Goooood morning! TGIF!
Fun Fact: did you know that every single Friday I first spell TGIF – TFIG – and I have to erase and re-spell? Every single time. It’s so strange…
At any rate, we had my in-laws over last night for a fare-thee-well BBQ dinner! Ben’s parents are moving to Washington DC (today!) so we wanted to round up the troops and have dinner together one last time before they left.
I usually stress out when I’m cooking for more than just Ben and myself. What if I don’t have enough food? What if they don’t like what I made? What if, what if, what if? I decided to nix the stress, take some help from the store, and serve some simple items that I figured everyone would enjoy. I have a hard time with remembering that not everything has to be homemade!
Down the line…
Kettle Cooked BBQ Potato Chips.
I love how ALL the kettle cooked chips are usually flopped over and SO crunchy. Folded over chips are the best kind, imo. 
Carrot Chips & Dip.
Easy Pasta Salad.
This is a modified version of Grandpa’s Pasta Salad. I nixed the pepperoni and used Bisignano’s Italian Dressing instead of Kraft. I still dug it, a lot! Had too much of it, in fact!
Fresh, juicy strawberries. These were so sweet, I swear they were stuffed with sugar!
BBQ Chicken.
I marinated the chicken in Wild ‘n’ Mild Grilling & Marinade Sauce. It’s kiiind of sweet, kind of BBQ-y…it’s really good. I also put out some BBQ sauce to top the grilled chicken.
These babies took ~4 minutes a side, and they were ready to hit our plates!
I also made some Avocado Mango Salsa to put on top of the chicken.
I just love the cool, tropical burst of flavor with smoky, grilled chicken. It’s the best!
Dessert was some of my in-law’s FAVORITE cookies in the world…THESE!
Yes, these cookies! You know, the supermarket sugar cookies?
They’re like tender little clouds of sugar cookie perfection. I LOVE THEM!
After dinner we hung out, chatted and just enjoyed being together as a family one last time before the big move. We are going to miss them so much!!! It’s going to be so weird knowing they’re not right down the road anymore.
BUT, Ben and I are both very proud of his parents and are excited for what the future holds out in our nation’s capital. We love you guys!!!!
This morning I woke up, went on my morning Mom walk, then…weeded my garden. It’s true. I have the day off today (!!) and since it rained last night, the ground is still really soft = perfect weeding conditions.
What, you don’t weed your garden at 6:30am on your days off? 
I was hot and sweaty when I finally got in, so I made myself a half Green Monster for breakfast!
In the mix:
- 1/2 frozen banana
- 1/2 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
- 1 teaspoon chia seeds
- 1/2 cup skim milk (out of almond!)
- 1 Tablespoon peanut butter
- 1 handful baby spinach
Blended right up!
It was nice and THICK so I used a spoon to eat it.
j/k. GOSH I love green monsters!
As I said, I have the day off , but there’s still plenty to do! I foresee laundry, a trip to the library (finally getting a card!!), general housecleaning, a run and a visit to my Dad’s fifth grade classroom in my future. I’ll be back!
Have a great day!!
~~~~~
How near or far do you live from your family?
The chicken breasts look very good! Are your inlaws moving to DC for jobs? You never post pictures of them, so now I’m wondering if they are involved some how with the government? It will be awesome that you can travel there to visit. My aunt and uncle live in a suburb of Baltimore and my aunt drives to DC every day. It’s a great area, but definitely not Iowa. I like Iowa much better
Aww I just read your recent entry about your father switching careers. That’s so wonderful, and he seems like he’d be such an awesome inspiring teacher. My grade 3 teacher was my favorite. I still remember her
My parents live… FAR away. 3.5 hour plane ride! I miss them for sure
SO FAR! I live in southern NH and my family lives in Northern NJ: good 5-6 hours away! LUCKY for me my bf’s family (which has become my home away from home) lives only an hr away so I see them very often. I miss my parents and sister but it is so nice to have some “family” close. Nice work with your bb
oops..
nicework with your bbq! very “semi homemade by sandra lee”…but BETTA obv
[...] – TFIG [...]
Nope , not close to my parents at all. I live an hour from my mother and 2 1/2 hours from my dad.
[...] parents will be there too! It’s the first time we’ve seen them since they moved to Washington DC in June. I can’t believe they’ve been gone for almost 5 months – it’s CRAZY how [...]