Labor Day Review

Labor Day P.M.

I was up with the birds this morning to trim the chicken breasts and get them in the honey-lemon & rosemary marinade.  The plan?  Dear Hubby offered to grill.

Also on the menu?  My mom brought a salad (spinach w/ the fixins'), and my sister brought dessert  (these NO-BAKE CHEWY COOKIES AND CREAM BARS from Jenny at Picky Palate.)  I made guacamole, as well as a black bean salsa that is to die for.  I can say that because it's not my recipe.  It's from a friend - a young college student who I was privileged to work at camp with this summer.  (If he ever reads this, it will TOTALLY go to his head - I'm just sayin'.)

The day?  Unpredictable at best.  Rain was forecast, and rather than worry, I just planned to eat inside.  Temperatures were supposed to drop as well (and they did!)

We ate, and laughed, and talked, and ate some more.  Then we had dessert, and my sis got out her iPad for some reason, and ended up reading my (previous) blog post.  And so of course, when she saw the note about Nutella, she had to ask how I liked it.  (Remember, she's the girl that eats it on a spoon...)  Turns out our parents had never tried Nutella either, and our kids were all too happy to eat again when they saw the bag of pretzels and something to dunk them in!  We are such an accomodating family.  If you put food out, we will eat it.  Isn't that big of us?  We even did a second round of dessert -- each taking a little chunk of the few leftovers.

Then, my brother-in-law tried to leave, but none of his other four family members moved, so he sat down again.  About an hour-and-a-half later, he tried for a second time.  This time, he was slightly more successful (meaning that it didn't take quite another hour-and-a-half to get everyone out the door.)

What a good day.  Everyone is back in their assigned living spaces right now, and my sister and I are already sending quips back and forth on Facebook because we miss each other.  I'm pretty sure we're both on a little sugar high.

I hope your holiday weekend was filled with people you love, lots of fun, and delicious food.  Speaking of delicious food... here's that salsa recipe I mentioned.  Enjoy!

Ryan's Black Bean Salsa

14 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup frozen corn (I actually rinsed and drained this with the beans)

1 large tomato, chopped

1/4 c. green onion, chopped

2 T. cilantro

2 T. lemon juice

1 T. vegetable oil (I omitted this!)

1 tsp. chili powder 

1/4 tsp. salt

1-2 T. lime juice

Mix & chill.  How easy is THAT?  You will love it.

[Thanks for sharing, Ryan!]

Also linking to the COOL, impromptu Linky Party at Hating Martha.