Memorial Day Feast!

Although it's techincally not Memorial Day yet, we celebrated early. :) The hubs and I had our good friends, Lynn and Amit over for dinner last night. Lynn brought an AMAZING appetizer shown below and a fabulous side to go with our dinner as well. She always finds the greatest recipes! As soon as I get the recipes from her, I will post!!!! The appetizer was Fruit Salsa with homemade cinnamon pita chips...mmmm...

For dinner we had Cornell Barbeque grilled chicken, a kale and mango salad (thanks to Lynn---SO delicious!!), potato salad, and fresh watermelon. It was the perfect cookout! The Cornell barbeque chicken recipe is from my Mom. She makes this chicken quite often in the summer, yet I had never tried it before. I marinated the chicken for 24 hours and it was fantastic!!!! I doubled the recipe since we cooked 5 chicken breasts, and, I figured that more could only make it taste better. Daniel did a great job of grilling it and it just exploded with flavors in your mouth. The potato salad is an old recipe from a college roomie of mine at Clemson. She would always make this potato salad, and I loved it. I had forgotten about it until recently when I was going through some recipes.

Cornell Barbeque Chicken:

½ cup canola oil
1 cup cider vinegar
1 egg
1 Tbsp (or more) poultry seasoning
½ tsp black pepper
1 Tbsp. Salt (sometimes I use a little less but you do need it)

Mix above and pour over chicken and marinate for as long as you like. Grill or bake.

June's Potato Salad:

5 lb. Russet potatoes, boiled and still firm
1 large green pepper, chopped
1 large yellow pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
8 slices low-sodium bacon, cooked and chopped
about 17 oz. low-fat sour cream (I used fat-free plain greek yogurt!)
about 12 oz. low-fat Italian dressing
salt and pepper to taste
1 T. olive oil

-Boil potatoes until firm but not mushy. Chop potatoes. Cook bacon, drain fat from pan and quickly wipe w/paper towel (you want some grease/cracklins in pan). Add olive oil to pan and heat. Saute onion and peppers until translucent (onion) and very bright (peppers). In a separate bowl, mix sour cream (or yogurt) and dressing. Add a little at a time until desired flavor. In dressing bowl, mix in peppers, onions, bacon, salt and pepper to taste. Pour dressing mixture over chopped potatoes and mix gently.

-Serve hot or cold. Better the next day!

Now for dessert, cause you just gotta have it...Chocolate Cake. nom, nom, nom. My best friend, Charlotte, gave me this chocolate cake mix for a housewarming gift. It was to die for!!!!!!! So moist and amaaaazing. I used regular vanilla frosting and topped the cake with an American theme of blueberry's and strawberry's. YUM. Perfect ending to a perfect dinner with fabulous company!

After such a delicious meal...we all felt like this...