Dinner and Dessert Menu for the Weathermen on the Porch at Frog Hollow Farm

It's raining outside - and I'm supposed to be on my way to my yoga class but I've decided that I don't want to get wet, so I'm here posting Part 2 of the Weathermen's Barbeque menu.  Don't get me wrong, I love yoga and feel great whenever I practice either in a class or on my own, but today is just not a yoga class day for me. 

Okay, now for the dinner menu from our gathering on Saturday here at Frog Hollow Farm!!  Several of these recipes are from Ina Garten's collection.  I just love her style and everything about her!

Dinner 

Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs

Oven Fried Chicken

I made this the day before, and just heated it briefly in the oven before serving.

Hot Dogs/Hamburgers

(for those people who only eat hot dogs and hamburgers at a bbq)

Vegetable Coleslaw

I cheated on this, using Marie's coleslaw dressing, 2 packages of pre-shredded coleslaw mix and shredded red cabbage - Marie's coleslaw dressing is really delicious!

Szechuan Noodles

Green Salad

Rigatoni with Cabbage and Fontina in the Oven

(absolutely stick to your ribs delicious recipe from my good friend Liz)

All of the dishes, except for the meats, are vegetarian since several of our guests did not eat meat.  The pasta dish was a bit heavier for the summer but FHFB insisted (as all good Sicilians would) that we have a pasta dish on the menu.  I wanted to serve something that I could prepare the day before and just heat up briefly before serving.  It might have been a bit much with the szechuan noodle salad, but the dishes are so different that I don't think it was too much pasta. 

My friend Liz served this pasta dish to us a few weeks ago at her house on Hunt's Pond.  It was delicious then and now is a staple recipe for us both - we have been talking about putting together a cookbook of our favorite recipes since our days of vacationing in Wellfleet, Cape Cod with our families.  With five kids we often cooked dinner each night, and we have developed quite an inventory of absolutely delicious recipes. 

(I often wonder how we did all that cooking while drinking all those margaritas.)

On Saturday, our bar was set up with icey cold lemonade, refreshing margaritas, bottled beer, various sodas and sparkling water. 

For the lemonade, I used a frozen lemonade mix since we were serving about 25 adults, and added sparkling water instead of regular water.  Earlier that week I made lemonade ice cubes with blueberries and sprigs of mint.  I added these to the lemonade along with sliced lemons.  It looked and tasted so delicious and refreshing. 

The margaritas were from the Frog Hollow Farm Margarita recipe and were made ahead of time, except for the ice that was added when each blenderful was made.  Just like with the lemonade, I had frozen limeade ice cubes prepared ahead of time with thin slices of lime for guests who wanted to keep their margaritas cold since the day ended up being hot, hot, hot!!

Dessert

Coconut Cupcakes

I've made these before and included the link on a prior post.  I can't stop making them, they are so delicious and so easy to make!

Blueberry Tarts

These were catered from the pastry chef at Mattar's Restaurant, a local restaurant nearby

Sliced Watermelon

refreshing

I think that FHFB and I are still recuperating from the day.  We love entertaining on our porch, and love sharing our home with friends.  One thing that I still struggle with is simplicity - planning and executing a party without feeling overwhelmed and tired.  My daughter Katie (and the new boyfriend Sean!!!) drove over from Brooklyn to be my kitchen slave for the day - and thank goodness she did.  All of the dishes were washed, the food was put away, and the kitchen was in order at the end of the night.  Without her help I would probably still be cleaning up. 

Thank you sweet Katie!! (and Sean)!

It's still raining, yikes, but I do have to get myself up and out in about 30 minutes. 

Thank you so very much for stopping by!

Ciao, bella!