Decorate Your Table With Style

When in doubt, opt for a neutral pallet. We always like to keep the plates, napkins, utensils, and table coverings all neutral. That way you can use them again and again for future parties. Bring in the color with the food, drinks, and fresh flowers!

For Labor Day we’re all about accenting the food and drinks with flags!

Bring in pillows and candles to decorate the outdoors is the simplest way to make your space feel warm and cozy! Lay a blanket on the grass with tons of pillows.

Serve Good Food and Brews

Two of my favorite go-to BBQ recipes are Chicken Kabobs and Spinach Orzo Pasta and, of course, some ice cold brews.

Honey Chicken Kabobs

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• Salt, Pepper
• Vegetables of your choice – Green, Red, Yellow Peppers, Onion. We used 1 of each.
• Skewers
• Garlic Salt
• 8 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut in halves

In a bowl, whisk vegetable oil, honey, salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Set aside.

Chop up chicken and vegetables.

Then combine all ingredients into a bowl or like us- use a large zip lock bag. Let sit and marinade within refrigerator for minimum 2 hours. I usually like to let marinate for a good 6 hours or even the night before to make sure it’s all nice and flavorful! The longer is sits, the more flavor it will get.

You’ll also want to soak your skewers in water so they don’t flame up and start on fire on the grill.

After you’ve let your vegetables and chicken marinate, it’s time to throw them onto the skewers. I have no pattern, I just like to make them look pretty and full of color. So I usually just make sure enough of all the peppers are on each skewer and I load them up with chicken.

Once they are all skewered up, throw them on the grill on low heat, rotating slowly to ensure each side gets perfectly cooked. There you have it, our delicious chicken honey kabobs.

These are also great for when you have friends over mingling, it makes for great finger food. Your friends can just eat them directly off the stick.

Orzo Pasta

My other favorite go-to BBQ treat, Orzo Pasta. This is a great side dish, that tastes both delicious hot or cold. Although, I usually service it warm.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Red Pepper
• 1/2 Green Pepper
• 1/2 Yellow Pepper
• 1 Small Onion
• 1 Small Tomato
• 1 Bag of Spinach
• 3 Chicken Bouillon Cubes

As you’re cooking the pasta, dice up the peppers, onion and tomato. Set the vegetables aside while the orzo pasta is cooking. Once the pasta is cooked, drain, and pour into a bowl and mix the vegetables, the full bag of spinach and chicken bouillon cubes. Mix all ingredients around together and serve! Easy as that. And is delicious as leftovers.

And of course, you can’t forget the brews! We love supporting our local breweries. If you live in Minnesota, here are a few of our favorites that you can always find growlers of in our fridge.

Townhall Brewery- Minneapolis, MN

Lupulin Brewery- Big Lake, MN

Don’t Forget the Games and Music!

Of course you can’t forget about the games and some good background music! To keep the good vibes flowing try Pandora or Spotify, they always have great playlists.

Hipster BBQ is worth playing if you will be sipping on PBR at a rooftop party, with music by Generationals, Empire Of The Sun, and Fitz & The Tantrums. Reggae BBQ Radio will get your hips moving with songs from Bob Marley, Beres Hammond, The Fugees, and Tony Rebel. Southern Rock BBQ Radio may be just the perfect soundtrack with songs from Waylon Jennings, Eric Clapton, and Lynyrd Skynrd. Find more at: Great Playlists for Any Occasion. 

Bags is our favorite go-to BBQ game. Of course we have to always have the red, white, and blue bags for the fun Labor Day occasion! Other great outdoor games to involve a lot of people are cornhole, giant jenga, ladder golf, or bocce ball!