Connor’s friend, Rachael, brought these super easy and super tasty little appetizer picks. Luckily I was able to snap a photo before they were all snapped up!

No one had signed up for chips and dip, so I asked Connor to provide those.

You have to have chips and dip!

I threw together a red, white, and blue flag snack tray using, red grapes, banana slices, strawberries, yogurt-covered pretzels, blueberries, and raspberries.

Lastly, I purchased a mock gingerbread house at Trader Joe’s, which was really a sugar cookie White House and I pretended like it was Christmas in July. I loved putting it together since our long family tradition of Marissa and Connor each assembling their own Christmas gingerbread houses has fallen by the wayside. Mostly because they hate it! Oh well, a mom can reminisce.

These were a few of the little extras at the 4^th of July Party Pot-Luck Pool Party. The main course and dessert details will follow in the coming days.

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The main course for the Fall Picnic was two types of sandwiches, the first, a pressed sandwich, the recipe is here today. The second, a chicken sandwich … I’ll post tomorrow.

Pressed Italian Sandwiches

• 4 ciabatta rolls, cut in half horizontally
• 1/2 cup black or green olive tapenade
• 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8 thin slices Genoa salami
• 4 thin slices prosciutto
• 8 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
• 2 roasted red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, sliced
• 8 large fresh basil leaves

Then spread the bottom half of each ciabatta roll with tapenade.

In a small bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil and mustard and season with salt and pepper Drizzle the cut side of top half of each roll with the dressing.

Arrange salami on top of the tapenade, followed by the prosciutto.

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Today our Arizona Cardinals clinched the NFC West division. All that needed to happen was for the San Francisco 49ers to lose to the Philadelphia Eagles, that happened – and for the Cardinals to beat the Detroit Lions in the Motor City, and that happened!  On to the playoffs and then off to Miami and the Super Bowl!  Another great thing that happened in today’s game in Detroit – my friend, Larry Fitzgerald, passed the 1000-yard receiving mark for the third consecutive season and the fourth time overall in his six pro seasons. He also became the youngest NFL player with 7,000 yards receiving, congratulations, Fitz! In honor of Arizona’s great day in Michigan, I have a recipe that is a Detroit area favorite. Go Cards!
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