Southwestern Inspired Summer Picnic Recipes

Thank you to ALDI for sponsoring this post.

Memorial Day Picnic

For most people, Memorial Day is synonymous with firing up the grill, spending the day outside, and red white and blue everything. I would say that I’m definitely like most people when it comes to how I like to celebrate Memorial Day Weekend. But of course, I always enjoy putting my own little spin on things. Living in Texas has totally transformed my tastebuds along with what I like to cook.  Instead of burgers and hot dogs, I’m serving up sizzling Southwestern Steak Fajita Tacos on the grill with cheesy Mexican Street Corn as my side. 

So without further ado, I’m sharing two of my family’s favorite summer recipes in partnership with ALDI today, just in time to fire up the grill! And what’s better than a delicious dinner al fresco? Saving time by NOT leaving your house to go to the grocery store to buy everything. With Instacart, you can order everything you need to grill out this Memorial Day Weekend from ALDI at the touch of a button. Oh, and it delivers in an hour too! Yes, it really is that amazing.

For our Southwestern-inspired feast, we filled our picnic basket with everything shown above and set out to grill at the local park over the weekend. It was so easy to order all of the ingredients needed from ALDI for today’s recipes straight from the Instacart app on my phone. And right now, first-time shoppers can use the code ALDILS19 to get $10 off their first three orders of $35 or more. 

More details on how to save with Instacart and my Southwestern-inspired recipes below! 

While I did some prep at home (like slicing the veggies) before we took over our picnic table at Memorial Park, I packed along most of the ingredients to prep on site. This gave Annie and me something to do while Patrick fired up the grill. Annie sure loves helping her mama in the kitchen and being able to cook together outdoors is extra special.

Speaking of the grill, here is our grill master hard at work!!

Patrick and I have a gas grill at home and could have grilled our feast in much less time on our back patio … but where’s the fun in that? We actually really enjoy grilling on our patio, let’s be honest. But Patrick and I both have a love for the great outdoors and can’t resist cooking over a wild open flame whenever we get the opportunity.

If you don’t have a grill in your own backyard, many city and state parks have designated picnic areas with grills set aside for public use.

With the flames of our grill growing in the distance, Annie and I got to work on our Mexican Street Corn side dish. I tried Mexican Street Corn for the first time a few years ago and have been hooked ever since. It definitely spices up your traditional corn on the cob and if you’re a cheese lover (diehard over here) you’re going to fall for this dish.

Southwestern spices have become a daily addition to my diet since moving to Texas. I couldn’t even eat a jalapeño slice before moving here and now I’m like … give them ALL to me. I prefer a bit of a kick when it comes to my seasonings too.  We make our own Southwestern seasoning and top it on just about everything. (The recipe is shared below.) To make yours more or less spicy, you can adjust how many red chili flakes you toss in your dish.

I added USDA Choice Black Angus Strip Steak from ALDI to my Instacart shopping list for the fajita meat. Skirt steak works great for fajitas because it’s usually a beefier cut and is always packed with flavor when grilled.  We always like to pick up this particular style of skirt steak from ALDI because it’s a high-quality beef while also being very affordable.