4th of July Cookout!!

Here is the much anticipated, highly promoted 4th of July cookout post!!  Complete with recipes!!  Just as promised to my loyal Facebook followers - oh, you do not follow me on Facebook - well what are you waiting for??  Come on over and join us at Mommy Fix!!  And, I digress....  Our menu was extensive: grilled swordfish steaks with buttery lemon garlic marinade , bacon wrapped filet mignon, salt and pepper rubbed ribeyes, southern fried shrimp, grilled shrimp, southern crock pot green beans, deviled eggs, fresh fruit and rolls..and french fries for the kids ;)  Our plans were grand: Big Daddy and the big boys would pick up all of the delicious goodness from a local butcher first thing in the morning and then enjoy the afternoon at the movies while Mommy shopped for the last minute items and food prepped while baby took a nap.  Mommy even posted to all of her amazing followers that pics and recipes would be coming!!!  Sounds like a flawless plan, right???  O.K. - here's what really happened  - the food pick up went off without a hitch and baby took his first nap of the day - a whole 30 min...in my arms - would NOT let me lay him down.  OK - no biggie - I'll shop when the guys get back - they can keep baby at home, I'll be able to really concentrate and move fast!  Nope, once they got back there was a full 30 min. until they needed to leave for the movie.  It's cool - I'm used to moving and grooving with baby - Let's DO This!!!  I quickly rinse the shrimp in the sink, put the eggs on to boil, snapped the beans and assembled all of the ingredients in the crock pot to cook.

 I then went about arranging all that scrumptious meat on a platter - Instagram and Twitter time!!  I was so proud of myself - and Big Daddy was quite pleased with himself when the "likes" started rolling in ;)

Aww, yeah, not our original plan but things were working out just fine.  The big boys head out for the movies and me and baby head to the store for just a couple of ingredients.  45 min. and $50 later...I had obviously forgotten that in the South, the entire town congregates at the local  Wal-Mart on the 4th....we were on our way home!  Until, I realized that I forgot butter....so, we head to our other grocery store, yep - we're a little two horse town - and I find the rest of the town there.  We're good - we're good - baby will nap when we get home and I'll get to work!  He'll take a good one, he's so tired...so tired that he starts to fall asleep in the car on the way home - Awww, shmells NO...just a little"Incognito Cussing"!  Pull in, grab baby and throw the cold stuff in the fridge - shew, he only slept  for a few minutes - there's still hope!  Nurse, rock, beg, pray - yes! He's asleep :)  It's go time!  Mix the marinade for the swordfish, marinate the swordfish, wrap the filets with bacon, what am I gonna do with the shrimp??  Baggie up the flour and spice mix for frying, cajun spice some others, butter and garlic up some more and oh - there's marinade left over from the swordfish??  BAM!

Beans are perking, pop the hard boiled eggs in the fridge - I'll peel and mix them up later, clean up the kitchen mess and start to empty the dishwasher.  Cue the baby - a very fussy baby.  Oh, this was another full 30 min. nap.....  I really needed to empty that dishwasher!  Boys finally get home and Big Daddy is ready to grill!  Give me 30 min. baby free, please!  Full speed in motion - mix up batter for shrimp, put in the french fries, cut up the water melon, mix up the deviled eggs, rolls in the toaster oven - frozen, y'all - I ain't got no time to make real rolls today!  Notice how I do everything in 30 min. increments?  Yeah, I noticed, too.  Meats are on the grill, seafood will be the second round, shrimp is frying....one of the big boys is "baby-sitting" and the other big boy is my little server in the kitchen.

Oh, everything looks so good!  I can't wait to get a picture of all this - it's going to be an amazing post!  And, then, it really all falls to schnitzle...the guys are literally eating the beautiful bacon wrapped filet as they walk into the house...so much for that blog pic.  But, dang y'all - it was delicious!!!  We sat right down - and ate whatever was ready - there was no beautiful table set-up, no full pic of the spread, bless our hearts - I don't even think we said the blessing until we were halfway through!  It was just a lot of yummy goodness and happy boys - which equals a happy heart for me.  Full tummies and happy faces - the boys head upstairs to play and Big Daddy grills up the seafood while I nurse baby, who promptly settles in for his last 30 min. nap of the day.  The kitchen is a mess, the table is a hot mess but there is nowhere I'd rather be...happy boys upstairs, sleeping baby in my arms and sending Big Daddy back and forth for just another piece of shrimp.  The perfect cook-out!  Oh, I did manage to get a pic of the seafood that was left on the table.