Father's Day Menu

Yum

It's time to celebrate the Father's in our lives!

I'm bringing you a Father's Day Menu that is hard to beat.  These recipes scream for an alfresco setting, so take the party outside and enjoy the start of summer with this delicious meal.

Father's tend to be the grill masters of the house so why not take over the grill and make the BEST main dish ever.  Served with some Damn Good side dishes and you have one heck of a meal!

FATHER'S DAY MENU

Grilled Chicken Cordon Bleu

 

Roasted Parmesan Summer Squash

Tomato Salad

Deep Dish Peach Cobbler

Enjoy the holiday and celebrate all the Father figures in your life!

Happy Father's Day!!

Balsamic Steak with Garlic Summer Squash

 Need a quick weeknight meal?

One of the things I love to do is buy beef on sale and freeze it for later use.  It saves me money by taking advantage of the sales prices and allows me to treat ourselves to some wonderful beef when we crave that meaty flavor.  Most often we eat chicken, so beef a couple times a month is a great treat.  Especially a steak! Yum! My absolute favorite.

So I had a nice sirloin steak in the freezer.  I love this cut because of it's versatility. I think our favorite way to make it is to cook it whole, with special seasonings or with a sauce, and slicing it across the grain in long strips.  A great cut of beef which is easy to cook.  Perfect for the grill or inside in a skillet.  

This wonderful dish can be made in 30 minutes, which is perfect for a weeknight.  Very few ingredients and the result is bursting with flavor.  The steak is accompanies by an easy balsamic sauce.  Served alongside is a wonderful vegetable.  Summer squash is perfect with this dish.  Simply saute the squash with some garlic to give it a nice kick.  It goes so well with the steak.  A nice crusty bread and you are done...dinner's on!

I found the inspiration for this recipe on Everyday Food.  Martha is a perfect source for quick yet flavorful meals.  She also makes items simple, and easily adaptable to your taste as I have done here.  The original recipe calls for skirt steak and zucchini, and as you can see I substituted what I had on hand and it turned out just fabulous!

Take Martha's word for it...it's a good thing!

Balsamic Steak with Garlic Summer Squash

adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food, September 2012

Total Time: 30 minutes

Serves 4

2 T olive oil, divided

5 cloves garlic, minced

3 medium summer squash, cut into thin half-moons

salt and pepper

1 pound top sirloin steak

3/4 c balsamic vinegar

In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high. Add garlic and squash, season with salt and pepper, and saute until zucchini is tender and browned in spots, about 6 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and keep warm.

Add remaining tablespoon oil to skillet. Season steak with salt and pepper and cook about 7 minutes per side for medium, or until desired doneness.  Transfer to a plate and loosely tent with foil.

Discard fat from skillet, add vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper. Cook, stirring, until reduced by half, about 2 minutes. Slice steak across the grain.  Add any accumulated juices from steak to skillet and stir to combine. Drizzle steak with sauce and serve alongside squash.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs

Ever tried that strange looking squash named spaghetti squash?

What's that all about anyway?

Let me tell you!  Spaghetti squash has a mild flavor, (slightly sweet) it's easy to cook, and is a great replacement for spaghetti.  To prepare the squash you have to cut it in half and clean out the seeds, and stringy pulp.  Much like a pumpkin.  Then you roast it and when it is done it will be soft and tender.  To make the "spaghetti" you just take a fork and scrap the flesh out of the shell and it will separate into strands that look like spaghetti.  Easy!

Today's dish is part of my "Eat Well 2013" motto because this dish is low in calories and carbs.  Replacing your typical pasta with spaghetti squash allows you to get more servings of veggies and fiber in your diet.  Plus it tastes good.  Even the kids will love it.  What a great way to get them to eat more veggies, right?  This version includes meatballs for protein along with a quick marinara sauce to top the squash with.  

The marinara has a little kick from the cayenne pepper, so if you are feeding the kiddos, omit or use less.  I love the heat myself.  It lends another depth of flavor to a simple sauce.  

For the meatballs, you could make homemade using my meatball recipe.  Better than that to make this a quicker dish to prepare, make the meatballs and freeze them for use later on.  This will allow you to take out the amount of meatballs that you need (about 3 per person is good) and thaw them in the microwave before adding them to the sauce.  Or if you want more convenience you could by frozen meatballs, beef or turkey, and thaw them and add to the sauce as well.  Whatever works best for you.  

All in all, this dish is healthy, smart, and super tasty!  Hope you enjoy my version.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Meatballs

Makes: 4 servings

Prep:  20 mins

Bake:  50 mins

1 2 pound spaghetti squash, halved and seeded

Nonstick cooking spray

12 meatballs, cooked (from meatball recipe) or store bought

1 T dried Italian seasoning, crushed

2 14 ½ oz cans crushed tomatoes

½ t crushed red pepper

1 t Italian seasoning

½ t salt

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly coat the cut side of the spaghetti squash with cooking spray.  Place squash halves, cut sides down, on a large cookie sheet or baking pan. Bake for 50 minutes or until squash is soft.  Allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Using a fork scrape the insides of the squash to separate the strands.  Place in a medium bowl.

For meatballs:  Lightly coat a large skillet with cooking spray.  Preheat skillet over medium-high heat.   Add meatballs and cook until browned, turning occasionally to brown evenly.  (If using frozen meatballs, thaw using the microwave first then add to the skillet.)  Add tomatoes, crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning, and salt. Bring sauce to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 3 to 5 minutes or until sauce starts to thicken.

Divide squash among plates and top with meatballs and sauce. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.