French Toast Ala Beverly

Bev had made an extra loaf of bread a while back and it was somewhat stale so she decided that she wanted to turn it into French Toast – about a once-a-year event around here.  She went on line and found a recipe for Challah (Jewish bread) French Toast from The Barefoot Contessa, you can’t hardly go wrong with an Ina Garten recipe.  She followed the ingredients list as written, but we cooked and topped them differently than Ina.  You can click on the link for the original recipe and a how-to video.

BBQ Pork Pizza

Bev had a pizza dough she needed to use but I was smoking a pork butt so we didn’t need both for supper so I suggested a BBQ pizza but Bev was a little reluctant.  When I pointed out that pizza crust was just another form of bread to make an open faced BBQ sandwich, she went in search of recipes and whipped up a batch of slaw.

But before we get into the pizza, let’s look at the pork.  I used my gas grill as a smoker and used apple and oak for the wood smoke.  I like mine with a deep mahogany color rather than black, so here it is about two thirds cooked (it got darker) and before being wrapped in foil to finish cooking.

French Dip Crescent Ring

Cindy said she had been wanting to make this for a while and finally had time to do it this week.  She used a recipe from Delish and followed it as written below.  This is a shot of theirs.

Chicken, Bacon, and Spinach Pasta

When I saw the recipe for Chicken, Bacon, Spinach Pasta on Claudia’s What’s Cooking Italian blog, I knew it had to be tried and since we had some spinach and grape tomatoes that needed to be used, this was the night.  I revised the recipe for the way we made it but you can click on the link above for the original, cooking tips, and more pics like this one.

The Ultimate Chicken Fried Steak, 2021 Travels, and Stuff

 First will be the stuff.  I don’t know what happened in my childhood to affect this but I have usually always been in the corner of the underdog so you can imagine my pleasure at watching the big win by Tampa in the super bowl.

After zero traveling in 2020, we are planning trips to upper East Tennessee, Nashville, Georgia, the Florida peninsula, and a 60-day western trip and we are sure looking forward to getting out – now, we just need our vaccines.

A little while back, we made Chicken Fried Pork Loin (schnitzel) and now Bev has requested Chicken Fried Steak and even though we’ve made it with several recipes that we always enjoyed, I went in search of yet another one.  The recipe I chose was called The Ultimate Chicken Fried Steak and it comes from Trish on her Mom On Timeout blog.

It’s hard to pass on a recipe that has this description “The Ultimate Chicken Fried Steak is fried to golden perfection and topped with the creamiest gravy you can imagine, sure to quickly become a family favorite.”  I’ve shown the recipe below as written with a couple of minor changes in the directions.  I cooked the first two steak pieces in a skillet to generate some fond for the gravy then I deep fried the others – I couldn’t see much difference in the looks of the two of them.  You can click on the link above to go to Trish’s site for the recipe and more pics like this one.

Rachael Ray’s Tuna Casserole

I had four (3 pounds) tuna filets in the freezer that needed to be used and since only Cindy and I like the medium rare version, I decided to use them to make tuna casserole - a first for us using fresh tuna.

I looked around online and settled on a recipe fromRacheal Ray that sounded good but was more complicated than some others. 

The recipe uses one pound of tuna for four servings but since I had three pounds and wanted to make two or more casseroles, I tripled Rachel’s recipe to get the one below and made it into casseroles which changed the directions a bit.  You can click on the link above for her original recipe which looks like this.

French Onion Pork Chops

I had been looking for different ways to fix pork loin chops and this recipe for French Onion Pork Chops caught my eye.  The recipe comes from Wendie on her Butter Your Biscuit blog and since we really like French Onion Soup, I knew it had to be tried.  Here is a shot of the dish from her blog.