Fun Foodie Family

Friday Faves 6/6/14

Happy Friday, ya’ll! I hope everyone had a great week and have some fun plans this weekend! I am looking forward to a weekend with friends at an awesome mountain cabin. Time to relax and unwind sans children. They get to play and be spoiled by grandparents, and the grown-ups all get to have a little fun time as well!

Here are just a few of my favorite things this week…

Relaxing at the pool

Family Night Out- This past week, it was Mexican! I had delicious Steak Tacos and a big Margarita

Cooking and Eating almost this entire Porterhouse Steak-

My garden is growing!

Brunch! Cheesy Grits with bacon and jalapeno, sunny side up eggs, and English Muffin

Sleepy Babies

Making Fresh Juice- My middle, Becca, LOVES making juice. This was was simple- carrots and apples. Refreshing!

Homemade Shake and Bake

Chicken, Dips, Dressings, and Spreads, Kids, Pantry Raid

Hey guys! Hope you are having a great week! When I went to the store a couple of days ago, I was planning on making a chicken, broccoli, and rice casserole with all real ingredients, i.e. homemade cream of … soup. Tonight just did not seem like a casserole kind of night, so I put my plan in a new direction. One of my most popular posts is my oven baked chicken…
https://funfoodiefamily.com/2013/08/31/oven-baked-chicken/

I thought, “Maybe I could make that recipe, but even better.” I did just that. I made my own version of “Shake and Bake” and added it to boneless skinless chicken breasts (you could substitute pork chops) with a plenty of salt and pepper and olive oil.

Homemade Shake and Bake- I eyeballed all these servings- Add more or less of what you want.

2 cups plain breadcrumbs
1 cup shredded or crumbled parmesan cheese
1 handful of chopped fresh herbs- basil, sage, marjoram, oregano
Mix together in a large zip top bag.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
I took 2 chicken breasts and salt and peppered them liberally on both sides. Then I covered both of them with olive oil. I added the chicken breasts to the zip top bag with the Homemade mixture and shook them up. The girls had fun with this part. I put them in a sprayed baking dish. Bake for about 45 minutes.

Pantry Raid sides- I served with steamed fresh broccoli (steam for 20 minutes in a steamer), a side of rice (boxed Zataran’s mild), and cheesy garlic bread (frozen).

Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich

Leftovers/ Freezer Meals, Sandwiches, Vegetarian

Monday my husband and I went to a mediterranean place in town. I got a veggie plate, which had tons of hummus, babaganoush (eggplant dip), tzatziki, pita, tabouli, greek salad, and falafel. I had tons of leftovers, so I have been having the dips and tabouli with pita chips for snacks then last few days. Today I found a sad cucumber (I peeled, cut in half, and deseeded it) in the back of my fridge drawer and still had some leftover tomatoes and lettuce from dinner last night. We also had some Naan in the pantry, which I warmed on gas eye on low for a few second on each side to get it warm. All these combined together made a delicious veggie sandwich from my leftover dips and veggies. Perfect light summer lunch!

Burger Bar

Beef, Side dishes...veggies, potatoes, grains

Evening all! Tonight I had a brilliant idea. Well, I remembered an idea I had a while back. It was the taco bar. Except now, I decided to change it up and have a burger bar. Cool right? Tomato, lettuce, bacon, different cheeses, different condiments (ketchup, BBQ sauce, mayo, mustard, horseradish etc.), worcestershire mushrooms and onions (recipe included)… you get the drift…add what you know everyone likes and go with it!

Burgers-
I took a pound of meat and let it come to room temperature. Do this with all meats; it provides a better way for your meat to cook evenly. To the meat 1/2 of a minced or grated onion or 1 teaspoon of onion powder, 1 clove of minced garlic or 1 teaspoon garlic powder, 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper, at least 1 teaspoon if not more of each. Take off your rings, and just get in there… mix it all together, but DO NOT OVERMIX! Your meat can become tough. Portion out 4 burgers. I just take the meat and cut it into 4 equal pieces. You could use a knife, vegetable chopper, or pizza cutter. Form your patties to fit your buns. Press your thumb in the middle of the burger. Why? Well, this creates a uniform and level burger that cooks more evenly. If you don’t, your burger will be fat in the middle and flat on the outsides. No bueno.

Now on to the pan. Grills are fine. Cast iron grills are better. Cast iron pans are the best. I love how the burgers get that yummy crust and picks up all the flavoring of the cast iron pan, not to mention adds to the pan’s flavoring. Make sure your pan is SCREAMING hot so they don’t stick. Add the burgers and leave them. DO NOT PRESS ON THE BURGER! Resist the urge to turn them over until they are ready… I can tell they are ready when a see a tiny crust forming and about half of the burger seems to be turning from pink to brown. I say about 6 minutes or so. Turn it; behold it’s glory….

Worcestershire Mushrooms and Onions

1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 container of mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce
3 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Heat pan with enough olive oil to coat the pan, about 2 tablespoons
Add onions and mushrooms.
cook down for about 10 minutes.
Add worcestershire sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Mix well. Let cook as long as possible on low heat.

Nutella and Banana Puff Pastry

Sweet Treats

I was reading a cooking magazine today that shared a recipe for Nutella and Banana Crepes. I had over ripe bananas and almost an entire container of Nutella in my pantry. I also remembered I had a box of puff pastry in the freezer. I would love to make crepes, but one of my favorite things on the planet is puff pastry. It is crispy on the outside and ooey and gooey on the inside. What a perfect combination!

Nutella and Banana Puff Pastry

Ingredients

1 package puff pastry- I use Pepperidge Farm.
1-2 bananas, sliced
1 small container of Nutella- I had a bit leftover that I snacked on while I baked.
1 egg yolk, beaten
sprinkle of kosher salt

Directions

Take your puff pastry out and defrost it- follow the directions on the box. Preheat oven to 450. Put one puff pastry sheet down on a silicon baking sheet…get one of these. I actually want to buy more. They are awesome. Add your nutella to the bottom sheet.

Add your sliced bananas.

Cover that with your second puff pastry sheet. Crimp the edges, add your egg yolk on top with a pastry brush, and poke a few holes on top to let the steam escape.

Let it cook until crispy brown on top, about 20 minutes or so. Let it sit for at least 10 minutes. Moved to a cutting board and cut with a pizza cutter. So good guys; you need to try this. So easy and so delicious. The girls and I gobbled it up plain, but I think it would be great with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream.