What we had for dinner...

Applegate Organic Uncured All Beef Hot Dogs (they were SO GOOD, with much less guilt than a usual hot dog and only 8g of fat each), baked beans on the grill, red potato salad, and fresh pineapple.

 And s'mores for dessert of course!

Four Day Weekend Food: Day 4 - Happy 4th!

Ah, the last day of our little vacation smorgasbord. Sad but I think we'll be happy to eat a little more healthy tomorrow :) As for today, we really went out with a bang. Here's the low down:

We started the day with Red, White, and Blue Parfaits (vanilla yogurt, blueberries, cherries, and slivered almonds)

Then we headed to a family picnic. Pee Paw's FAMOUS lemonade. Refreshing!!!

This was my plate :)

And this was Leyna's

Cora had her first ever Rice Krispie Treat. It was LOVE.

My cousin Lori's cake. GORGEOUS. And delicioius!

Later we came home and hung out with Conner & Co. This is Aunt Kim's FAMOUS 7-layer dip. Daddy always requests it. Leyna has been eating the olives off of it most of her life but this time she tried all of it and loved it.

Brats & dogs.

Toasted buns, Branzino, and pork shoulder leftover from yesterday. 

Four Day Weekend Food: Day 3

Wow, I need to go for a run! We ate a little TOO well today ;) And I just finished it all off with 3 cookies...which may turn into 4. Or 5...

Since we have about 5 pounds of blueberries to put to use, we got to it bright and early by making these "Awesome-est Blueberry Muffins" for breakfast. I think that was sarcastic excitement ;)

While we waited for them to bake we snacked on the SUPER DUPER cookies that Nana brought for us. A Ritz cracker topped with peanut butter than then dipped in chocolate and topped with sprinkles. I need to learn how to make these!

Then the muffins came out of the oven...

The girls have been singing Happy Birthday at every meal and then pretending to blow out the chandelier over the table so today I treated them with candles  in their muffins. We re-lit them and re-sang the song four times. I would like to note that Leyna ate FOUR muffins today. FOUR!!!

Mid-morning snack was a Blueberry Banana Smoothie.

And I was a super cool mom and bought them chips for once. Baked Cheetos to be exact. They were pretty happy :)

Meanwhile, Daddy and Uncle Steve spent the entire morning smoking a Pork Shoulder.

It was THE BEST I've ever had.

Simply amazing. Cora was a big fan. Leyna insisted she didn't like it without a single taste.

While Cora napped Leyna and I made these little beauties: Brown Sugar Blueberry Cookies. Leyna had 3 immediately, and one more for snack. Cora had 2. I had one initially and 3 just now. I don't think they're going to last the day and I'm about 95% sure I'll be making another batch or two tomorrow. TRY THEM!

We scrapped our dinner plans since we had all been eating all day and pretty much just fended for ourselves. I made the girls their new favorite sandwiches: Ham and Swiss with Ranch Dressing. Weird right? I made them the other day for the pool and wanted to put a sauce on them but I know they don't like mustard so it was either ranch dressing or ketchup. Daddy insisted I do the ranch (though I would have picked ketchup for myself!)

And that was our day of good eats. One more to go tomorrow!

Dinner tonight...

Pizza Friday a day late - Personal Grilled Pizzas

Today was my birthday and every year I pick the same birthday dinner - grilled pizza. LOVE IT. Traditionally we use the canned pizza crust or homemade but today we made it even easier and bought some pre-made crusts. I think it's the way to go from now on.
So the first thing to do is assemble all of your possible toppings and make some garlic olive oil by sauteing a few garlic cloves in olive oil. Once your grill is ready brush one side of the crusts with the olive oil and place that side down on the grill. After you have the desired amount of char on your crusts, flip them over, brush them with garlic olive oil, and let everyone top them with their desired toppings. Let cheese melt and serve! Simple!

Sliced grape tomatoes, diced orange bell pepper, basil, kalamata olives, mozzarella, and my absolute must-have on grilled pizza - GOAT CHEESE!!!

From left o right, Leyna & Cora's, Daddy's (with red pepper flakes), and then mine. I enjoyed every bite SO much.

What we had for dinner...

Grilled Corn on the Cob, Grilled Shrimp, Grilled Turkey Kielbasa, and salad

The girls cleaned their plates! Leyna ate two ears of corn! For the girls' corn I husked it, rubbed it with butter, and wrapped it in foil because I knew they wouldn't want the char marks on theirs. It turned out PERFECTLY! And for ours I husked it, rubbed it with butter, and we just put it directly on the grill. It turned out perfectly as well! I don't think I'll ever bother making a dirty pot to boil corn again. Try it on the grill!!!