Depending on where you live, October may be a perfect time for family or friends to get together for a picnic. Each year, as September comes to an end, my husband begins to repeat one of his favorite poems. If he has misremembered, please forgive him. College years are long ago, but he is very proud of his memory. By the way, if you know this poem, and who wrote it, please let us know. I would guess that close to retirement age, his memory is just OK and we'd love to know the "real" poem.
Oh sun and skies and clouds of June
And flowers of June together
You can not rival for one hour
October's bright blue weather.
Author Unknown
Well, let's have a picnic under the "bright blue sky". First, think about what foods are wonderful in October. One food that comes to mind is winter squash and to that end, we will make a butternut squash soup to start with. Butternuts are plentiful in the fall as are pie pumpkins, acorn squash and Hubbards. All of these can be substituted in this recipe with excellent results. Don't forget to make roasted squash seeds to serve to your friends and family. Just remove the seeds, clean them, roast in a preheated 400° F with the squash after you spray them with cooking spray. They make an excellent garnish for this soup.
Then we're going to roast some vegetables and add store-bought turkey breast to make wraps and serve them with a wonderful herb spread. Finally, we will prepare a fresh pear strudel. All of these recipes are easy to prepare and if you're really smart, you'll make enough to ensure leftovers.
Fall is also football season. So plan to have a game of touch football with the clan. If you have young children, use a nerf football so no one gets hurt and little hands can catch and hold on to the missile as it is thrown down the field. If your picnic is for just for friends, pick sides, bring enough colored jerseys to differentiate the two sides and have fun. By the way, if you are reading this some place other than the US, how about a game of your football, what we here call soccer? In fact, how about soccer any where?
What to do if you are not into just physical sports? Plan the picnic near a stream or in a scenic spot, put on your sturdy shoes and begin a walk or hike. An hour of walking in the woods with bright colored leaves, pine cones for collecting, and the camaraderie of friends and light conversations, will certainly make your day.
Let's talk a bit about food and exercise for anyone with diabetes. Before you exercise, make sure you know your blood glucose level. Whether you plan to eat first and then exercise or not, this is very important. For me, as a type 1 diabetic, I would choose to eat first as then I can more easily ensure that half way through a touch football game, or a hike, that I will not be dealing with hypoglycemia. Having said that, I would not do either, without stopping after a half hour of extensive exercise to check my blood glucose levels. If I started to feel "different" or my thinking became blurry, I would do the same. Glucose tablets are always in my pocket and friends and family know that glazed over look in my eyes. Picnics are for fun, not for the emergency medical team to join in. All of this is true even for someone like me who exercises hard routinely.
Now for decorations for this type of event. We would keep it simple. Since you are outside, pick up some brightly colored leaves and make a table runner out of them. If you use a tablecloth, select one that is easily washable and which goes with your color scheme. Add a few acorns or pine cones you find lying around. Bring hair spray from home and spray them before you put them next to food to kill pesky bugs, No one needs that much protein! Select plastic plates that go with the season: reds, yellows, oranges and a bit of leftover green. Bring a lot of cold drinks, including water, iced tea, diet sodas, and regular sodas for those who like them. To make sure you have cold water, freeze bottles of water that you fill 3/4 full. Take out an hour before you want to use them. Fill the cooler with them and place food on top. By the time you are into games, the water will have begun to melt and the water will remain very cold. Do bring extra ice in a cooler to keep the food cold and use in other drinks.
Once you're done, get the food back into the coolers quickly. Do have snacks at the ready for your hike or touch football game. These are easily purchased a the market and might include, pretzels, popcorn (make sure it is low fat and salt), trail mix for those who need the extra fat and calories, and fresh fruit. Apples and pears are available as are grapes and oranges. They make excellent rejuvenators.
(for the recipes, click on The Recipes or click on the individual recipe above)
