Basil & Pulled Crock Pot Chicken (2 ways)

Happy July! I can’t believe we’re already (almost) to the 4th. Hope you have fun plans to celebrate. Lots of pictures/recipes to share, so I’ll try to let the pictures do most of the talking.

My parents came down on Saturday night to go to Basil with Josh and I.

We started out with their delicious Basil rolls.  

 

For dinner, I had the Vegetables delight:

 

and Josh had the Pad Thai:

 

Josh’s parents watched Kay, so I got to eat with two hands! Amazing:

 

On Sunday, we had our friends Bryan and Mandi over for dinner. In preparation, I got up early on Sunday morning and threw dinner in the crock pot for both Sunday and Monday night.

BBQ pineapple chicken (for Sunday):

 

Buffalo pickle chicken (for Monday):

 

Both turned out great.

Alongside the BBQ chicken, I threw together a salad with spinach, iceberg, avocado, peaches, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds. I topped the salad with a simple lemon/olive oil dressing:

 

cheese and pickles to top the bbq chicken sandwiches:

 

Roasted local squash and zucchini:

Mandi brought along some beautiful fruit:

And I made cookies for dessert:

We had a blast hanging out!!

In other news…it won’t stop raining here.  

 

We’ve had weeks and weeks of downpours. Bah!

And in more happy news, Kaylin loves oatmeal as much as I do now!

  

Whats been going on with you? What are you doing for the 4th??

Chopped Salad & TEAS’ TEA® Giveaway!

Since I work half time at my “regular” job (non group fitness instructor job), I have every Friday off. I love getting lots of Kaylin time in. This morning, I got up early and ran/took half hour pump. Once Kay and I were cleaned up, we ran a couple errands and then headed over to dip in Mimi’s pool:

After, we fueled up with lunch. Kay had watermelon, carrots and a quesadilla:

While Kay took a nap, I did laundry, ironed, and made bars. I also made a batch of granola for my Dad:

 

The rest of the day was spent playing. Dinner involved black beans. Kay is a pretty big fan, but it is a messy food. We usually do this one sans shirt:

Josh and I also enjoyed black beans on top of a chopped salad of sorts. Excuse the overexposure of the egg whites. The salad included spinach, iceberg, turkey, black beans, carrots, egg whites, cheese, avocado, and pepperoni (on Josh’s- I went sans pepperoni):

 

On the side, we had tortilla chips & watermelon. Great, easy Friday night dinner!

And now, for a giveaway! Despite being a “private” blog, TEAS’ TEA® was still willing to do a giveaway! A little bit about the company and the social media sweepstakes they have going on (according to the company):

“ITO EN’s TEAS’ TEA® brand, the all-natural, ready-to-drink iced tea, named from the Japanese expression Ocha no Naka No Ocha, simply meaning “The Tea of ALL Teas!” 

From Memorial Day through Labor Day, TEAS’ TEA® is kicking off a sweepstakes that includes a grand prize trip to Australia inclusive of a VIP tour of ITO EN’s Tea Farm.  To participate, fans can register at TEAS’ TEA® Facebook page and then use Facebook, Twitter or Instagram to capture a refreshing summer moment and share it via the hashtag #Teafreshing.  On top of the grand prize, fans will receive hundreds of other prizes all summer long such as cameras, tablets, beach gear, and free beverages.”

To help promote the sweepstakes, TEAS’ TEA is giving two Itzy’s Kitchen readers a coupon for a free beverage!

To enter, leave a comment on this post by Monday, July 1 at noon telling me your favorite summer beverage. The winners will be randomly selected!

What are you up to this weekend??