Eating Dinner With My Family

Ok here is a place you will really see the slacking. :)  We liked it and it was easy.  Company worthy? No.  But just because it wasn't an OMG doesn't mean write it off.  It was a snap to make and I thickly sliced some zucchini and broiled it right along with the salmon and the meat and veg was done at the same time.  I did use the thinner wild salmon and we like our veggies crisp if any of those don't apply to you, that would alter the cooking times.   I think I got it from allrecipes.com and you can feel free to grill the salmon like the recipe says, but I recommend following my instructions I added at the end.  Easier and faster clean up that way.   Grilled Salmon 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets lemon pepper to taste garlic powder to taste salt to taste 1/3 cup soy sauce 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup water 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1. Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garli...

Where to start?  I guess I will start with it was amazing!  We all loved it.  It didn't hurt that we had some stellar corn from Front Porch Pickings , but the whole combination was delicious.  My husband made a piggy of himself again, so he gives it his seal of approval.  That is saying something, since he likes his meat.  This was one of the best meatless Monday recipes we have ever had.  If you look at labels, you will see I have added two.  The first one, "Dad's Favorites", was added after my husband was looking at his bowl and declared, "that was good, too bad I won't ever have it again."  I pointed out that it has been a more than a year and I was willing to repeat every now and then.  He said he would never remember what he loved since there were so many dishes he has tried.  Now, he can click on his label and have a menu to choose from.  I also decided to label them with their average rating.  This one was 4.5 ...

Well this one was kind of split.  The kids loved it and rated it highly.  My husband, who doesn't like white meat, said it was ok, and I agreed.  The meat was moist, and it looked pretty, but it didn't wow me.  We were worried that the fillings would ooze out and end up on the bottom of the grill rather than our plate, but the miracle of fresh mozzarella prevailed and it was melty but not runny so stayed put.  I did give myself some insurance in the form of soaked toothpicks that I used to hold the breasts together, and the breasts were pounded thin to help make sure they cooked through.  So, in the end, not deleted but not a repeater either.  (in retrospect, I should have taken a picture of it sliced, much prettier but you know what they say about hindsight:)    Grilled Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken Stuffed With Fresh Mozzarella & Basil 4 medium boneless skinless chicken breast halves Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 12...

We do our big dinner on Christmas eve and graze on leftovers all day on Christmas.  We had my husband's side of the family in town for tonight and my MIL brought a beautiful prime rib for me to cook.  As it is a special occasion, we had a lot of dishes.  The menu tonight: Grilled Antipasto With Garlicky Bean Dip   Grilled Romaine With Blue Cheese-Bacon Vinaigrette Prime Rib Roast For A Small Crowd        Horseradish Sauce Mashed Potatoes and Gravy Coconut Cream Pie      As there are so many dishes, I figured I would write the post around them.  We started with the grilled antipasto.  It was the first time I had made it, and really loved it. It was a bit of work in that there were a bunch of veggies to be sliced, (I did the peppers and zucchini ahead of time as well as the bean dip), and the veggies took up a lot of space on the grill.  I pretty much had to do one type at a time....

I had bought some baby potatoes that were bogo, and I had some cucumbers from my Front Porch Pickings basket.  This seemed like a tasty recipe that would fit the bill nicely.  It also is a perfect summer recipe in that so much of it is on the grill.  The only aspect of the recipe that was any real work was making a paste of the garlic and mincing the anchovy fine enough to dissolve into the vinaigrette.  I loved this dish; a recipe of the week for sure.  The boys loved it too.  The daughter decided to eat early and did not partake in the dinner but I think she would have loved it too.  I sit here too full of fabulous food to want to rave about it:).  I followed the recipe exactly; for the herbs for the salad I used 3/4 chives and 1/4 parsley. YUM!   Oh and I did double the time I boiled the potatoes because they were really raw after 5 minutes.  I loved that this dish was full of color.  (always good for you as long is it isn'...

I made this dish for me.  It if full of things that one or more of my family members don't care for.  However, I had the eggplant and the zucchini from my Front Porch Pickings basket and I had this in the to try file, and I really wanted to try it.  It was pretty easy to make.  The only things that may be difficult for one when making it really depends on the individual.  Are you uncomfortable with a knife?  Well there is a good bit of easy chopping.  The grill can also be a pain if you have charcoal, since that adds to the time involved.  (or if like us, the gas ran out half way through the cooking time:)  The good news, was it was wonderful!  Everyone liked it.  My son, who usually gags when eating eggplant loved it.  (he didn't realize that there was eggplant in it until near the end of the meal;)  It is a really nice, loaded with veggies, dish that pleased everyone.  I did alter the recipe only a tiny bit....

I am being overwhelmed, again, with a bulging pantry and refrigerator.  I have decided to have my own personal version of Chopped and just dive in with a hodgepodge of ingredients and pray for the best.  I figured I would make this salad (as I am really into grilled romaine right now) and throw together something from stuff lying around for an entree.  The salad was amazing.  I think the best grilled romaine salad so far.  My husband and son agree.  What made this one better?  Well the dressing was awesome.  A great dressing to have around period.  I also liked that the salad included a 'garnish' of cool uncooked romaine chopped finely over the top.  Really the whole thing was perfection.  Just a note on the side, my chopped dish, Cornbread Dressing with Sausage and Collard Greens was a super smash too!  I am so happy and proud, but since I know tomorrow's dish may be a dismal failure, I am separating the posts into two....

I am cheating again.  I made 3 recipes tonight, but am posting one per day. (I have good reasons this time not just lazy or allowing my family a repeat)  The menu tonight consisted of Sticky Garlic Chicken Skewers, Collard Greens and Spicy Cheddar, Bacon & Jalapeno Double Corn Muffins .  It wasn't intentional, but making the collard greens today seems oddly fitting.  A very dear friend of mine passed away and she loved southern food and collards in particular.  She also baked corn bread.  Her funeral is tomorrow, but it is too far away for me to attend.  When I realized I was making a dish that was totally her, it was bitter sweet.  We had cooked together often when we were in the same town, and I kind of  felt her there with me tonight.  Including our customary cooking snafu. (I left the cheese out of the batter and actually had the muffins in the oven before I noticed!) I don't want the post to be all emotional....

Well the good news is I liked this as much, if not better, than the fish picatta.  The bad news is grilling fish is a total pain!  The thinnest part of the fillet fell through the grate when I flipped it; the big pieces fell apart.  I almost used the veggie/fish basket, but there was no mention of it in the recipe.  I figured Bobby Flay wouldn't lead me astray.  Oh Bobby!  You have never disappoint in recipes, and in all fairness this one didn't either, but the mess in the bottom of my grill!  You could have warned me; taught me a better way, something:(.  Its ok, I forgive you. Some of our all time favorite recipes come from you so I won't hold a grudge.  My husband, however, when he starts cleaning the grill may;).  The orzo was awesome.  The boy devoured his portion and some of dads. Grilled Tilapia With Lemon Butter, Capers And Orzo  1    lemon,finely zested  2    lemons,juiced ...

Ok attempt two at grilling pizza!  It was so much more successful this time.  We went to the opposite end of the spectrum as far as toppings.  These were minimal in the extreme, and this recipe didn't call for the flipping of the dough.  There were still some issues.  There were parts that were "extra" charred.  When that started to happen, we turned down the heat and closed the lid to make sure that the top part of the dough cooked and the cheese melted. I enjoyed the pizza, and my husband liked it much better than last nights.  I absolutely hate burnt anything, but the blackened spots were pretty good.  (they were spread out)  Only advice I can give is be extra attentive to how much salt you put on, its easy to over do it, and be mindful of how well you spread out the red pepper flakes.  I thought, that with a nice salad, this was a really great meal.   Grilled White Pizza  1    (8-ounce) ball prepared pizz...

It's Monday and we are trying to do Meatless Mondays.  While we have had at least one day a week in the past that has meatless dinners, we are making an effort to have the entire day be meatless. (for the kids when possible)  I decided I wanted to do something I have always wanted to try, grilling pizza.  My husband scoffed at the idea of grilling pizza. (He scoffed at the idea of grilled romaine too, but he loved it)  My husband was not as enamored with this pizza as he was with the grilled romaine.  I can attribute this to two reasons.  1) He has an aversion to the texture of raw tomatoes, and these were lightly cooked.  2) He did the actual grilling.  Its Florida and it's summer; it is hot sweaty work, which is why I happily took him up on his offer to do the grilling.  I prepped everything he needed and gave it to him as needed:)  There were some logistical issues with the grilling that really needed some familiarity with the process...

I think this is the first of the F&W staff favorites that disappointed us a bit.  It was alright but not particularly memorable.  We did alter it a bit.  I only used a pound and a half of meat.  The burgers were plenty big with less meat.  The only blue cheese at the market was  danish style and probably stronger than what was recommended, but the burgers weren't overwhelmingly blue cheesy.  I don't care for brioche and we had some buns already.  And lastly, there weren't the right peppers at the market and a quick search on my phone suggested cubanelles as a substitute.  It was tasty but I can't see us making it again.  Maybe we have become a bit too picky, but we have plenty of recipes we love so... It was different and that is something:) Green-Chile Burgers With Fried Eggs 2 1/4 lb ground chuck,preferably organic Salt and freshly ground pepper 1/2 lb mild American blue cheese such as Maytag Blue Cheese, cut into 4 slices...

I have been slacking on the recipes as we are in Tennessee enjoying the mountains. While we have been cooking dinner every night, they have been recipes that were already on the blog.  I have cheated a bit by scheduling posts of sides and snacks I made before we left.  I am not sorry, I am loving my vacation. (can you say white water rafting!!!)  However, tonight we are making this grilled pork tenderloin that we love but somehow neglected to make during the blog era. This is an Alton Brown Recipe.  (always good)   We are having it with my black beans recipe and rice and a salad. The post marinade is genius; the combination of pork and lime, sublime.  We all ate way too much.  This was the first time we actually cooked it on a grill.  (Usually we just cook it under the broiler). Yummy! It was also nice that our salad had lots of local veggies we got from a road side stand. Grilled Pork Tenderloin 1    whole pork...

I had a variety of gorgeous eggplants from my Front Porch Pickings basket.  I decided rather than puree these beauties into Baba Ganoush, which everyone would eat, I was making them all for me.  I had been wanting to try this recipe anyways.  The sauce was good but very garlicky, so go light.  The biggest issue with the dish was totally my fault.  Some of the eggplants in the basket were babies and not ideal grilling fodder. That kept the recipe from being great.  I also hate to not to do justice to a great product so that's a double grrrrr for me.  Oh added bonus, the high sugar content of the sauce make it quite a chore to clean up the grill. (or grill basket as in my case) Easy Thai Grilled Eggplant 1 Chinese eggplant (other types of eggplant will work too) 4 T soy sauce 4 T oyster sauce 2 T fish sauce 2 T brown sugar + 1-2 more tsp. 7 -8 cloves garlic,minced 1 fresh minced red chili,OR 1-2 tsp. chili sauce (optional) 2 T w...

I know I said no more burgers for a while.  Its a long, boring story, so sufficed to say I had some ingredients I needed to use.  This Bobby Flay recipe was, as expected, very tasty.  Even my husband didn't complain that we were having burgers again after a bite.  The recipe is really for the chipotle mayo.  The rest of the slider was kind of up to the individual.  We diverged from the recipe by replacing salt and pepper with adobo seasoning. Also, because my chipotles in adobo were frozen, I didn't have much of the adobo once thawed, so I added a dash or two of chipotle Tabasco and some garlic powder. Sliders With Chipotle Mayonnaise Chipotle Mayonnaise 1 c  mayonnaise 2    chipotles in adobo sauce 1 T  adobo sauce 1/2    lime,juice Salt and freshly ground black pepper Add all the ingredients to a food processor and puree. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Sliders 1 to 1 1/2 pounds ground chuc...

My friend's husband is a wizard at the grill.  I don't know if it is the sauce or the fact that he stokes this monster fire of different woods to get that amazing smoke flavor, or even that he had just caught the shrimp himself.  All I know is I didn't have enough room for all I ate but I didn't get enough! On the menu tonight was: grilled shrimp, grilled veggies, steak, kielbasa, baked beans, coleslaw, watermelon and mojitos. The Famous Mug!  I was having too much fun to ask for all the recipes, but as I didn't want to neglect the blog completely, I got the recipe for his sauce.  He starts with an old and beloved mug with Garfield on it.  He adds 1/2 c of butter, 1/2 cup of toasted sesame marinade and about 10 drops of lime juice.  He then fills the rest of the mug with some water.  (about a 1/2 cup)  He microwaves it for 30 seconds or so and them brushes them liberally over the shrimp skewers.  He also makes a similar sauce I...

Well yet another burger.  My husband has strongly requested we back off the burgers for a while.  I can't promise it.  I get a bit obsessive.  I have found so many amazing variations of the classic burger and I want to explore it's many infinite possibilities until I feel I have attained some mastery.  My husband argues that we have many we have mastered and that is true but by no means equals burger mastery.  And here is the thing, I love variety and we could eat all manner of "burgers" and the only thing that lumps them in to the same category is the  bun. (if that see the Crunchy Kimchi Burgers ) I have just seen that we have had 20 different kinds of burgers this year.  Most of these have been in the last few months.  Ok, honey I will try to back off but I can't promise:).  These burgers were really good.  I did have a little mistake that I made that I think ending up making the burger better.  When I saw chile I read chil...

My husband thought I was nuts.  I told him repeatedly that I have seen grilled romaine many time on cooking shows, but he thought I was just being silly.  But as we were grilling tonight and had romaine in the fridge, I insisted.  I loved what the grill did to the lettuce.  It gave it this slight smoky char that was really something.  The dressing was great too.  The boy devoured his and the husband had to admit that he was wrong and that it was really great.  That was almost better than the meal;). Grilled Romaine Salad 2    heads romaine lettuce Extra-virgin olive oil Citrus Caesar Vinaigrette (recipe below) Parmigiano-Reggiano Rinse and pat dry the lettuce. Cut the 2 heads in half lengthwise. Brush surface with olive oil and grill about 4 to 5 minutes total, turning occasionally. Place each wedge on a salad plate and drizzle with Citrus Caesar Vinaigrette or your favorite Caesar dressing. With a vegetable peeler, shave some...

I let my husband pick tonight's recipe and he did really good job of it!  I loved the lamb alone much less with a bit of the garlicky tahini.  It was a perfect medium/ medium rare. (the pieces weren't perfectly uniform in size) I let the lamb marinate for  about 2.5 hours.  I think the longer marinade time is necessary.  I didn't have dried mint so I dried some in the oven to go in the marinade. I always make a salad with dinner, but instead of our usual oil and balsamic reduction, I made a miso and tahini dressing that I fell in love with.  I still had a bit of miso to use up and I thought this would go well with dinner.  (it did;) Turkish Shish Kebabs With Garlicky Tahini 6    garlic cloves,crushed 3 T  extra-virgin olive oil,plus more for brushing 3 T  fresh lemon juice 1 t  kosher salt 1 t  freshly ground pepper 1 t  dried mint 1 t  dried oregano 1 1/2 lb trimmed boneless leg of lamb...