I'm back from vacation, and I think it's safe to say last week was one for the books! Aside from renting homes on the same street as close to 40 family members, and having a wonderful time on the beach each afternoon, we, along with the rest of the East Coast and beyond, experienced an earthquake and a hurricane all within days of one another. Unfortunately, we were evacuated from the Outer Banks two days early due to Hurricane Irene and the impending conditions, but on the bright side, we had beautiful weather all week while there, everyone stayed safe and healthy, and we just enjoyed spending time together. It was a wonderful get-away!
To take some of the burden off my mom, each of my siblings and I play "cook" for one night each. On our designated night, we are responsible for the entire meal -- purchasing and prepping the food, cleaning up the mess, etc. The meal does not have to be anything extravagant, and no one has to spend hours in the kitchen slaving away. With that being said, our meal was super simple. Let me start with dessert...
I used chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream to create chipwich-like dessert sammies, and they couldn't have been easier. I used pre-made cookies from my hubby's company and let my ice-cream soften a little bit. Then I scooped about 2 nice scoops onto one cookie and spread it out as best I could. Taking the other cookie, I created a sandwich and smoothed any ice-cream that ooozed out the sides with a knife. I put them back in the freezer until it was time to serve and eat them. That's it -- done!
**I'm thinking these will be really fun in the fall too -- maybe sugar cookies with pumpkin ice-cream? Or gingersnap cookies with vanilla ice-cream. How about adding some sprinkles around the edges for a little pop of color? The possibilities are endless!
We served flatbread pizzas for dinner -- super simple and super tasty! Our friends, Gary and Alyssa, first made these at Gourmet Night and we've been in love ever since. My sister-in-law, Alexia, has since made them along with my parents.
Ingredients ::
~ Naan flatbread
~ Whatever toppings you want
**Just to give you some ideas, we made some white pizzas and some red. They were all different, and we sliced and shared them so that everyone could sample the various kinds. For the white pizzas, I spread a little EVOO on the Naan first. Then I added my base which consisted of thinly sliced zucchini, onions, peppers and garlic sauteed in EVOO {I had this ready before I started creating the pizzas}. Then we layered on sliced tomato, fresh mozzarella, and some fresh basil. Other toppings were shredded mozzarella cheese, sliced pepperoni, red onion, etc. You just build your pizza to your liking.
Directions ::
1. After pizza is layered with toppings of your choice, pop in the oven for approximately 15 minutes or until cheese is hot and bubbly.
2. Slice, serve and enjoy!
**We made a big green salad to pair with our pizzas too.
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I took almost 1000 pictures while in OBX and had to do some major narrowing down to say the least. My family teamed up to take some family pics on the beach one night, and here are just a few of my favs. Shades of coral was what I suggested we all wear, and I love the way all the colors look together. My aunt and cousin's wife helped us with the pics -- Aunt L. helped get the kiddies to look at the camera and K. took the pics -- thank you both!
**We were missing my sister's hubby as he was working all week {as one of JMU's football coaches, he couldn't escape -- they are in the thick of training camp in August} :-{
I tried as best I could to recreate some of the poses I collected on Pinterest. This one turned out better than I imagined -- I figured baby boy would be running off in any direction he could, but miraculously, he STAYED put! Those little ones are so unpredictable sometimes ;-}
**This week looks like it's going to be beautiful {at least in NJ} -- ENJOY!
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