Labor Day Fun

Before Tropical Storm Lee blew through here starting Sunday evening, we had a beautifully HOT weekend.  It's a good thing too, because I had my favorite two peanuts visiting.

And they wanted to swim!

They were here for a long weekend along with their mom and dad, aunts, uncles, cousin and great-grandparents!  It was a HOUSEFUL!!

All this swimming made for some hungy kids and I've been asked by a few friends and relatives to share what exactly I fed them all weekend!  Needless to say, I didn't have time for pretty food photos, so I'll take the lazy way out and point you in the right direction!

Let's see.....we had The Pioneer Woman's Cinnamon Rolls and the Barefoot Contessa's Cherry Almond and Cinnamon Granola for breakfast.

One night I made a whole beef tenderloin for sandwiches and served my version of this salad along with this brussels sprouts salad.  For dessert I made a dark chocolate dipped version of these oreo cookie truffles and these nutter butter cookie truffles.  These little truffles are delicious and were a HUGE hit with the adults and the little people.

The next day we fired up the pizza oven in the morning and had an all day pizza party!  For lunch I made the Markley's famous calzone recipe with a little twist and I'll be sharing that with you later this week.  It will be a perfect addition to your fall football parties.  That night I did four pizza's....your basic pepperoni and fresh tomato; a Mexican pizza incorporating the left over corn salad from the day before; a roasted red pepper with capers (recipe also coming) and goat cheese; and a grilled chicken and Lemon-Basil Pesto....yes, you'll get my pesto recipe soon, also!  It's the best EVAH!

 

On Saturday night I served pulled pork sandwiches made from a Boston Butt that had been dry-rubbed with Bobby Flay's rib rub and cooked for 8 hours in my slow cooker along with Balthazar's famous french fries!  This really is the only way to get french fries that are soft on the inside and perfectly crunchy on the outside.  They disappeared before I even got ONE!!

And on Sunday night, because I was exhausted and wanted to enjoy my last night with the family, we ordered Donato's pizza.  Sue me!