Cookout Food and the Meal Plan 7/5-7/11

We had a wonderful time celebrating the 4th of July! Our daughters were in a parade yesterday morning and then we hosted a cookout last night. Great food, friends, fireworks...lots of fun! Here are some pictures of the good eats we filled up on last night.

For starters, there was the bruschetta.



And the hot wings.



Then some sides...

A delicious cornbread salad.



And this awesome Avocado Basil Bowtie Salad topped with lots of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. (This is a recipe for a hot pasta dish, that I chill and serve as a salad).



Speaking of cheese, I also made a homestyle mac n' cheese casserole.



I didn't get any pictures of the burgers, but we ate em' deluxe-style with all the fixings!



And then there was dessert...a black raspberry cream freezer pie.



And miniature root beer floats!



It's no surprise that the meal plan starts off with leftovers this week! I'm a notorious over-cooker. Better to have too much food than not enough, right? This week's meal plan includes links to meals that I have made before, leftovers, and grilling out. Instead of posting what I'm making for dinner, I want to focus on posting some of the recipes of the yummy cookout food pictured above. Plus, it's a busy week...I'm gearing up for vacation bible school next week (I'm the kitchen team leader), out-of-town company on Thursday and Friday, AND....we're havin' a heat wave here, so I'd like to log in some time at the pool with my kiddos.

Here's the meal plan:

Monday July 5th

Leftovers

Tuesday July 6th

Big Island Meatloaf (re-heated from my freezer)

Wednesday July 7th

Jamaican Spiced Chicken Thighs

Thursday July 8th

Pasta Cake
Salad
Garlic Bread

Friday July 9th

Savory Focaccia Pie (probably...bumped from last week's meal plan)

Saturday July 10th

More Leftovers

Sunday July 11th

Grilling out (probably cheeseburgers)




Grocery List

Produce

celery
carrot
yellow onion
garlic
mushrooms
red onion
jalapeno pepper
sweet potatoes
cilantro
baby spinach
tomatoes

Meat

2 1/2 lbs. ground beef
2 1/2 lbs Italian sausage (turkey is a good option)
1 1/2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs

Dairy

butter
whipping cream or half and half
2 oz. fresh mozzarella
8 oz. shredded mozzarella
eggs
ricotta cheese

Canned Goods

oil
mayonnaise
mustard
tomato paste
soy sauce
cider vinegar
dark rum
marinara sauce

Dry Goods

cornstarch
bread crumbs
allspice
thyme
black pepper
red pepper
brown sugar
ginger
rigatoni pasta
focaccia round (rosemary or garlic)

I hope that you're all wrapping up a lovely LONG weekend! Have a great week!