grilling for the holiday!

Happy 4th of July!  Last night we went out with friends, and my night ended with the most gigantic, delicious, and greasy slice of pizza ever.  Hello, JUMBO SLICE!

Yum!  After that crazy night, I definitely wanted some 'real' food today. So, to celebrate the 4th, we hosted a barbecue, and with access to the grill and friends to try my cooking, I made two salmon dishes!  We also made my boyfriend's family's recipe of Macaroni Salad, which I absolutely love.  First, you dice up all sorts of goodies:

Lots and lots of chopping involved with this dish.  In fact, over the years I think this recipe is what has made me into an expert chopper!

Finished product!  Not for vegans, vegetarians, or anyone with gluten or lactose intolerances, haha.  Onto the salmon recipes!  First, I made Dilled Salmon and Vegetable Packets.  I like the grill packet recipes, because you can just toss them on the grill and not worry about making a mess.  The only downside is that it's harder to know when they are done.

I haven't made anything with dill before, and it was great!  Also, the sugar snap peas were quite tasty - thanks Susan for figuring out how to take the strings out!  (She came to visit me for the weekend!)  The next salmon recipe was Salmon with Spring Veggies.

Look at those yummy veggies on the grill!  The flavor was delicious, even though I had to improvise with some of the spices.  I have never roasted veggies on the grill before, so I was a little worried when the pepper turned black.  However, I learned that peppers always do that and they turned out great - the pepper was actually kind of sweet!

I accidentally forgot to serve this dish with the buttery sauce - oops!  I have some leftover salmon, so I will have to try it out with the sauce later!

On the running front - I meant to go Saturday morning and failed, and then thought I'd go this morning, but early mornings runs do not mix with late nights out!  I hopefully will get a chance to go running tomorrow, or at the very latest, Tuesday morning.  This upcoming week is kind of crazy, so my #1 goal is to run at least twice - but the cooking might not happen as frequently.