We finally had a nice sit-down dinner as a family at home tonight! It feels like it's been forever! I no longer sell Tastefully Simple products, but before I "de-activated" I "stocked up" on some seasonings. Yes, they are relatively easy to make on your own if you use the right combination of spices and herbs, but when they're all perfectly pre-mixed for you right in your pantry, who can resist? And these seasonings have added plenty of "kick" to my meals recently. Tonight, I enlisted the help of their new summer beer-marinade, and their Seasoned Salt for my potatoes and vegetables. Dinner was so easy! Last night I pulled out my chicken to defrost and this morning Randy got it marinating for me. Simply mix 1 packet of the powder "marinade" with a 1/2 cup of beer and marinate the chicken for however long you have. Tonight I grilled it and finished it in the oven. It was super flavorful! Here's how I like to do summer vegetables:
Seasoned Summer Vegetables
1 zucchini, thickly "chunked"
1 summer squash, thickly "chunked"
1 red pepper, cut into bite-size pieces
1/4 of a red onion, chopped
1 clove of garlic, minced
olive oil
"Seasoned Salt" (
Tastefully Simple)
onion flakes (
or Tastefully Simple's "Onion Onion")
paprika
cumin
Layer the vegetables on a baking sheet and coat with olive oil. Sprinkle the seasonings on liberally and cook in a 400* oven for 10-15 minutes or until cooked through and fragrant.
Let's bounce back to Day 125 (
Saturday), when we had Noah's birthday cook-out. When I invite people over for a birthday party, I'm more inclined to do most of the cooking because people coming are already bringing gifts. If someone asks to bring something, I let them, but I usually assume I'll do most of the cooking. When I'm having a regular barbecue or get-together for no reason, I don't have a problem saying "I'm providing the meat, you bring a dish to share" or something like that. For Noah's party, I did have some voluntary help, but I provided the majority of the meal.
 |
| Normally we like our burgers medium-rare. I was not in charge of the grill... |
Here's my basic burger recipe:
1 lb hamburg
1/4-1/3 cup mayonnaise
1 tsp chipotle chili powder
1 tsp paprika
1 garlic clove, minced
1 TB onion flakes
oregano, parsley
salt, pepper
Mix well and form into 4 patties. Cook on the grill or under the broiler.
To go along with the burgers, I made
orzo salad,
classic potato salad, broccoli salad, fruit skewers, and some Tastefully Simple dips with chips. I also had a garden salad brought by my mother and my sister-in-law made deviled eggs.
Broccoli Salad
I've seen this made different ways before--all of them so delicious! At Whole Foods, they call it "Broccoli Crunch" and sell it from the deli. This salad is incredible... try it!
1-2 bunches broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 cup of mayonnaise
scant (just under) 1/2 cup of sugar
2 TB red wine vinegar
1/4-1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup walnuts
10 strips of bacon, cooked and chopped
Mix the broccoli, bacon, raisins, walnuts, and red onions together. Whisk the mayo, sugar, and red wine vinegar. Pour the dressing over the salad and serve immediately. (If you want to make it up ahead of time, keep the dressing separate and pour it on right before serving.)
For dessert, we had
Noah's chocolate chip "snowball" cookies, cake pops, and a flag cake. The idea for the flag cake came from and Ina Garten cookbook, but I didn't use her recipe at all. I wrote my own cake recipe, and made a raspberry filling to go inside. The frosting was a whipped cream frosting and I used blueberries and raspberries to decorate the "flag." I'm not ready to share my recipe yet because 1) I'm not 100% satisfied with it and 2) I think every cook needs a secret recipe, so I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to divulge the recipe. ;)
Happy birthday, my sweet man... hope you enjoyed the party you'll never remember! (
Your Momma sure did!)
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