Around KJ's Ladies Table: June 20th -June26th

So here is the Plan this week: Weekly Menu Plan 06.20-06.26

Happy Father's Day! First off here are some cute pics of this blog's namesake: 

KJ with his 3 princess:

The princesses with their grandfathers:

Ok now that we have wished the greatest men in the world a Happy Father's Day... onto the best part, the FOOD! 

Smoked Wings: I know... right??  This is one of KJ's favorites so on Father's Day we smoked a bunch of wings and took them to share with our father's.  I don't really have a recipe, this is the way that my brother did his wings and told me so I just do it similar but slightly different each time.  But I do have pictures and can tell you the general process:

First Rub the wings generously with your favorite rub:  I used Franks Red Hot Spice Mix

Smoked the wings in our smoker for 2 1/2- 3 hours with applewood chips on 225 degrees

Then grilled the wings on propane grill to crisp the skins

Then sauce them or leave them dry, either is excellent.  When I make the sauce, I melt about 1/2 stick of butter, sauté about 3-4 tablespoons real bacon bits, and a tablespoon of garlic,  add about a cup of buffalo sauce, a good helping of parmesan cheese and the blend with immersion blender to combine.  Pour it over the wings (this picture is dry wings)

Egg Bake: Another recipe from my mama's kitchen: this one I actually wrote down since we make this for breakfast on almost every special holiday!  I made a smaller dairy free one for my eldest with this cheddar cheese and coconut milk.

• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 5 slices bread, toasted
• 4 slices process American cheese
• 12 bacon strips, cooked and crumbled
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup 2% milk
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced

• Preheat oven to 325°. Spread mayonnaise on one side of each slice of toast and cut into small pieces. Arrange toast, mayonnaise side up, in a greased 8-in. square baking dish. Top with cheese slices and bacon.
• In a small saucepan, melt butter. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until smooth. Gradually add milk. Bring to a boil; cook and stir until thickened, 2 minutes. Pour over bacon.
• In a large skillet, fry eggs over medium heat until they reach desired doneness; place over bacon.  Sprinkle with cheddar cheese and onions. Bake, uncovered, 10 minutes. Cut in squares.

Crispy Chicken Roll-Ups: This is a new recipe for us this week from Emeals.  Will have to let you know how this goes.

Fish Tacos: ok so this one has a story.  In 2017 we took a road trip down the West Coast from Seattle WA all the way down to Arizona.  It was an amazing 3 week trip, but one of our stops was San Diego, CA and Fins fish tacos. (which I don't think exists anymore) 😕 

We fish Lake Erie for walleye sometimes in the summer, so I have recreated this AUH-mazing fish taco for consumption on the east coast. 

In case you wonder where your food comes from, walleye is a sweet white fish from the Great Lakes,  you cannot really buy it anywhere, if we run out of walleye, I have ever substituted cod, haddock, or tilapia:

 It is a blend of a lot of recipes I mashed up together, I like to sprinkle the meat with the grilled recipe and then coat it with the fried recipe, but if I am in a "healthy mood" then I don't fry it, so you can either grill your fish or continue on and fry the fish as well... good luck!  😂

Grilled Fish Recipe 

Sprinkle the pieces of fish all over with the cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in the large skillet over medium high heat. Add 1/3 of the fish and sauté until almost cooked through, turning it as needed, about 5 minutes in all. The pieces may fall apart a little as you cook them; that’s perfectly fine. During the last minute of cooking each batch, add about 1/3 of the garlic and toss over the heat. Place the fish on a serving plate as it is cooked and sprinkle each batch with 1 teaspoon of the lime juice. Keep going, adding a bit more oil as needed, and then adding the fish to the same plate as it is cooked, until all of the fish is sautéed and sprinkled with juice.

Fried Fish INGREDIENTS  

• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 eggs
• 2-1/4 pounds walleye, perch or pike fillets
• 1-1/2 cups mashed potato flakes
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil

In a shallow bowl, combine flour, paprika, salt, pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. In another bowl, beat the eggs. Dip both sides of fillets in flour mixture and eggs, then coat with potato flakes.
In a large skillet, fry fillets in oil for 5 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with tartar sauce and lemon if desired.

Sauce INGREDIENTS 

1⁄2 cup mayonnaise

1⁄2 cup sour cream or 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, plain (plain coconut yogurt)

1 lime, juiced

1 tablespoon capers, minced to taste

1⁄2 teaspoon ground cumin

1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano

1⁄2 teaspoon dried dill weed

1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, to taste 

Blend mayo and sour cream (or yogurt) together; blend in lime juice, then capers, cumin, oregano, dill, and cayenne; it can be served immediately or can be made ahead

Coleslaw INGREDIENTS:

Buy shredded cabbage or coleslaw mix.  Stir in mayonnaise to taste.  Drizzle with maple syrup for sweetness

Pico de Gallo

Avocados

Cilantro

Tortillas 

I assemble my tacos by putting 1-2 fish fingers (depending on the size of tortilla), add a sprinkle of coleslaw, pico de Gallo, avocado, fresh cilantro and a drizzle of sauce, then roll up.

Biscuits: I make biscuits many ways, but this is probably my favorite.  Strawberries are in season as well... so there might be strawberry jam for these as well!  😛

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons sugar

1 teaspoon salt

6 tablespoons cold unsalted {plant} butter, cubed

3/4 cup cold buttermilk, {coconut milk with lemon juice}

Instructions

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and salt until well combined. Add the in the cubed cold butter and cut into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter (you may also use a food processor for this step) until you have small pea sized pieces of butter. Pour the cold "buttermilk" into the mixture and gently work it together until the dough starts to come together.

Scoop the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently work it together with your hands. Pat the dough into a rectangle and fold it in thirds. Turn the dough, gather any crumbs, and flatten back into a rectangle. Repeat this process two more times.

Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and pat it down into a 1/2-inch thick rectangle. Using a floured biscuit cutter, cut out the biscuits. Continue to gather any scrap pieces of dough, patting it back down to 1/2-inch thickness, and cutting it until you have 12 biscuits. 

Arrange the biscuits on the baking sheet touching each other. Brush the top of each biscuit with a little bit of "buttermilk."

Bake at 450°F for about 15-17 minutes or until lightly golden brown. 

I happened to take pics of this when I made it... (see I already showed you my kitchen)

Southern BBQ wraps: this was a new recipe for the week as well and we didn't really like it so no recipe to share

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry:  take out night! 

2 (12oz) pkg broccoli florets

1 1/2 lb flank steak, thinly -2 packages venison steaks

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp cornstarch

Cook broccoli according to package directions.  Set aside

Cook steak (venison) in hot oil for 5-7 minutes or until browned.  

Whisk together soy sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ginger and cornstarch.  

Add broccoli to skillet with meat Stir soy sauce mixture into skillet.  Cook 1-2 minutes until thickened.

Serve with rice.