Sunday BBQ & Cinder Cake

Let me start by saying, I've found a new summer guilty pleasure. When we were at the Ryans' house on the 4th, Jack offered us a new Bud Light Lime. Okay, between pregnancies and not wanting to intoxicate my infants, I haven't really had an alcoholic drink in about...uh, 4 years! But, I had seen the commercial for the Bud Light Lime, and really wanted to try it. YUM. Even if you don't like beer, it's worth trying on of these - ice cold - out on your deck in the evening. Have your husband fire up the grill, make sure your kids are entertained, settle into your comfy patio chair with a delicious, summery appetizer, and just drink one and think of me, please! Thanks, Ryans! (Of course, having said all of this, I've yet to finish an entire bottle. I don't want to knock Thomas out for the night!)

This leads me to our small Sunday dinner. We were feeling a little less than inspired to make much, but Shaun offered to grill something. We had a whole chicken in the fridge, and we to try another beer can chicken so that it could just sit on the smoker while we did yard work. We had tried one once in San Diego, and we couldn't remember if we liked it or not. Out comes the Bud Light Lime again! So I mixed up the beer/sauce, and got the can ready for our "diet coke can" chicken, then he took care of the rest. In the end, it was okay, but we weren't super excited about it. It had a good smoked taste, but we couldn't really taste any of the other flavors at all. I think it's just going to take a lot for another whole chicken recipe to beat our favorite: Simple Whole Roasted Chicken! Oh well, now we know.




I needed a quick side, and I had bought some fresh green beans to try Tami's beans/bacon idea, so I went with that. Basically, these beans were sauteed with onions in the bacon grease, then I added a little water to cook them a bit as it evaporated off, then I just seasoned them with salt and pepper - and topped them with the bacon. Not sure if that's exactly how you explained it to me, Tami, but hopefully it was close! Thanks so much - we all really liked them - and Audrey even ate some!


That morning, I had put together a modified version of my mom's Cinder Cake as a little summery treat for Audrey, and also in an attempt to find another dessert that Shaun would actually enjoy. I don't know why I never thought of making this before for him, but wow - this went over even better than the potato salad! It barely survived Monday! I only made a half batch so that we could make another later. My mom's recipe has a homemade chocolate fudge layer; probably not as tasty, but I took a short cut and bought mine. We're going to try it with either mint Oreos or Thin Mints and mint chocolate chip ice cream next! Here's the full recipe if interested:

Cinder Cake

1 package Oreos

1 stick butter

1 half gallon vanilla ice cream

1 jar of hot fudge

1 small Cool Whip

Crush Oreos and mix with melted butter. Press into the bottom of a 13x9" pan -freeze. Top with slightly softened ice cream - freeze. Heat hot fudge a little, and smooth over ice cream - freeze. Top with Cool Whip, and garnish with a few crushed Oreos - freeze!