The Party's Over

We celebrated Robin's birthday today. His birthday is actually July 19, but we were in Canada at the time, so we decided to do it in August. It was hectic preparing for it after being away from home most of July, but I got it together enough to have an enjoyable day.

The menu was yummy, if I do say so myself. I made the following:

• coleslaw
• potato salad
• honey mustard chicken
• Spicey shredded pork
• deviled eggs
• fruit salad
• rolls
• cake and ice cream
• soda, wine and beer

The pork was divine! Super easy to make and almost all of the 8 pound pork butt I used was consumed. I was even asked for the recipe by several people! Try it, it was fantastic and not difficult at all!

I'm also lucky enough to have good friends share their delicious recipes with me. The coleslaw I made was so very good I could have eaten it all by myself. The potato salad was sinfully delicious. Next time you have a cook out, try them out. The recipes are listed below!

Leslie’s Coleslaw

I big head of
cabbage (2 1/2 - 3 lbs) - thinly shredded

1bell pepper - cut small

1-2 carrots shredded.

Mix these together in a large bowl.

Pour 3/4 cup sugar and 1 tsp. salt over the
mixture.

Stir and let it set for at least 30 minutes.

For the dressing, mix together in a small
saucepan:

2/3 C canola oil

1 C white vinegar 1 tsp. dry mustard

1-2 tsp. celery seeds 1/2 tsp. salt

Bring to a boil and pour over cabbage mixture,
toss and refrigerate.

This gets even better a couple of days later, so
you could easily make it ahead of time

Mel’s Potato Salad

5 pounds of
potatoes
1 dozen eggs hard-boiled
1 pound bacon
onions
dill
pickles
sweet pickles
mayonnaise
mustard

Boil the potatoes
with the skins on until tender. Remove from water, and cool
competely.

Once cooled, peel and dice potatoes in
good-sized chunks.

Fry bacon and crumble on top of potatoes.

Chop onions (to taste - depending on how strong
they are, usuallyone medium onion) and add to mixture.

Chop pickles (again, to taste) and add to mix.

Add mayo - depending on how creamy or dry you like it - then yellow mustard.

Finally, chop hard-boiled eggs into good-sized chunks and stir in gently.

Taste and adjust mayo/mustard/pickles/salt to taste.

Both are so easy but incredibly tastey sides to either the chicken or the pork. Everyone had a lovely time and our birthday boy was nicely celebrated. I'm tired now so I think I'm going to turn in early!