Birthday Dinner for Jay

Jay 'n his Ma- Jay's 33rd birthday (unless you ask him- every time he tells someone an age- he gets a couple years younger- last I heard was 26)

I decided to invite a couple people over for Mr. Hall's birthday. At first there was discussion of ordering pizza (he does love Bronko's Sausage Pizza) last week when were talking about having people over. I just couldn't bring myself to have people over and not cook a good meal. I decided on some BBQ Chicken, Roasted Potatoes, Mac N Cheese, Cheddar Corn Bread, Green Salad, Grilled Cauliflower, Fruit Salad. I also made 2 starters- a tomato tart-

I will blog this recipe separate tomorrow- it turned out wonderful!

I also made a tomato crostini of sorts-

I bought some Cheddar Bacon and Onion Bread from the Valpo Farmer's Market yesterday- I thought it would make a wonderful vessel for a little tomato, basil, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and Parmesan. I sliced the bread (not an easy chore, it was pretty soft) and grilled it on both sides for a couple minutes.

I brined my chicken for 4 hours- with 1 quart water, 1/2 cup kosher salt, 2 TB honey, 4 TB sugar, 1 tsp whole black pepper, 1/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup soy sauce. 9 chicken breast fit in fine. I have been working on different blends- this one seems to be pretty good.

When I was ready- I pulled the chicken out- patted it dry and seasoned with grilling seasoning and let it sit for about 5 minutes while the grill heated up.

This is a horrible picture- but the BBQ chicken after the grill got ahold of it.

For the potatoes- I just cut small white potatoes into quarters, tossed with oil, butter, and garlic pepper- then placed in the oven @ 350* while I was cooking the garlic bread and mac n cheese.

For our mac- I used 1 box of Barilla Plus Elbow Macaroni. I cooked it for 6 minutes and drained it, then put back into pot. To the pot I added 1- 8oz package of cream cheese, 4 TB butter, 1/2 cup of milk, 3 cups of shredded Sharp Cheddar, 1/3 cup shredded Parmesan, salt and pepper- stirred it well and added it to a 9x13 baking dish that was liberally sprayed with cooking spray. Then baked it for 35 minutes @ 350*

I also made some corn bread- I used the Barefoot Contessa's recipe from the cookbook- At Home- It is a Cheddar Jalapeno Cornbread-

I followed this recipe- except for the 3 jalapenos- I just used a half of one- here is the link

It turned out okay- I like mine a little sweeter.

The cauliflower was just like what I did earlier in the week- except I only used salt and pepper- Jerry can't eat garlic- so I had to make a couple dishes without garlic-

Now- a couple family shots, and I am off to bed...

Chuck- the best brother-in-law EVER! Came over this morning and helped Mr. Hall fix his van- it was like 93 degrees outside- but those guys just got in there and got it done. Thanks Chuck!

Ma and Jerry- enjoying dinner- they brought a yummy cake from Cold Stone!

Jen and Kody- this is the second picture... the first was gross thanks to Kody- your welcome.

HH, Ty and Wes sticking his crazy dome in.

Mr. Hall's b-day is tomorrow, let's see how old he says he is by then...