It’s the time of year when everyone’s watching for days warm enough for outdoor dining. If you have your picnic gear—blanket, utensils, glasses—pre-assembled, you can quickly take advantage of an unexpectedly warm evening or bright sunny weekend without undue fuss.

Now, if you don’t feel like cooking at all, you can make a meal of artisanal crackers, local cheeses, fruit pastes or chutneys, a crisp apple, some olives and marcona almonds plus great bread and wine. Remember to pack a small cutting board and a good knife.

Or just throw together an uncomplicated menu, such as a yummy salad, cold roasted chicken (super-easy if you get one from the deli!) plus the requisite bread and wine. Tuck in fresh fruit and/or a few sea salt-topped caramels for dessert, and you’re ready to go. And don’t forget to slip in plenty of ice packs!

Of course you want to have a repertoire of recipes designed to travel and intended to be eaten chilled or at "room temp," that is, slightly tempered from their ice-cold storage temperatures. Foods which will be eaten chilled should generally be seasoned a bit more highly than food which will be served hot. Big flavors are especially good to meld into seasonal salads, and a pasta version is always a sure bet.

My Curried Orzo Spinach Salad, with fresh leafy spinach, pungent cilantro, exotic pistachios and sweet-tart apricots, is a fine partner to grilled lamb or salmon as well as the aforementioned chicken. This pasta salad is at its best when tossed together an hour or two in advance and is still tasty up to 24 hours later, but I wouldn't make it farther ahead than that. The secrets to delicious pasta salads are bold flavors, correctly cooked pasta, and combining the ingredients just early enough to let the flavors "marry."

And here’s a chef’s tip to increase the "elegance" factor when picnicking: wrap your herb garnishes in wet paper towels then in plastic, tuck them into the cooler and garnish your dish on-site.

Happy sunny weather outdoor dining!

Makes 8 - 12 servings

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. sugar

2 tsp. kosher salt

1 1/2 tsp. curry powder

1 tsp. hot sauce

2 tsp. minced garlic

1/3 cup sour cream or yogurt

3 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 pound (about 2 cups) dry orzo pasta

3 packed cups baby spinach, cleaned or large leaves cut in 1/2-inch pieces

2 Tbsp. coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

1 large yellow bell pepper, diced small

1 large red bell pepper, diced small

1/2 cup tiny-diced red onions

3/4 cup shelled pistachios, coarsely chopped

3/4 cup small-diced dried apricots

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, curry powder, hot sauce, garlic, sour cream/yogurt, oil, and black pepper. Reserve.

Meanwhile, cook orzo according to package directions or until al dente. Drain but do not rinse. While pasta is still fairly warm, toss it with the reserved dressing. Let mixture totally cool, then toss in remaining ingredients. Serve immediately, or cover and refrigerate if made ahead. Salad can be made up to 24 hours in advance.

Today I’m writing with a happy heart.  For the first time in 20 plus years I actually have 500 of my 3,000 recipes organized.   I had them professionally scanned with Recipe Runway and in just days those messy, over flowing, unorganized recipes now have one home to reside in - my personal recipe center.  They are categorized, easy to access, shareable and online.  I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am.  For a life time recipe collector there is light at the end of the recipe tunnel!

It has been like seeing old friends again.  There is such rich history, memories, and stories with each one of the recipes.  Seeing all the different old fashioned recipe cards, torn out magazine photos with recipes, the little personal notes, my Mother’s handwriting, and of course the little stains –has been  a great joy.  Having the recipes preserved like this I’m filled with gratitude.  Gratitude because my life has had many special moments and occasions with family and friends and these cherished recipes have played a special role in those moments.

Both my Mother and Brother have had a good portion of their collections scanned with Recipe Runway and now are online also.  The recipe center has a section to add stories with the recipe so we decided to take the time to do this with our favorite signature recipes.  This has lead to many fun conversations as we try to get all the facts and stories about our collections correct.   We may start out talking about a recipe but the conversation always ends up about the family, friends, settings, traditions or little details that warm our hearts, and this is where  the real value lies.   Needless to say, we have been sharing many recipes and stories back and forth.    I applaud all these little scraps of paper, pull outs from magazines, old fashioned recipe cards or our online finds, because they connect and bond us forever with our families and friends.  

I promise my future blogs won’t be about me getting organized – but this has been such fun, and I’m getting organized…I just had to share!

Please visit the community section of the site if you would like to share comments with all of us recipe enthusiasts.

Keep collecting and connecting - Lori