Jenn's Menu & Lifestyle Blog

I hope everyone had a fun 4th of July weekend! We didn’t get to see any live fireworks, but we watched the Macy’s fireworks display on TV. My cooking plans also fell a little shy this weekend; we ended up only having one BIG meal on the 4th and then on Sunday (today), we grabbed a bite to out while we were driving around the Hudson Valley looking at our future home! I grew up in the Hudson Valley; I lived there for 20 years actually. (ick! I sound sooo old when I say it like that lol )

We stayed up longer than expected on the eve of 4th of July, so I made an egg sandwich on a fluffy Portuguese roll from Hannaford with a juicy plum on the side:

I fried 2 large cage free eggs sprinkled with a little black pepper over-easy in a nonstick pan with Pam olive oil cooking spray

Mmmm… runny egg yolk!!

The next day, we woke up pretty late in the day, so I saved my appetite for the 4th of July feast we were planning. While we slept, mom prepared: Macaroni salad and German potato salad with turkey bacon; I made cucumber, tomato & goat cheese salad when I woke up. Then we had corn on the cob with real BUTTA! and 96% lean beef burgers on the grill, but first we celebrated Independence Day with a red wine toast to our upcoming move and future house purchase!

I’m not much of a wine drinker, especially red wine, but I enjoyed this! Maybe I just really like merlot? This was great though. We bought it on New Year’s and finally opened it. I’m thinking I’ll use the rest to cook with or who knows? Maybe I’ll have another splash sometime this week.

Ah, 2003, a good year. *snorts* I really have no idea about wine.

Shortly after our toast, dinner was served!

I meant to shop for 4th of July plates, but I kept putting it off and then it was too late!

I don’t know if it was the wine or if I waited too long to eat — or a combo of both, but I DEVOURED this plate and wanted MORE! Everything was great, especially the salads. I wanted to use feta cheese in the tomato & cuke salad, but to my dismay, the expiration date read April 26th! My mom just bought it a couple weeks ago, how could that be?! Ugh. It was really expensive, too; $8.99 for half a pound, so she’s taking it back to the store. I’m very thorough in expiration date checking in the store, but I guess my mom trusts stores and manufacturers more than me. lol

The goat cheese crumbles made the cuke & tomato salad a little more creamy than I had wanted, but it was still yummy with EVOO + red wine vinegar as the dressing.

I had seconds of the mac and potato salad. Sooooo good! I had just ketchup on my burger. 96% lean beef is extremely dry, drier than ground turkey breast! But it was good anyway. I like dry meat. I’m kinda weird, huh? lol

This is going to be a VERY busy upcoming week and I have a LOT of water weight to lose this week. Sure comes on easily. We didn’t even get to make S’mores yet. Maybe tomorrow night? We’ll see. If I get my exercise + watch my sodium intake, we’ll probably make them. They actually aren’t too bad on calories; 2 graham pieces = 60 cal, 1 marshmallow = 25 cal and 1/2 Hershey bar = 100 cal, 185 calories isn’t bad at all. Now, eating just ONE is the challenge haha.