We decided this year to do our Labor Day gathering on Sunday, partly because several of us had to work at some time during the day on Monday. I spent Friday gathering new recipes (and picking a few favorites) and went to the store............course I also went BACK to the store twice Sunday morning and even had Mary stop by the store Sunday before she came over! And yes, EACH time I prepared a list - and even managed to take the list with me!
For my menu I choose to have:
Rib Eye steaks
Baked onions
Iceberg Salad
Greek Salad (to snack on then eat with the meal)
Cucumber Salad
Deviled Eggs
Jalapeno Poppers
Crack Potato Casserole
"Red Lobster" Biscuits
Mom brought smoked Ketter's sausage (she buys it at her local United grocery, a melon mix and a pudding pie
Three of the dishes and the meat marinade I got off of Pinterest! One of the main things I wanted to try for this event was a "Greek Salad". Just a note in advance - it was AWESOME!
Sadly, although I could have SWORN I Pinned it.........I can't find it on more boards ANYWHERE! Thank goodness I had printed it out! But I DID have the title so I Googled it and found the original source - 5 Layer Greek Dip . I did have to "improvise" a little and did make an addition to the recipe for the Hummus, I added 10 dashes of Tabasco sauce to it for a little spice.
Ignore the hot sauce bottle here, before I got to that point I remember that I DID have another bottle of Tabasco in the pantry.............also it wasn't until I started mixing that I realized I had gotten Onion Salt out instead of Garlic Powder!
The recipe called for tahini (sesame seed paste) - guess what? My store doesn't carry it! SOOOOOOOOOO, I had to find a recipe to make the stuff! Also I must note that my little bitty, handy dandy, mini food processor is great for chopping but it really doesn't grind sesame seeds very well!
I finally got the paste made, got the beans pureed - but I had to mix the rest by hand. I do believe this will work much better in a big processor and it will have a smoother texture but it worked okay for me.
All in all, it was worth the effort and totally awesome! I could have made the entire meal just on this!
I used a new steak marinade (actually I NEVER use a steak marinade but I decided to try this one - The Best Steak Marinade in Existence! Again, thank goodness I hit print because I FORGOT to pin the darn thing!
I mixed the marinade and since I do not have a "true" marinade pan and the the fact that I was doing 8 rib eyes, I used a 2 Gallon plastic zip bag. I stood it on the end, poured a little marinade in the bottom, put a steak in, then more marinade on that steak - repeated until all the steaks were in and "zipped" it shut.
It took some "wiggling" but I got all the steaks laying flat, placed the bag on a small cutting board and put them in the fridge. Then every hour I turned the bag to get a good even coating.
I didn't put any addition seasoning on the steak but they had a great flavor so I will certainly try this marinade again!
The rest of the meal was good but a couple of the recipes I used I am going to do some "tweaking" to before I try them again - nothing against the original recipes, just things that I think will make my family enjoy them more!
OH! Least I forget - the Deviled Eggs! No this was my old standard Deviled Egg recipe that I have used forever! It was the EGGS that were different! I had a dozen that I had bought at the store to use.
Growing up, and even in adulthood, I try to get Farm eggs whenever possible - they are just better! The yolks are yellow, they have a better taste, and they are FRESH! When you get farm eggs you get in the practice of breaking each egg in a glass because occasionally you find things you didn't want in them. And once in a while you get a Bonus with a Double Yolk! I have NEVER, and according to my mom who was setting in the kitchen neither has she!, gotten a Double Yolk egg from the store!
In this dozen eggs I got NOT ONE .............BUT.............TWO Double Yolk eggs!
I should have taken a picture of all four "halves" but I didn't think of it until I was almost through emptying the second one. It may never happen again!
Well we had a great time, laughed a lot, ate a lot, and in general a great family day! And I highly recommend these two recipes for your next family gathering!
I'm feeling totally gypped! Of course, I'm always sad when I miss out on your home cookin'.,
ReplyDeleteI've never ever ever seen a double yolk egg. That is just craziness! :) I really like this particular blog. Keep the recipes coming!
sorry HaliAnne! I should have called! my bad!
DeleteYummie! I actually got a whole dozen of "double yolked" eggs one time. I'm sure they were supposed to go to the "not to be sold" pile. They were from somewhere local - may have even been from Hughes. But anyway - it was funny! Food looks YUMMY! And I might just say that I think the zip loc bags ought to be considered an "official" marinade "pan." LOL Now I'm hungry . . .
ReplyDeleteLol, I have used zip loc bags many times, but I did have a marinade pan at one time, just have no clue what happened to it! And the food was excellent!
DeleteI am looking forward to trying the 5 Layer Greek Dip. I make homemade hummus often and it's a favorite for my two pre-teen sons (and has been for years - the kids at school make fun of them when they take it for lunch, but they just look at them and tell them they don't know what THEY're missing!). Greek cuisine is a favorite of mine, so I'll try this. I love to cook from scratch and enjoy having a new recipe to try. Thanks for sharing your experience!
ReplyDeleteI've also used ziploc bags to marinate meats before and it works great as long as you put it inside a container because sometimes they leak. I actually often do large batches of some of our favorite marinated meats and break them into small portions and freeze them (before cooking). Then, on the day I want to grill or roast something, I can pull it out and the time it spent freezing and thawing, it's well marinated and ready to go on the grill or under the broiler. There's a tip for you from one single gal to another. You can still cook from scratch, just find creative ways to not have to eat a mountain of leftovers!
I think you will really love the 5 Layer Greek Dip Paula, it was awesome! I have been freezing a lot of things, but some things just don't freeze well - Deviled Eggs for one! Let me know when you get a chance to try the Greek Dip.
ReplyDelete