The Fourth of July

I have decided that the Fourth of July is absolutely positively one of my favorite days of the year. Our weekend was filled with time on the lake, boat rides, close family, corn hole competitions, fireworks, blackberry picking, water trampolines, dogs, babies, Yahtzee, sunshine, walks, golf, grilling, and FOOD FOOD FOOD! Every meal was an event and it was topped off with the grand finale on Sunday night. All of the young marrieds gave the matriarchs and patriarchs a rest and put their culinary skills to work! Hudson and I contributed white cheese grits (Ruthie's recipe... to come in a later post), Hudson's famous spare ribs, and a fruit salad. There isn't anything too special about a fruit salad but we filled it with the richest colors of fruits. Don't you feel cheated when you order a fruit salad and it's just melons? Hudson also expressed his artistic flare that he has gotten since moving to the Music City by carving a watermelon basket to hold the salad.

Homemade BBQ Pizza

Our Fourth of July Weekend was full of BBQ, starting with BBQ chicken pizza, yum!






Ingredients for 1 pizza
Chicken tenders or 1/2 rotisserie chicken
BBQ sauce of your choosing (we used Sweet Baby Ray's)
1 medium Red onion
1 Tbsp Fresh chopped cilantro
3/4 cups Gouda cheese
1 cup Mozzarella
3/4 cup Parmesan

Directions:

If you need to prepare the chicken tenders then put them in a skillet to brown and once cool chop into small shreds. Place the chicken into a bowl and mix with 2 Tbsp of BBQ sauce until well coated. For the dough if you want to go with semi-home made then just grab a Pillsbury Pizza dough roll and go for it. If you are feeling super home-made then pick out a dough recipe (I haven't found one that I love enough to claim). There are lots of easy ones including yeastless. I would encourage you to add a Tablespoon of honey to the dough to give it a sweeter flavor. Once you have your dough laid out on a greased sheet, paint the dough with the BBQ sauce. Don't be shy with the sauce, I was pretty timid and our pizza was a bit dry. Add the cheeses and the the chicken on top. Top with a few strings of onion and put into the oven at 400 F. Take it out when the cheese is bubbling and light brown. Sprinkle with the fresh cilantro for freshness. Dig in!

Fiesta Rice

If you are craving mexican and are tired of the same ole' tacos then give this recipe a whirl. We usually end up with lots of leftovers!






This recipe is easy as pie and difficult to mess up

Ingredients:
1-2 cups of Rice (any kind will do)
can of mexican corn
1-2 cups of shredded mexican cheese
1/2 pound of chicken
1.5 cup green salsa
1.5 chicken broth
1-2 Tablespoons of fresh chopped cilantro
vegetable oil
Mexican seasoning powder

Directions: Put 1-2 Tablespoons on vegetable oil on the skillet over medium heat. Add the corn and spread out into an even layer. If you want to use fresh corn then feel free to just add some chopped red and green pepper to the skillet. Let the corn sit on the skillet for five minutes before placing the corn in a bowl. Now add chicken. You will want to use chicken tenders and let them look in the skillet until brown. Add the mexican seasoning to taste. I usually just use a rotisserie chicken and pull the the chicken off so I don't have to worry about preparing the meat. Remove the chicken and place in the bowl of corn. Now place 1-2 cups of rice (depending on how many you are feeding) in the skillet and add 1.5 cup of the green salsa and 1.5 cups of the chicken broth. Cover and simmer until all of the liquid is absorbed. Now add this to the bowl. Add 1-2 tablespoons of chopped fresh cilantro and 1-2 cups of mexican cheese to taste. Serve as a casserole or with chips and salsa or black beans.