This past weekend, Adam graduated from Hampden-Sydney College! I am so proud of him and it was such a fun time. His fraternity had a graduation party on Friday night with a huge dinner of a variation of Beer in the Rear chicken and all the fixin's. They had a band called The Brothership who played all kinds of Motown music. All of the families of the boys were there and it was so much fun.
Saturday we moved Adam out of his dorm room. Needless to say, I am ecstatic that I will never have to see that place again. Later in the day, we attended Baccalaureate, followed by a super yummy dinner at Charley's in Farmville.
Sunday was Graduation Day and we were up bright and early! Adam's Aunt Lynn and Uncle Ray came up for the day from North Carolina and we had a nice lunch after the ceremony.
It was a great time and I am glad I could be there to support Adam. Here are a few photos from the weekend:
Tuesday night, I made Oven Fried Chicken with Collard Greens. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture, but I will say, this is definitely worth trying because it is so unbelievably easy. I get nervous when it comes to frying food in my apartment, so if the recipe calls for more than a few swirls of olive oil in a pan, I usually won't make it. To fix this, I decided to "fake" fry some chicken.
Oven Fried Chicken
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
2 cups multigrain cereal flakes (I used Total)
Seriously, that's it..
Recipe:
Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Put the two cups of cereal in a large plastic bag. Zip it up and crush it into smaller pieces. In a bowl, toss the chicken and mustard until it's coated. When coated, dump the chicken breasts into the plastic bag and zip it up again. Toss the chicken in the cereal until it is completely coated. Shake off the excess cereal flakes and place on the baking sheet. Bake for about 50 minutes or until cooked through.
I always think crunchy chicken goes well with a side of greens. I keep my freezer stocked with frozen veggies for times just like this. I put some frozen collards in a bowl with about 3 tablespoons of water. I stuck them in the microwave for about 2 minutes, stirred them around and then put them back in the microwave for about another minute. Then I drained the excess water and added a dollop of butter and some garlic salt. De-lish! I would normally have added some Texas Pete Pepper Sauce, but apparently, that's a deep South thing because they don't sell it up here in Virginia.. Booo!!!
And, finally I got crafty with my lunch today. I took a page out of Courtney's book on this one. I saw her make a version of this a few weeks ago, and decided to try it myself.
Steak Salad with Mandarins, Walnuts and Feta
Ingredients:
1 package shaved steak (You can find this at the meat counter and it can be any type of meat as long as it's bite-sized)
1 cup balsamic vinegarette dressing plus more for drizzling
Olive oil
1 can mandarin oranges, in light syrup, drained
1/4 cup walnuts, or however many you like
1/4 cup Feta cheese, crumbled
1 Roma tomato, diced, optional
2 cups lettuce (I used Butter lettuce)
Recipe:
Place the meat and the balsamic vinegarette in a dish and toss to coat. Cover with aluminum foil and refridgerate for at least an hour. Heat a large pan with a swirl or two of olive oil over medium high heat. Remove the meat from the refridgerator and add to the pan. Sear until meat is cooked through about 3-4 minutes. Let it cool. If the steak needs to be sliced a bit more, wait until it is cool to cut it.
Next, assemble the salad. Add the lettuce, walnuts, feta cheese, mandarin oranges and tomatoes to a bowl. Add the steak on top. Lightly drizzle a little bit more balsamic vinegarette over the top. Enjoy!
This steak can really be marinated in any of your favorite dressings. I may try it with raspberry vinegarette some time soon. Here is a photo.. please excuse the Tupperware container.
Well, that's it for now. Have a great Thursday!
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