It’s the most wonderful time of the year!

No, not time for twinkling lights quite yet, but it’s the weekend when summer and fall beautifully collide. The weekend where you can splash in the water and follow it up by cheering on your favorite college football team. For us this year, it looks like all of us gathering at mom’s house (easy to do since we currently live here), taking the kids tubing, making chili, and cheering on the dawgs!

It’s been a bit of a revolving door here at mom’s house over the few weeks we’ve been living here until our new house is ready in (hopefully) October. Mom has had a girls’ golf trip and also spends a couple nights each week helping care for Nannie (her mom). David has been traveling most weeks with his new job. So we are looking forward to gathering the whole crew together, hanging up some fall leaves decor, and enjoying each others’ company. And what is one of the best parts about family gatherings? THE FOOD!

I sat down the other night to crank out a realistic, but delicious menu for the extended weekend and hoped it would be helpful to share it here. We’ll have nine of us here, spanning three generations, so I like to find food that will happily feed us all.

Labor Day Weekend Menu

Friday

Pizza and Salad- In my ideal world, I’d make the dough and do some homemade pizza stone pizzas, but everyone won’t be here until the evening and the girls and I have have been up at the new house, so Mom and I figured it was easiest to start things off with simple. I don’t think anyone with complain about Mellow Mushroom pizza and Greek salad (especially with that Esperanza dressing).

Saturday

Kris’ Layered Mexican Dip – a family gathering staple that my mom has been making for… decades? My bro gets his name in the title though because it’s his favorite dip and always has been.

Grilled Chicken Wings – debating still whether to bake these or grill them, but both mom and I get free wings in our Butcher Box deliveries, so we always have them on hand. It works out really well for football season to compliment the dips. I usually season them with just salt, pepper, and garlic powder for the simplicity lovers, and put out buffalo sauce, blue cheese, and ranch for those of us that like a little spice.

David’s Famous Chili – is it even football if we don’t have David’s chili? I will make this Saturday morning so it’s ready as a lunch option by the time Georgia and Clemson kick off at noon, but then it will also be ready to top the (below) baked potatoes in the later afternoon/evening.

Baked Potatoes- Washed, dried, rubbed with olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt, and popped into the oven at 400 for at least an hour and you’ll have the easiest and most delicious baked potatoes ever.

Extras: Watermelon, chips and onion dip

Sunday

Gaby’s Juicy Turkey Burgers with Guacamole and Pico – I’ve made these once before, years ago, and they were delicious. Going the turkey burger route in a crowd is a pretty bold move, but I figured we can grab a couple regular burgers as a kid option and jazz things up a bit for the adults!

Corn on the Cob

Cucumber Salad – this simple summery side salad takes less than 10 minutes to make and is delicious. Highly recommend.

Extras: Fruit

Monday

Chicken Fajita Bowls – Simple seasoned and grilled chicken alongside bell peppers and onions sliced and sauteed, ready to go in a tortilla or as the preferred option- a bowl

Mexican Rice– Plain rice totally works, too, but if I still have the energy in me by Monday, jazzing up the line up with Mexican rice sounds fun

Pinto Beans – I always love Love and Lemon’s recipes. Simple and good! Just remember to soak the beans overnight for this one.

Extras: Tortilla Chips with Guacamole and Salsa

Breakfast Options

Pancakes – most likely from a box of Kodiak Cake mix

Chicken Sausages- the oversized organic Jones Farms links from Costco (the best!)

Eggs

Bagels

Oranges and Berries

Lunch Options

Quinoa Salad – tastes so fresh and adds some nice fiber and nutrients to an indulgent weekend

Chicken Salad- will probably pick this up from a local deli

Deli ham and cheese

Cut up carrots, cucumbers, red peppers, and leftover fruit

Do you have any food favorites for Labor Day weekend? Do you travel? Host? Don’t pay it much attention? 🙂