnic that I love is you can totally unplug and really focus on the people you should be paying the most attention to. You can get out in nature; we have some beautiful parks. Some beautiful places to go in Texas. And, it gives you a chance to really focus on the most important things: your family, nature, the beauty of life… So, do a little planning ahead, and pick dishes that will be fine hot or cold, and you can’t go wrong for a great picnic.

Find recipes for your picnic on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website.

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For Texas Parks and Wildlife, I’m Cecilia Nasti.