We survived another dinner having the linebackers over! I say that because feeding 15 hungry players is always an undertaking and making sure there is a ton of food so they can eat as much as they want and have some to take home too always stresses me out. There’s nothing worse than not making enough food. At the store we always grab what we think, plus a little extra because you never know how big their appetites will be that night, and it’s alwayyys better to have more than not enough!  We wanted to have them over for a barbecue during Spring Ball and it worked out perfectly with good weather for this final week of Spring Ball. It’s always fun having them over and I get to see who Eric spends all of his time with 😉

The menu included an all carb feast of chili dogs, hamburgers, a “manly” pasta salad, chips and cookies. The pasta salad was “manly” because when Eric and I were trying to figure out what to cook and I said pasta salad as a side, I was thinking a simple Italian one with tomatoes, olives, broccoli florets plus salami, cheese and pepperocinis.  But all that ended up making the cut and approval from Eric was the salami, cheese and pepperocinis and it ended up being a huge hit! I’m glad I didn’t cut up a bunch of cherry tomatoes to end up with a bowl of leftover, picked around tomatoes. Calm before the storm! This dinner was actually pretty easy for me because Eric did all the bbq’ing so he was feeling the heat this time. 😉I swear there’s a burger patty under there somewhere…
We set up tables in the backyard because the weather was perfect that evening to hang outside, plus our house is a little small for 15 giant guys to be hanging out inside.. although we’ve done it when it’s cold and it always works out fine 😉 The best part of the dinner I think for all of the guys was some friendly competition playing Cornhole. Eric made this Cornhole set back in college, it’s painted with a football field on it, and he customized it when we moved here for the Vandals. The best dinners we’ve had for the players includes playing this, they all seem get a kick out of it.
Eric getting in on the action!
Funny story about these cookies.. so it’s Monday night and Eric talked me into making some cookies and we know the players love the Funfetti box cookies. So I’m looking at the recipe I used for the cookie sandwiches I made awhile back to make the cookies. It’s all mixed up and I’m scooping them out onto cookie sheets, and I go to roll them in my hands and I can’t pick them up, the dough is super gooey and sticky and I realize.. ok something is wrong here.. so I go back to the recipe and I’m like yes I did all this right I’m not an idiot.. but I ammm because I used the wrong size box of cookie mix UGH! Who knew they made a 15 ounce box and an 18 ounce box and who can tell the difference without looking specifically at the package size! So I followed the recipe for an 18 ounce box of cookies.. with 15 ounce boxes…I was so annoyed and stressed that these 50+ cookies were going to be so awful and go to waste. Thankfully they tasted great in the end but they were totally crunchy on the outside..whoops! But, now I know! 😉  It was so fun having the players over and I’m glad we survived with enough food, lots of laughs and perfect weather!

xo CB