the rest of the story.

in case you missed the story so far.. check out my last post about friday + saturday.

now it’s time to talk about sunday + monday!

but first.. a little shameless self promotion. i mentioned that the votes for mine & marshall’s photo were reset with the new month, so i am trying to log more votes.  please vote again so your vote counts for july!  if you can please take a minute.. vote for my photo by clicking here!  that would make my day.

sunday.

i had to sit here for a few minutes trying to remember what i did on sunday! then it came to me. marshall rolled out of bed after i blogged and we went to get coffee.  iced for me, hot for him. i don’t know how he drinks hot coffee in this hot weather!

we went to my mom’s house where i baked up a storm! i was in charge of bringing dessert to the 4th of july BBQ later that day. i noticed on a lot of the blogs i read, you guys call BBQs “cookouts”! i wish i called them that. i love that term. ha.

on the recipe agenda?

• the best chocolate chip cookies ever
• mama pea’s vegan chocolate chip cookies
• patriotic fruit pizza
• vegan patriotic fruit pizza using mama pea’s sugar cookie recipe

i made a vegan version of each dessert because we have a lot of vegan friends.

i am pretty speedy. i mixed and baked 5 sheets of cookies and two fruit pizza crusts all in a little under two hours!

the final products:

cookies~

these vegan cookies were the best vegan chocolate chip cookies i’ve made/tasted yet! very chewy and moist. (i hate the word moist) thanks for the recipe, mama pea!

i make my chocolate chip cookies for any social event. they are always a hit! the recipe makes about 48 cookies (depending on how much dough you eat while making them) and they were all gone or taken home by people by the end of the night!

this vegan gives the fruit pizza 2 thumbs up!

vegan on top, regular below.  

the BBQ was a blast. there was so much good food!  behold:

nick’s first batch of homemade hummus! sun dried tomato garlic:

chips & queso:

grapes!

potato wedges:

burgers & dogs:

vegan chick’n patties & seitan skewers:

 

apricot glazed apple tart:

(american as) apple pie:  

there was more.. but i think that is enough for now.

fun with friends!!  

anakin is the cutest little guy around :)

my plate:

i also had a few bites and nibbles of the chips & dip, the fruit pizza and that awesome apricot glazed apple tart.

tried this brew:

super delicious!

i also ate my weight in melon.. because that is what i do. marshall picked up a new-to-us melon, the santa claus melon! i just love the name.

this stuff literally melted in your mouth!

after our food digested a bit, we headed to the park to play with volleyballs, soccer balls and frisbees. i am not so athletically inclined, so i mainly watched.. but it was nice to enjoy the summer night.

 

then it was back to steph & alex’s for fireworks!

   

no fourth of july is complete with a little pyrotechnics ;)

monday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RANDY DOG!

before any birthday festivities occurred, marshall and i ran errands.

among those errands?

we bought a kitchen table :)

we also bought three bar stools to match, but i can’t find the photo of those online.

we also bought bedding!

matching pillows:

cute, no?

and the last errand was greek food!

oh greek. you know the way to my heart. three of my fave carbs on one plate? potatoes, rice, pita bread. at least it was semi-healthy with salad, albeit drenched in fattening dressing ;) and the chicken souvlaki was amazing. i finished about half of each of the starches/pita and all of the chicken & salad.

THEN it was off to memory grove for randy’s birthday fun!

kristen, rory & harley joined marshall, penny, randy & me.

SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE.

not a cloud in the sky!  

momma & the birthday boy. he’s 5!

when we came home i baked randy a peanut butter birthday cake!

• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup water

bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, slice in half, frost with peanut butter and stack!

at the last minute, marshall put an “R” made out of bread on top! because randy’s favorite food is bread. he takes after his mom ;)

we sang happy birthday to the birthday boy!

and then they feasted on the cake!

happy birthday, randy dog.

DANG. what a long post. what a long weekend. what a wonderful life :)

back to the grind in the morning!

Qs~

1. best thing you ate over the holiday weekend? pita pit grilled chicken pita saturday night. YUM.

2. do you use the term “cookout”? i have never heard anyone say that! but i read it on about 4,532 blogs this weekend.

xo. janetha b.