I always start planning for our special dinner by asking the kids what they would like to eat. Jem will always ask for Lasagna with a few of the kids agreeing. Thankfully this year Bubbles and Pippi had other ideas. Bubbles first thought was ribs. This kid defintely takes after her Dad. She is the one who will order ribs when we go to a steak house or bbq restuarant. It doesn’t take much to get Duke on board. Then I had to come up with another meat that the rest of us could enjoy. I’m a huge fan of bbq chicken. I also thought it would be an easy thing to cook. Pippi’s big request was homemade crockpot macaroni and cheese. I also thought it might be nice to have some fresh corn on the cob. We also like to take the chance to try out a new recipe or two.
We came up with a full menu:
Ribs
BBQ Chicken
Mac and Cheese
Corn on the cob
Green beans
Pretzel Bites
Chocolate Peanut Butter Dream Bars
The thing I love most about this meal is that it’s become a family tradition in a couple of ways. Yes, We sing Happy Birthday to each kid and they blow out their Baptism candle. Yes, we celebrate in August/September because there aren’t any major holidays. But my favorite is that most of us work together to cook the meal. I’m sure that doesn’t sound like a big deal to most. I have 3 girls who are more than capable of cooking/baking and they love to do it.
A couple days before our dinner we came up with a plan:
Jem: Make Chocolate PB Dream Bars Saturday morning, 4pm cook green beans, 4pm Help Mom shuck and cook corn on the cob
Pippi: 2-3 hours before 5pm put Macaroni and Cheese in the crockpot, 11am put BBQ Chicken in crockpot (it’s so nice to have 2 crockpots)
Bubbles: Make Pretzel Bites with Mom Friday Night, Help Dad make Ribs 2-3 hours before 5pm
This plan worked out really well. The girls are becoming really good cooks/bakers. It really helps on those days when I’m feeling really bad. The girls are great to step in and cook dinner.
We invited our friend Leslie and her girls over to enjoy the fruits of our labor and to see what a Montee tradition looks like. The food was delicious. The girls and George did a great job. The Pretzel Bites were very popular. The kids had a great time running around and playing. I am very thankful we were able to share such a fun and special tradition with our amazing new friends.
If you are interested in any of the recipes please email me at adventureswithsix@gmail.com
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