My family's favorite summer getaway is Hawaii. We try to go every year. We just moved into a new house; traveling to Hawaii is postponed this year so I decided to bring Hawaii to us for a fun backyard Aloha family picnic dinner, which my kids LOVED.

I love summertime with World Market because they always have tons of fun summery tableware, linens, plates and decor and a whole section dedicated to tons of Hawaiian goodies. I mean how could I not have an Aloha themed picnic? We put some luau music on the radio, hung up lights and lanterns, put some orchids in a tiki vase and there was a little bit of a breeze going so we were already feeling like we were on vacation.

I couldn't resist getting these super cute seashell and starfish plates, the bamboo silverware and the natural fiber woven mats. Already feeling transported to Hawaii.

We started off with a little appetizer plate and drinks.

Roasted macadamia nuts, Maui onion potato chips, pineapple skewers, avocado rolls and mango coladas. Non-alcoholic for the kiddos

Of course we had to have umbrella straws

To say my kids loved these drinks is an understatement. I haven't ever seen them drink anything so fast in my life.

His and hers mango coladas with the rum added, oh so good. I love that World Market has a whole collection of melamine stemware so you can have your fancy drinks outside without risking breaking glasses because we must be the clumsiest people ever. Out of a set of 24 wine glasses I have one left. One. We break them all. So I think these glasses are much safer for us accident prone folk.

We took a little intermission while dinner was being made and played limbo. We had a blast. Of course my youngest won, she could walk right under!!

For dinner we decided to make some luau food of guava chicken skewers, grilled veggies with pineapple and coconut sticky rice. I had my eye on this cute hibachi grill for the longest time so when I found out about this promotion I knew I wanted to incorporate it into our backyard picnic

It was perfect. It fit several skewers and the little grilling bowl was perfect for our veggies and pineapple. Plus the kids thought the mini bbq was cute. Its hard to resist cute.

And dinner is served. We had so much fun dining outside. My kids kept saying how they loved our family picnic dinner. More of a fancy picnic since we used a table and chairs instead of a basket and a blanket, but they loved it and want dinner outside every night now.

Dinner was so good. The chicken was cooked perfectly and the sauce was so good with the coconut rice as well.

Mango Colada

Shanna

A refreshing tropical drink made non-alcoholic or boozy. Both versions taste fantastic!

Print Recipe

Servings 2

Ingredients

1 can of coconut milk, Chaokoh Brand from World Market
1 ½ cups of Ceres Mango Juice, from World Market
1 cup frozen pineapple
2 cups Ice

Instructions

Combine all in a blender and blend on high until well combined, add more ice if desired. Serve immediately
For an “adult” version add ½ cup rum, silver, coconut or pineapple. Float 2 tablespoon dark rum on top of each drink.

Easy Coconut Sticky Rice #summerfun

Shanna

This Easy Coconut Sticky Rice is a perfect side dish for any tropical meal. Prep time 1 hr 30 min up to overnight.

Print Recipe

Course Side Dish

Servings 8 -10

Ingredients

2 cups short grain sushi rice, Nishiki brand from World Market
1 ½ cups coconut milk, Chaokoh brand from World Market
1 ½ cups water
½ teaspoon sea salt

Instructions

Rinse the rice through several changes of water using a strainer until the water runs clear. Soak the rice in cold water for an hour up to overnight. Drain the rice and add to a saucepan. Add in the coconut milk, water and salt. Bring to a rapid boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Check to make sure all the liquid was absorbed and then keep covered, turn of the heat and let steam. Fluff with a fork or rice paddle and serve hot.

Sweet And Sour Guava Chicken

Shanna

Easy Coconut Sticky Rice

Print Recipe

Servings 6 -8

Ingredients

2 C Hawaiian Sun guava nectar
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 teaspoon fresh ginger, peeled and minced
⅓ c organic Ketchup
2 tablespoon Aloha Shoyu
⅓ c Rice Vinegar
2 teaspoon Sriracha
1 tablespoon Tamarind Paste
2 tablespoon simple syrup *
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoon arrow root starch
3 lbs boneless chicken thighs, each cut into 2-3 pieces about 2” each

Instructions

Place the chicken in an airtight container and pour the can of guava juice over it. Let marinade 6-8 hours up to overnight. Bring to room temp once ready to grill.

For the sauce:

In a saucepan over medium heat combine all the ingredients except the arrow root starch and chicken. Bring to a boil and lower to a simmer and cook 15-20 min until reduced. Strain out the garlic and ginger and return to heat. Once reduced mix the arrowroot starch with a little water until dissolved and then add to the sauce while stirring and bring to a boil until thickened. Remove from heat and let cool
Preheat your bbq or if using a charcoal grill prep according to your grill’s directions. Skewer the chicken thighs and baste with sauce. Grill turning every few minutes, basting with sauce as your turn them. Grill for 10 min or until chicken is cooked.

Notes

*simple syrup is 1:1 water to sugar boiled then cooled. Make 1 cup sugar to 1 cup water and keep in a container in the fridge for other uses. Serve with coconut sticky rice and grilled veggies. For the grilled veggies we chopped up bell pepper, onion and pineapple tossed in a little sunflower oil and seasoned with NOH Hawaiian garlic herb season salt. Stirring often in the grill pan until lightly cooked. Serve hot

Dessert of COURSE was S'mores

I had some leftover pina colada marshmallows and we used Lindt coconut white chocolate and Diamond Bakery Maui Sugar Maui Grahams. These graham crackers are a little smaller than normal grahams so they were perfect for the s'mores. We loved using the twig skewer for roasting the marshmallows too.