Family Reunion- Larson Sale meals

My mother’s side of the family planned one of the few family reunions that we’ve actually had.  Her cousins own a ranch in the Northwest part of Colorado about an hour outside of Fort Collins.  We got to stay in a house that dates from the late 1800s and used to be a stage coach stop.  It’s been updated and remodeled to be a fun vacation rental.  They’ve decorated each bedroom with a different theme.  I stayed in the duck room upstairs. 

We had family come in from Texas, Arizona, and New York City.  The suggestion for the reunion was for each family to make a day’s worth of meals.  We ate so well that I came back not only with more love in my heart but also on my hips.

We arrived on Saturday the 26^th.  My mom started the trip off with dinner to celebrate her cousin’s sixtieth birthday.  We started off with guacamole and whole grain chips as an appetizer.  I helped make the guacamole.  Our guacamole always contains: ripe avocados, pico de gallo, seasoned salt, and lime.  Mix it until chunky.  My dad fired up the charcoal grill and grilled pork tenderloin in a roasted pineapple and habanero glaze.  He also grilled fresh pineapple for a side.  My mom managed the other sides: roasted purple, red, and gold petite potatoes, and a fresh garden salad with orange Muscat champagne vinegar and Italian olive oil.  The whole meal turned out amazing.  My mom had to make due with a vacation kitchen that didn’t have all of her seasoning grinders.  We roughed it out though.  The pork was moist and delicious.  I was surprised by the purple potatoes.  They’re actually purple all the way through. 

Dessert was a chocolate Kahlua cake my mom had baked at home.  It was baked in a bundt pan and covered in chocolate frosting.  It was served with 60 flaming candles on top which made for a dramatic entrance.  Moist chocolate cake with rich chocolate frosting was a decadent welcome into vacation.

The next day, my parents were also in charge of breakfast.  My mom whipped up a family breakfast meal that has been dubbed “John Wayne.”  If you’re wondering how it got this name, apparently it was reported in the LA Times that this dish was John Wayne’s favorite breakfast.  It’s been in the family for decades.  This breakfast dish is a mixture of eggs, green chilies, jack cheese, milk and bisquick baked in a casserole.  It’s best served with some pico de gallo or other salsa.  She served it with a side of hashbrowns as well as fresh fat strawberries.  These strawberries were huge!

After a few hours of welcoming more family members and playing games, we’d worked up an appetite.  My mom had prepared lunch and brought it.  She made an East India curried chicken salad.  She used yellow curry to season it.  I like her chicken and tuna salads because she includes almonds and celery for a little crunch.  It helps make a more pleasing texture to the food.  This curried chicken salad was served on honey whole wheat bread from a bakery back in Littleton.  We also had some whole grain chips on the side.  As if this lunch wasn’t amazing enough, my mom had also prepared some Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownies.  These brownies come from a mix but they’re the best I’ve tasted.  Mom always adds some semi sweet dark Ghirardelli chocolate chips to pump up the chocolate.  The brownies are moist and rich.  She made a large 9 x 13 inch pan of them.  They kept mysteriously disappearing throughout the week.